It was 10 years ago that iPhone was first launched. Looks like the smartphones and everything related to them is getting obsolete.

Earlier this year, Google announced its shift from mobile first to AI-first. Sundar Pichai emphasized that Google will be focusing more on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. For example with the neural machine, it is now possible to understand 96 languages and make 2 billion translations per day. Another example is the use of Google Maps – when you view any address on Google maps, the street signs and restaurant signs are automatically detected and reflected.

Pichai added that in the next 10 years the world will move towards AI-first. Computing will be universally available like home, work, on the go or even while you’re traveling. Interacting with the surfaces will be on the basis of more natural, intelligent and intuitive interactions.

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What has changed over the last few years?

User interactions have undergone changes in a big way. Changes are still happening.

Every industry, specially banking, healthcare, law, retail, e-Commerce and many others, have to think of innovative ways of giving best customer experience through multiple touch points. The creative industry is evolving methods of design with AI-assisted design. For example, Logojoy is using AI for logo production, which is a rote task, so that designers can focus more on logo design thinking. Every Enterprise has to re-imagine new ways of introducing more than a single way of making payments across a number of locations to meet rising customer expectations. Google, Facebook and Amazon have been the leaders in making this big shift. The key motivator of this big shift has been to provide a rich and insightful driven customer experience based on an intelligent understanding of their needs, motivations and requirements. For example, banks were quick enough to build mobile apps that enabled customers to view their accounts, make transactions like making payments and transferring funds. Almost everybody ran after making mobile apps or making their website mobile-friendly but while the mobile-first revolution was underway, something else started to brew. Customer expectations were increasing. They expected their mobile apps to be something more than just a day-to-day aid. They wanted something more intelligence and futuristic. For example, the need for their banking app to predict the best investment that will work for them or given their credit score, what is the likelihood of their reaching a particular savings amount.

With the help of deep learning, voice recognition has become big. We all have extensively started using Alexa and Siri to communicate with devices. Vision recognition is also getting big with claims from Google that their computer vision systems are capable of image recognition (and they can perform that function even better than humans).

Even small and mid-sized businesses can no longer ignore AI. AI-driven software will be used for better decision making, machine learning tools will help to predict outcomes, and the future will witness machines outperforming humans for a number of tasks and that too cost effectively. Machines will orchestrate optimized interactions for every customer across multiple channels.

What are some of the key things that business leaders should keep in mind to brace themselves for AI?

• Define your business goals clearly
• Identify a reliable and unified source for collating data (especially customer data)
• Integrate your marketing and technology investments
• Shift the focus from channel optimization to customer optimization (get rid of inter-department silos)
• Focus on cross-functional customer experiences
• Ensure you have a strong feedback mechanism (to get better customer insights)

It is better to be prepared for the inevitable future of AI. Go ahead, take action now.