If there is anything that has unified business leaders since the pandemic, it is the commonality of thinking about the role that artificial intelligence will play in business. AI is on the mind of every business leader, and with good reason. It truly is a game-changer.
But how will AI impact your particular business, and how can you both stay ahead of the curve and productively use it for competitive advantage? The answers to these questions will vary, but in almost all cases it will start with your enterprise resource planning solution (ERP).
ERP is the backbone that enables AI in business, because it is where a company’s data and operational systems meet AI.
While the specific business applications for AI will vary from industry to industry, the relationship between AI and business already is clear. AI will be the copilot with all the answers, and it will be the assistant for handling many routine operational tasks once sign-off is given by leadership.
Let’s start with the copilot function.
Business has always been about better data, from knowing the pricing trends in the market to understanding consumer needs.
When businesses were mom and pop operations, this data lived in the heads of owners and employees. But business got a lot larger and less personal, not to mention more complex, so business data began living in a company’s ERP software instead. Employees and leadership would query the system and spot trends through their ERP solution, with the ERP serving as a nerve center for the business.
This was helpful, but there still was the problem of using all the data that a company collected; until a few years ago, handling the data deluge and effectively leveraging the various data that a business amassed was the big differentiator between the smart enterprises and those left behind.
So the first and headliner role that AI plays in business is making sense of all this data. Today a business leader can ask an AI engine what customer trends are emerging, and how a business should respond. AI will know the answer, because it can see and process all the data that a company has collected within its ERP system. Not generic answers drawn from the internet or publicly available sources, but specific answers drawn from a company’s actual data stores.
Similarly, line managers and employees lower down on the chain of command can use AI for answering daily operational questions such as which supplier should be used for a particular part, when to record, and both how and when to repair a company asset.
AI is the copilot, the trusted advisor that understands all the data related to a business and can offer suggestions on demand.
But AI is more than just a trusted advisor. When plugged into a company’s ERP solution, it also can be an assistant that does the work.
The second role for AI in business is handling routine tasks and executing decisions made by employees and business leaders. Because all business operations flow through a company’s ERP solution, AI can serve as an assistant in handling much of the work directly.
Businesses already are familiar with this assistant function because they use it every time they ask for an auto-sum on a spreadsheet. But with AI and machine learning, the range of tasks that a computer can perform now is greatly increased. A business can have AI automatically invoice customers, automatically set work schedules, automatically perform a credit rating or evaluate job applications. AI can automatically reconfigure shop floor equipment or adjust forms, or even reconfigure or code parts of a company’s ERP solution for new business cases such as a commerce everywhere strategy.
AI doesn’t completely replace employees, at least not yet. But it does make employees more efficient, and it cuts down on the drudgery of routine tasks. With AI, employees can focus more on the people aspects of business, the creative work, and the big picture tasks. AI handles the routine daily operations to a large degree, with employees left for oversight and exceptions.
This assistant function has long been available to business in the form of system-wide automation within ERP, but modern ERP solutions are mixing this automation with AI for an even greater range of automation and operational efficiency.
So AI is both advisor and assistant for the modern business.
This role for AI is the future and the present, too. The technology will get better of course. But anyone who has used generative AI knows that it already can provide answers when given the right data. Any business using a modern ERP solution such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition also knows that widespread operational automation is a competitive advantage that is available right now.
With tools such as SAP Joule, an AI assistant that connects a company’s ERP solution to any of the major AI engines such as GPT and Llama, this future is here today. Running an intelligent enterprise with AI as a copilot, and efficiently conducting business with AI as an assistant, is already being done by leading businesses across various industries.
The key for using AI in business effectively is securely giving large language models access to the full range of business data, and connecting it directly with operations. This is why a modern ERP solution is so important. ERP is the nerve center for a business, centralizing operations and business data.
Without a modern ERP solution, employees and business leaders can upload spreadsheets and query AI for advice. But businesses cannot fully take advantage of AI and bake it into daily operations unless AI engines have access to all business data and a means to act on it through automation. ERP provides this foundation for fully utilizing AI in a business setting.
AI and ERP are evolving fast. Learn more about how your business can better tap into AI with a modern ERP solution by calling one of our experienced ERP consultants at (801) 642-0123 or writing us at info@nbs-us.com.