How businesses can use machine learning in 2020

Machine learning has been one of the growing trends of the last year and is starting to immerse itself into the daily lives of businesses and consumers.

The concept of machine learning is that we should be able to give machines access to data and they should be able to learn for themselves, giving us better insight into customers and helping make informed decisions.

Machine learning ties in closely with AI, which is based on analysing data and being able to create predictive behaviour.

We provide some examples of machine learning in the modern day and how you can use it effectively in 2020.

Examples of machine learning in businesses

Marketing

Machine learning can help you analyse data of your existing customers and understand their preferences and offer new products that they are likely to be interested in.

Some simple examples include the way Spotify recommends you music and Netflix recommends you shows based on your preferences. Coca Cola and Burberry use customer insight and purchases to understand what products they make like and how much they are willing to spend – and if the algorithm is set up, the machine should be able to learn and keep recommending with limited human effort.

Fraud and detect problems

Machine learning and AI is perfect for analysing huge amounts of data and finding key patterns. American Express has processed trillions of card transactions and is able to use machine learning to identity fraudulent behaviour.

Volvo, the car manufacturer, is using this to anticipate when certain car parts will need replacing and vehicles will need servicing, especially in hazardous conditions.

Chatbots

Chatbots and virtual assistants are now very standard with most websites and eCommerce stores. Companies can pay just a few pounds per month to use chatbots from the likes of Hubspot and Live Chat and you can use it to anticipate what people will be asking and provide answers automatically, without the use of humans.

Skype and Microsoft have already been trialling this for years, by offering answers to questions completely from robots and have been able to answer things like travel weather updates without human involvement.

Content

Several news websites are able to provide news stories by pooling in information from other news sources and sites, specifically for non-opinionated content such as football results and match reports, traffic accidents and general news.

Is machine learning too expensive for businesses?

Building machine learning platforms, models and integrating them into your business can come at a cost – and there is an argument whether your source this out to another company in the UK, India or hire someone in-house.

The return on investment for your business can be significant, especially if you are able to prevent fraud or analyse your customers’ preferences and notably boost sales.

There are machine learning companies like Optalitix and Hubspot that are able to provide this on an affordable consumer basis – and there are other companies that offer AI chat bots and can generate content automatically.

How can my business use machine learning?

Any business can use machine learning, whether is it a restaurant on the high street or if you sell things online.

Companies with a lot of data will always be the best candidates, including firms in insurance, finance, banking or retail.

The value is based around using your data more efficiently. You need to create a model that understands your business’s or your customer’s requirements, when things work and when they don’t and being able to provide solutions that it can automatically learn.

You need to create a process where once set up, the machine will take care of the rest.