Artificial intelligence applications and machine learning (ML) vary widely across the many industries that can benefit from these tools. The ability to efficiently process and utilize more data empowers companies to optimize their workforces, facilities, technologies, and other key resources. The applications of artificial intelligence in industry continue to expand as organizations seek innovative ways to remain competitive.
Let’s examine some of the most promising AI use cases across industries, explain how to overcome challenges to implementing AI, and review some best practices for leveraging AI effectively.
A Checklist for the Application of Artificial Intelligence
Across industries, there are key conditions in which companies can benefit from the application of AI. If you find yourself in any or multiple of the following situations, AI is probably the right tool for the job.
Processing Large Amounts of High-quality Data
Large amounts of data can be challenging to process manually. Provided the data is high-quality, AI can quickly work through both structured and unstructured data, such as audio, images, and video.
Complex Task Handling
While automating complex tasks can be challenging due to their variability and need for adaptiveness, AI simplifies these complexities by dynamically adapting and making intelligent decisions, thus enhancing the effectiveness of automation.
Real-time Decision-making
AI’s rapid decision-making capability has been a critical factor in the significant advancements in autonomous driving in recent years. This speed can also be leveraged in areas such as financial trading and emergency response systems. AI simplifies the execution by intelligently prioritizing and making real-time decisions that are beyond the scope of basic automation
Repetitive and Time-consuming Task Completion
It’s difficult for humans to do the same task repeatedly without fatigue and errors creeping in. Using AI for these tasks can free up human workers for more valuable work.
Forecasting and Scenario Planning
By examining historical data, AI can help understand possible outcomes, enabling proper planning and risk mitigation efforts.
Personalization
The ability to make sense of vast amounts of data allows AI to customize suggestions based on user preferences and behaviors.
Resource optimization
By bringing together a host of complex factors and data sets, AI can recommend efficiency gains across a company’s resource needs.
While these artificial intelligence applications are relevant across many industries, exploring potential use cases of AI in specific industries can help us understand its deep potential.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
One of the most exciting industry-specific AI use cases has been in healthcare and related fields, with a significant focus on AI-powered healthcare decision-making. This enables:
- Conducting and analyzing diagnostics and assessments
- Creating and evaluating personalized treatment plans
- Automating administrative and logistics functions
These are among the reasons generative AI solutions power patient engagement and other positive outcomes in healthcare. Doctors, caregivers, and patient-facing personnel can rely on accurate, fast decisions to deliver results more swiftly to patients. This, in turn, creates more opportunities for supporting patients holistically.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Education
AI tools are already widely used in education and mission-driven institutions, where automation and big data analysis facilitate effective learning and ensure resources are allocated fairly and in support of mission objectives.
In education specifically, AI can help design and deliver course content and monitor student performance. Its ability to personalize can help students receive materials customized to their specific needs. Because of AI’s ability to quickly process data, it can also be critical in automated grading and assessments that help students quickly get the feedback they need to measure their progress toward comprehension.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services
AI has been used in financial services to optimize digital banking applications, insurance offerings, and other fintech applications. Some of the more promising AI use cases are:
- Detecting and addressing possible instances of fraud
- Informing and analyzing trades algorithmically
- Providing customer service through chatbots
One particular area where functions like these have been impactful is in digital insurance platforms. Through automation, insurance corporations can more comfortably and capably connect clients to their policies and the benefits they rely on. Underwriters, policy managers, and client-facing personnel can leverage speedier responses to build a more effective rapport.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the manufacturing sector by enabling smarter, more efficient, and highly adaptive operations. Manufacturers are leveraging AI to process vast amounts of high-quality data from sensors, machines, and production lines, which allows for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. This means equipment failures can be anticipated and prevented, reducing downtime and maintenance costs. AI in manufacturing also excels at handling complex tasks, such as optimizing production schedules and supply chain logistics, by dynamically adapting to changing conditions and making intelligent decisions that maximize resource utilization.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Banking
The banking industry is rapidly adopting AI to enhance security, efficiency, and customer experience. One of the most prominent applications is in fraud detection and prevention. AI systems can analyze large volumes of transaction data in real time, identifying unusual patterns and flagging potentially fraudulent activities much faster and more accurately than traditional methods. This real-time decision-making capability is crucial for protecting both banks and their customers.
AI in banking is revolutionizing customer service through the use of chatbots and virtual assistants, which provide instant, personalized support and streamline routine inquiries. AI-driven algorithms are used for algorithmic trading, analyzing market data to inform and execute trades at optimal times. Banks are leveraging AI to personalize financial products and services, tailoring recommendations based on individual customer behaviors and preferences.
AI helps banks optimize internal processes, such as automating compliance checks and streamlining loan approval workflows. By efficiently processing large amounts of structured and unstructured data, AI enables banks to make better-informed decisions, reduce operational costs, and deliver a more seamless customer experience.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Professional Services
AI and ML are also widely used by other professional service providers beyond financial products and advisory. Faster turnaround times benefit consumer—and business-facing tax and accounting services.
Legal and compliance advisory teams benefit from greater capacity to take on a wider range of cases and consider more diverse and complex materials. General business consultancy and optimization experts can provide more acute, actionable advice in real-time.
