Pope Francis issued a warning on artificial intelligence Tuesday, urging those behind the technology to “be vigilant” during their work.
The Pope made the statement in his message marking New Year’s Day, which the Vatican traditionally releases far in advance. Francis, 86, has joked in the past that he is far from technologically savvy, but said Tuesday that AI must be used in a “responsible way.”
“Pope Francis calls for an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies, endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects. He recalls the need to be vigilant and to work so that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded,” the message read.
“The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law,” the statement said.
The Pope most recently made news for his health troubles, having to undergo multiple operations both for his knee and abdomen.
He said this weekend that his recovery from his latest abdominal surgery is going well. Some observers were concerned that he had ditched planned speeches during a recent trip to Portugal, but he stressed that he spoke off-the-cuff not because he was tired or feeling unwell, but to better communicate with young people.
Francis is far from the first major figure to remark on the potential dangers of AI. Roughly 2,0000 tech experts signed a letter in May urging caution around the technology and calling for a six-month pause in development.
That call went unheeded by major players in the industry like OpenAI, the company behind the massively popular ChatGPT.
Do terms like “AI” and “machine learning” make you think of robots and science fiction?
These technologies are being used everywhere, and the age of AI is already in full swing.
AI and technology offer a solution to inefficiency. Deloitte has shown that 83 percent of early adopters of AI and cognitive technologies achieved either “moderate” or “substantial” benefits.
AI is somewhat part of augmented intelligence tools’ technology, but how is it used in marketing right now?
What is Augmented Intelligence?
Gartner defines “augmented intelligence” as “a human-centric partnership model of people and artificial intelligence working together to enhance cognitive performance.”
What that means is that augmented intelligence isn’t just about creating super smart machines. It’s about creating technology that can help you and your brain do things better.
Augmented intelligence is sometimes also called intelligence automation (IA).
How is Augmented Intelligence Different From Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence is all about computers making decisions. But augmented intelligence is about you making better decisions, with the help of a computer.
Let’s dive into some specific examples so we can see how this works:
Artificial Intelligence Examples
Artificial intelligence operates on its own, without help from humans.
That might make you think of autonomous killer robots, but the reality is usually a little less exciting.
Ever used a grammar checker tool? Lots of those use AI to give you more sophisticated grammar recommendations.
Even Google Docs uses an AI grammar checker. Google’s engineers train the model using correct sentences. It’s then able to predict whether sentences are correct or incorrect on its own, without needing to be programmed with every single grammar rule.
Know where else Google uses AI? In its search engine algorithms.
Now that we’ve seen how AI is used, how is augmented intelligence used? How are its applications different from AI?
Augmented intelligence is a pretty general term. You can use it to talk about basically any machine that helps humans enhance their capabilities and make better decisions, even something as simple as a compass or telescope.
But in practice, augmented intelligence is usually used to talk about automated systems that need direction or input from humans to function. Augmented reality tools, like Google Glass, are just one example.
The augmented intelligence tool gives recommendations, and then the human makes the final call. Feedback from humans helps the tool to learn and grow continuously.
Why would you want to use augmented intelligence when you could use “true AI?” Well, augmented intelligence allows us to do more with the technology we currently have, without needing to wait for AI to advance.
It also adds a human element to the decision-making process, which can be helpful for complying with regulation in some industries. Plus, with augmented intelligence, we can take advantage of new technologies while also continuing to use human talent.
But the best thing about augmented intelligence? When humans and machines work together, they can achieve better results than one or the other working alone.
For example, an experiment by a team from a Harvard Medical School hospital at the Camelyon Grand Challenge showed that an algorithm could accurately detect breast cancer 92% of the time, while a human pathologist accurately detected it 96% of the time. When the pathologist worked together with the algorithm, the results were accurate 99% of the time.
Overall, augmented intelligence is just a different philosophy that can help us get the most from AI, without needing really sophisticated capabilities.
How Can Augmented Intelligence Help Your Business?
The truth is, augmented intelligence can do huge things for your company.
