Big Data is impacting every industry. If your company sells software tools, then you have access to your customer's usage patterns, such as peak use times and how they are using the service. If you sell products, you have data about your customers' purchases, order frequency, and franchise (delivery) locations. Even on the surface of the data, this information can help your employees predict future demand. But data also reveals deeper trends.

AI can find profitable patterns in your customer data.

IBM's Watson is an artificial intelligence that has been tested in multiple industries and across all aspects of sales and marketing pipelines. This has fostered the growth of multiple AI systems that can use patterns to help you:

• forecast likely closes. Whether you have a public or private company, accurate forecasting is one of the most important tools for future funding or public confidence. Salesforce's AI can predict which sales opportunities are going to close in a given month or quarter based on past performance and demonstrated urgency. Once your salespeople know which sales are a priority during the last week before the quarter end, they will operate more efficiently.
• find out which clients are your most profitable. Some clients bring you a lot of revenue. But they use up your legal team's hours with contract negotiations, fight the pricing on every line item, and keep customer service on the line. Other customers have a less impressive sales total but cost next to nothing to maintain. While both client types, and all of the customers in between, are valuable, knowing more about your customers means you can plan your future sales strategies.

No one knows how artificial intelligence will transform business in the next five years. But it's changing how businesses compile and analyze their data today for smarter profits. Go to folio1 to read more about how artificial intelligence is finding new patterns and opening up new markets in every industry.