Chatbots, voice messaging systems, and data conversion are all forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) anyone who owns a smartphone uses regularly. Even tech designed to certify if you’re a real person is one of the many forms of AI.
Technology should make life easier, and AI is a glowing example of how that mission continues progressing. Whether you want to improve communication with your community, network with other nonprofits you support, or use data to widen your impact, AI will let you focus on what really matters — the people.
When you position your organization for AI success, you open your team to many growth opportunities.
What is AI?
The concept of AI today isn’t robots with feelings that look like Haley Joel Osment. It’s technology that’s intuitive and accessible and that’s meant to minimize menial tasks for the members of your organization and improve interactions and relationships with your community.
Some form of AI can likely perform any consistent, repeatable task. For example, suppose your IT department constantly resolves the same issue for team members. The IT team can teach AI the solution. Then an AI help desk can give individual team members the information when needed. This AI solution frees your IT team to focus on other challenges instead of constantly resolving the same issue.
Why is AI Important?
AI is the latest trend in the world of technology, but it’s also the latest shift in business strategy.
AI comes in various scopes and functions, so responsibility for any mundane tasks can likely be moved to an AI program. Programs mine social data, improve relationships with people who interact with your organization, and easily manage your assets.
While introducing new tech takes time and money, any organization can benefit from all AI has to offer.
Position Your Organization for AI
Teaching the AI program about your business is critical to its success. Any program will need relevant concrete data to function, so you want to ensure it’s working with the right information from the beginning.
As you integrate AI, ensure you balance the new programming with existing storage, graphics processing unit (gpu), networking, and security. AI can’t do what it’s designed to without machine learning and storage for large amounts of data.
When you position your organization for AI, it helps you:
- Create a Wide Online Footprint. Content marketing makes up a huge portion of broader marketing strategies. AI programs like Jasper improve the efficiency of creating content, so you can expand your organization’s reach.
- Apply for Awards. Many applications, whether for awards or grants, require the same materials for submission. The more you teach an AI program about your business, the easier and more lucrative this process will be.
- Contribute Articles and Expertise. You can use AI to share your specialized knowledge with the communities who need it. AI is a simple way to increase your interactions with groups outside of your organization, expanding your reach and improving the quality of direct interactions.
- Serve and Join Industry Organizations. Networking is a huge part of almost any growth strategy. You can use AI to support other nonprofits and learn from existing programs to find the right fit for your organization.
- Update Website Content. Keeping your website up to date often falls to one of the last priorities on your list. When AI understands your organization, you can automate this process, meaning it’s one less thing you have to worry about keeping track of.
Integrating AI Into Your Organization
Members of your organization might be wary about job security when you introduce new technology that streamlines their daily activities. AI can’t replace human intuition or interaction. AI aims to make your team members’ lives easier as your organization grows and their volume of work increases.
To implement AI:
- Encourage Experimentation. The members of your organization are already tracking and creating data with every interaction, whether it’s with people or the tech they use to manage business assets. Teaching them to integrate AI into this process will make the technology function more efficiently over time. A pilot program can improve your members’ understanding of new programming and help your organization determine if the AI works as it should.
- Create Processes and Policies. As you expand the amount of data and storage your organization requires, it’s crucial to also broaden the security surrounding them for digital safekeeping. This security includes ensuring that your team members understand how to use it properly.
- Determine the Strategic Role. AI can solve a myriad of challenges affecting your organization’s success. The most crucial part of integrating AI into your organization is ensuring it solves the problem it was meant to solve. Understanding the role you want AI to play in your organization will help you encourage team members to embrace it.
- Initiate Dialogue. Communication should always be encouraged in your organization, and your team members’ experience and relationship with AI is no different. Feedback from your team will show you if the AI is solving the problem it was designed to and show you where there’s still room for improvement.
- Diversify Your Data. AI is more than just algorithms. It’s a way to connect with your community by improving the quality of their experience. It may seem counterintuitive, but bringing AI into your organization’s strategy will open up your team’s time for other work they care about. AI will make human-to-human interactions deeper and more meaningful.
Impact of AI
With a clear purpose and vision, AI can enhance customer support, increase engagement and efficiency, and ease daily functions. If you can expect a person to figure something out easily from the data available, then AI probably can too. Teaching AI about your organization becomes critical the more you grow.
Use AI to:
- Build Brand Awareness. Get the word out about your organization through automated content creation. AI programming can help build brand awareness internally as well as externally. Your branding is the first thing people see and understand about your organization, and you want what they see to reflect what you truly stand for.
- Increase Site Traffic. Use AI to understand what your website’s audience is looking for. You can cultivate a broader community by implementing AI programs that drive new users to your site based on their social data.
- Increase Internal Efficiencies. The old adage “there’s an app for that” has never been more true. Whether it’s responding to frequently asked questions, improving communication within your organization, or taking notes with voice-to-text, AI has your back. Improve internal efficiency, and your environment will increase in positivity as people focus on the tasks they want to do instead of the menial tasks they must do. Every department could likely benefit from an existing form of AI.
- Improve Decision-Making. You want to have all the information before making any major decision about your organization. With AI data mining capabilities, you’ll better understand where and when changes need to happen.
Let AI Solve Problems
Once you have a clear understanding of the problem you want solved in your organization, you can begin to navigate the process of seeking out and integrating AI programming to help you solve it. Set reasonable goals and remember that your community is the beating heart of your organization. AI can help you communicate with them efficiently and gain a better understanding of how you can serve them to the best of your ability.
Contact CauseLabs to learn more about unique AI programs and solutions to help you better serve your community.