There are tons of different ways to use augmented intelligence. There’s probably an IA application out there that can help you streamline and improve every single area of your business.
Here’s an example: Augmented intelligence can help you sell things online.
Think about the last time you thought about buying something online. What were some reasons you might have hesitated before making a purchase?
You might not want to lay out money for certain items before trying them out in person. Furniture, glasses, clothes are examples of products users want to see how they look up close before you buy.
Enter augmented intelligence. With augmented reality (AR) applications, your customers can “try on” things virtually. Even if they’d prefer to shop from home, they can still get a feel for your merchandise.
Want to know how this works in practice? Check out some of the companies using augmented reality to sell furniture (Wayfair), glasses (EyeBuyDirect), and makeup (MAC Cosmetics).
To use the virtual try-on tools, you can upload a photo or open your webcam, and the tool will show you what the product looks like in real life.
But sales isn’t the only area where augmented intelligence can help your business.
Want to make your product safer? Car companies are already using augmented reality to help drivers spot dangers on the road and avoid looking down at their phones.
Want to thrill your customers with a cool new feature? Google did that when they introduced internet searchers to AR animals.
You can improve your customer service with augmented intelligence, too. Chatbots can help answer some more straightforward customer questions, freeing up more time for your human staff. IA can also help support your customer service reps when they need more information to help customers.
Finally, just like with sales, product, and customer service, augmented intelligence tools can take your marketing efforts to the next level.
Here are three crucial reasons why you should use augmented intelligence tools to supercharge your marketing.
If you use augmented intelligence to create an extra cool or innovative product, your marketing will basically be halfway done for you. An awesome customer experience pretty much markets itself. Just look at all the videos people have made about Google’s AR animals:
Check out all these articles people have written about Wayfair’s augmented reality feature for furniture:
If you make something interesting enough, you might end up getting lots of new backlinks and traffic without even trying.
Besides creating new product features, you can also improve your customer experience with augmented intelligence in other ways.
For instance, customers are more likely to be satisfied if they can get their questions answered faster with technology like automated chatbots, as mentioned above.
You can also use augmented intelligence to help personalize the customer experience. An example of this would be user recommendations. You’ve probably seen these on YouTube on the right-hand side:
And on Amazon as suggested product examples:
These websites use algorithms to make recommendations based on the videos you’ve already watched or products you’ve already shown interest in. When you click on a recommendation, you’re sending a signal to the algorithm that the recommendation was relevant.
Recommendations help you offer a better experience by helping your customers find things they might be interested in. They are also a way to convince customers to stay on your website for longer.
Augmented Intelligence Can Reduce Busywork
Another major reason why companies are interested in automation is that it saves time. According to WorkMarket’s 2020 In(Sight) Report, over half of employees think they could save 240 hours every yearthrough automation.
IA can help your marketing department save time in lots of different ways. If you’re currently using data for strategic planning, augmented intelligence tools can help.
You can use these tools to help clean data sets, forecast future trends with predictive modeling, or even keep an eye on competitors, social trends, and customer feedback. This can help you create more effective marketing plans more quickly.
If you decide to use augmented intelligence in your marketing, you won’t be alone. According to a Forrester report, 46% of respondents say that marketing and sales teams are leading AI adoption.
It’s no wonder marketers are excited to adopt this technology. Hubspot found that using AI software cut the time one agency spent on reporting by 97 percent.
Augmented Intelligence Can Help Write Content
Here’s another way that augmented intelligence can help with your marketing: It can help you write better content, faster.
If you’re a marketer, you know that writing quality content takes serious time and effort.
A survey by Orbit Media Studios states that the average blog post takes almost four hours to write. That’s actually a 63% increase over 2014, when the average blog post took just under 2.5 hours.
If you’re wondering why the writing time has gone up so much, it’s because Google’s algorithm updates have started to favor long-form content.
Besides the actual writing, researching, adding photos, and publishing also take up lots of time, not to mention content planning and SEO.