For these reasons, technological innovation for professional service providers will be driven by industry-specific AI integration and AI services for years to come.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
Marketing and e-commerce were among the first major adopters of AI and ML tools, and for good reason. Artificial intelligence examples in marketing and e-commerce include:
- Segmenting and engaging specific audiences through personalization, for example, in customer loyalty programs
- Analyzing market data and suggesting strategies
- Optimizing customer support availability and quality
Ultimately, AI tools allow marketers to know their audiences better. By collecting and analyzing data more easily, marketers can create highly customized segments and actionable plans for targeting them.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Media and Telecommunications
Given the importance of effective and available communication channels to all business and private users, it stands to reason that technological innovations that broaden access could also benefit telecommunications and media platforms.
AI is one of the leading forces behind digital transformation in telecommunications because it allows providers to make more data available more efficiently, boosting users’ access to communication across online and IRL communities. Other critical elements AI empowers are robust infrastructure for scaling data platforms and seamless user capabilities, like instantaneous payments and transactions.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Retail
While it’s easy to understand how AI can help digital businesses, it’s not just eCommerce retailers who can benefit from its strengths. Brick-and-mortar and traditional retailers undergoing digital retail transformation can utilize AI tools for:
- Managing inventory and shortages proactively
- Personalizing customer shopping experiences
- Optimizing supply chain relationships
These capabilities empower optimal visibility and control over online and in-store operations, connecting all business segments seamlessly.
Retailers can also use AI’s marketing benefits to offer special promotions to loyal visitors and connect with them digitally to drive incremental shopping occasions. Loyalty programs, which formalize this process, can be a key way to leverage AI’s strengths in a traditional, in-person business model.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Hospitality
Hospitality can be overlooked when we think of AI innovation since it depends heavily on physical locations and service provision. However, the companies best positioned for success moving forward are those leveraging AI to optimize the in-person experience.
Among the segments of the hospitality industry that can benefit from the power of AI are companies that manage multiple brands simultaneously. Customers expect a brand to know their preferences regardless of their physical location. AI can help create a unified guest experience, regardless of where in the world they are and which brand they are interacting with.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Transportation
Another often-overlooked application of artificial intelligence is in the transportation and logistics industry, where AI tools power efficiency through functionalities like:
- Supplying and managing autonomous vehicles
- Predicting and adjusting based on traffic patterns
- Managing overall fleet and personnel efficiently
These benefits of AI apply across all major types and uses of transport services—on land, through the air, and over water. Fleet managers, cargo coordinators, dock and rail operators, and all stakeholders can rely on automation in vehicle operation and maintenance, payload assurance, and overall logistics for all stops along a route.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Tech and IT
Finally, one of AI’s more obvious but still critical uses is in IT and technology services. AI allows for quicker responses to common IT troubleshooting and service calls, which frees up bandwidth for professionals to focus on more nuanced problem-solving.
In broader tech management, automated monitoring exercises leverage AI for risk analysis and mitigation. AI and ML tools support smooth tech functionality within the industry and across every company that relies on internal or external IT support for its daily operations and long-term goals.
Overcoming Roadblocks to the Implementation of AI
While AI can be applied across nearly any industrial context, there are complications that can plague companies attempting industry-specific AI integration. Here are some of the biggest challenges to AI adoption, and how forward-thinking companies can get ahead of them to take full advantage of AI:
- Data quality is crucial to most AI solutions. Without quality inputs, an AI tool cannot create good outputs.
- Reluctance or lack of understanding across decision-making leaders can be a hurdle to realizing AI’s full potential in your organization.
- Skill gaps in the functions necessary to implement AI solutions can make adoption much more difficult.
- Challenges related to integrating AI into existing infrastructure can make rollouts more complicated.
- Because the applications of AI are still so new, accessing the moral and legal challenges it may present can be daunting.
- AI is only as good as its training data. Understanding the potential to introduce bias in AI systems is an important part of establishing new tools in any organization.
While these challenges can make it tempting to maintain the status quo, AI will be an important part of the future success of many businesses. The good news is, the right implementation partner can help you anticipate and mitigate the challenges inherent in adopting new technology.
Leveraging AI in Digital Product Development
AI will be an important tool in the future of digital product development across many different business types. Using AI in business means elevating what’s possible for data collection and analysis. That, in turn, gives companies unparalleled access to data for planning, creating, selling, deploying, and managing products.
According to one landmark Forbes Advisor study on business uses of AI, some of the most prominent ways companies are using generative AI solutions in 2024 include:
- About 46% of businesses use AI for internal communications, which includes design teams’ planning and coordination during product development.
- About 33% of businesses use generative AI solutions to write website content, driving traffic pre- and post-launch, and 44% use it to write content in other languages.
Both functions directly impact product development and deployment.
In addition, companies are using AI to power tertiary functions that support product development without directly impacting it, as over 50% are using AI to detect and address cybersecurity concerns.
These potential concerns are all the more reason why an intentional approach to AI is critical, no matter what industries or use cases a company is straddling.
Use AI Effectively Across Your Digital Products
Overall, applications of artificial intelligence in industry exist for every business and industry-specific need. Companies in healthcare, education, finance, professional services, marketing, communications, retail, hospitality, transportation, and tech have some of the most exciting uses for practical AI applications.
Hexaware’s Generative AI services help companies of all sizes and across all industries take advantage of AI’s benefits. Because we believe in the promise of ML and advanced technologies, we’re ready to help your organization’s leaders and stakeholders plan, implement, and manage these tools for digital transformation and full-scale optimization.
Get in touch today to learn more about our AI services and approach to AI implementation.
