The Next Great Divide in Sales Won’t be Human

Over 60% of the world���s leading CEOs believe that the use of artificial intelligence will have a bigger impact on their companies than the arrival of the internet.

You even have the likes of Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, suggesting that access to AI will become the next ���human right���.

Benioff believes that the sheer advantages created from AI between ���those that have��� and ���those that have not��� will be so wide that it will remove the competition.

It makes for an unfair playing field.

When you have��85% of CEOs at the World Economic Forum agreeing that AI will dramatically shape their business in the next five years, you have to wonder where you���re taking your own?

Are you doing anything with AI, how are you using it in Salesforce and is it enabling you to sell more efficiently?

The reality is that while we understand its business opportunity, only one in ten of us have actually implemented its wide-scale use and 23% of us still have no short-term plans to do so.

When I talk about AI I���m not talking about assembly lines of drones taking jobs, I���m talking about smarter email categorisation, personalised feeds, predictive services for customers and faster ways to deliver better experiences.

Don���t Rush Intelligence, Especially When it���s Artificial

In the race to adopt artificial intelligence, businesses have to look at the driver behind its success.

Data.

The tools that you use will only be as effective as the data that they���re working with. Otherwise, you���ll just be employing technology that simply maintains the problems that already existed.

It makes me think of Gerardo Salandra, CEO of Rocketbots, views on the subject:

���Artificial Intelligence is your rocket, but data is the fuel. You can have the best algorithms in the world, an amazing rocket, but you���re only going to get as far as your data gets you. Data is fundamental ��� data is AI.���

So, the real divide will be created between those that are managing their data and its quality and those that aren���t.

Data Driven Artificial Intelligence

Our digital footprints are hugely extensive and our purchasing decisions are stamped into every interaction we have online.

Businesses need to find ways to discover insights and themes across huge data sets, accurately and at an incredibly fast pace.

You have to be accelerating the speed at which you collect and turn those insights into actions for your sales teams to run with.

It���s never usually a case of technology being good or bad. It���s what we do with that technology that determines its effectiveness.

The one thing I want you to take away is that before you think about AI tools as a silver bullet, think about the data you have to work with.