How artificial intelligence is changing corporate communications

Open-mindedness is one of the most important qualities for employees in corporate communications. Nevertheless, many of them are very skeptical about new technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence. However, it would be just as wrong to cheer every technology trend as it would be to categorically reject it from the outset. Instead, it is crucial to carefully examine the new possibilities. If you don't want to miss out on technological progress, you have to get to grips with the possibilities. On the one hand, companies - including SMEs - should overcome their fear of contact, but on the other hand they should also define their own limits.

Save time

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we communicate: Digital, voice-controlled assistants help to get relevant information faster, order things or even edit photos and graphics. There are functions such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text, translations of texts and even conversations, automated image recognition or automated text creation. Automating recurring processes saves a lot of time and improves the throughput and outcome of corporate communications enormously.

Gaining new insights

Artificial intelligence can not only save time, but also provide completely new insights. By analysing behaviour, e.g. on social media, but also calls and conversations, evaluating and interpreting facial expressions or body signals such as heart and breathing rate, algorithms can not only find out what a person wants at a certain moment - they can also recognize how they are feeling at that moment or what makes them tick in general. With this knowledge, not only can the specific approach be changed, but also the specific portfolio of offers, right down to the individual price.

If you don't engage with AI, it will cost you your job

The Austrian management scientist Fredmund Malik says that he knows of no successful manager who has not adapted their working methods several times in the course of their life. This is precisely the opportunity that artificial intelligence opens up. AI can perform highly specialized, repetitive tasks - much faster and better than humans. The creative sector is no exception. Automation and artificial intelligence offer new career opportunities for those who embrace them. After all, who in corporate communications doesn't complain that they no longer have enough time to develop a good strategy or meaningful messaging? What artificial intelligence cannot do today and will not be able to do tomorrow, however, is replace a communications job with a wide range of tasks. In the medium term, however, there will be significantly more fact-oriented people in marketing departments alongside the traditional people-oriented employees who are better able to analyze data and cope with the new, data-driven technologies.

Inform yourself first, then set goals and limits

Companies are well advised to make time and resources available for the necessary steps in corporate communications. In order to set realistic goals and limits, the department must first get an idea of the current status of technical possibilities and application scenarios. Industry associations, trade fair and congress organizers often offer presentations and workshops on trending topics. In-house workshops are also possible. While the objectives are usually defined quickly, it is much more difficult to draw the boundaries in the first step. It may be that the question of where the sensible limits to the use of AI are in your own company can only be answered conclusively in the next step.

Research and experimentation

By experimenting with automation and AI, corporate communications is training its future viability. When researching suitable tools, it is advisable to appoint someone from the department who is both tech-savvy and speaks English well. Many technology providers offer free trial accounts and also support users in experimenting.

Testing and implementation

In principle, every company can carry out every step on the path to automation and artificial intelligence itself - including testing and implementation. Ultimately, it is purely a question of time as to whether a company wants to rely on external experts or would prefer to build up the expertise completely in-house.

Conclusion

Change in corporate communications is omnipresent. Medium-sized companies also need to accept this - and play an active role in shaping change. A healthy skepticism towards overly rosy promises regarding artificial intelligence is definitely advisable. But it would be fatal to use it to excuse your own inactivity.