Augmented intelligence can helpfully write text, but it can’t add much research, facts, or emotions to it.
AI’s writing style can be a little different from what we’re used to, so it needs human polishing.
As you can see, AI can write sentences, but you might need to edit or adjust them to fit your content needs.
Even if you don’t want a robot to write your articles, you can still use augmented intelligence tools to help you in your writing. Spelling and grammar checkers, like Grammarly, are a good example of this.
Augmented intelligence can also help you create better content by coming up with more relevant topics for your audience.
To do that, you’ll need to have the best tools, including artificial intelligence.
However, a lot of people are skeptical about AI. In fact, research by PwC shows that 67% of CEOs think AI and automation will have a negative impact on trust in their industry over the next five years.
With augmented intelligence tools, you don’t have to rely on AI alone. Instead, you can use AI’s strengths and human strengths together to get better results.
If you’ve already started using augmented intelligence in your marketing, or if you’re thinking about using it soon, tell us about your experience in the comments.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
Business intelligence software has become a necessary tool in the era of big data.
Your organization collects tons of data about your customers, website, and total health of the company. But without BI software, making sense of that information is nearly impossible. This software exists so you can analyze various data sets and make data-driven decisions.
For example, you can use BI software to predict consumer buying behavior or project the financial impact of an operations decision. Rather than waiting for a quarterly or annual report, you can leverage BI software for real-time data insights.
Due to the complexity of business intelligence software, the vast majority of tools in this category are designed for large organizations, SMBs, and enterprises.
The Top 6 Options For Business Intelligence Software
How to Choose the Best Business Intelligence Software For You
Finding the right BI software for your business can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for. I’ve created a simple buying guide with features, factors, and elements that must be taken into consideration as you’re shopping around. Keep an eye out for the following aspects of BI software as you’re comparing solutions and narrowing down your options:
Data Reporting
Remember, the number one reason why companies invest in BI software is to make sense of their data. So it’s only natural that data reporting itself would rank so high on our list of factors to evaluate.
The best BI tools turn complex data into visuals that are easy to understand. You can view this information from real-time dashboards or turn them into individual reports.
Being able to share these reports with decision-makers, stakeholders, clients, and other members of your team is also something that must be considered. Users that generate the reports won’t always be the people making sense of that information. So the reports must be easy enough to comprehend by the final decision-makers.
Data Sources
How are you going to integrate your existing data with your BI solution? Where is that data located?
Don’t make things more confusing for yourself. Make sure you find a business intelligence tool that makes it easy for you to connect with your existing data sources. It’s worth noting that not every business intelligence software on the market will integrate with specific databases. So don’t make assumptions; always double-check that your data is compatible with the software in question.
Your BI software should seamlessly integrate with help desk tools, CRM, ERP software, advertising networks, and more. The best tools should accommodate cross-platform access to every user as well.
Development Tools
Some business intelligence software will improve the way you collect data as well.
Your in-house developers or IT department might want to implement custom application development into your processes. Certain tools will have pre-built analytics apps for you to use. Other solutions offer developers an open API, making things easier for developers to customize apps with unique rules.
Setup and Deployment
Unlike other types of business software on the market today, BI tools are a bit more complex. Getting started isn’t really as simple as clicking “sign up” and being done.
These solutions are highly customizable and built specifically for your business. The deployment process could potentially take weeks, depending on the software you choose. You’ll be faced with options for on-premises deployment, hybrid server deployment, desktop software, and cloud software deployment.
Cloud software is a great option for businesses on a tighter budget. This deployment method makes BI tools more easily accessible to smaller companies. But large organizations with complex data sets and custom needs would likely benefit more from on-site deployment.
Ease of Use
Again, BI software can be complicated.
If it’s your first time using this type of software, don’t overwhelm yourself with a solution built for seasoned veterans.
Think about who will be using the software on a day-to-day basis. Is it your IT team? Sales reps? Product managers? Developers and tech-savvy individuals won’t have as steep of a learning curve as the average user.
Just make sure you understand the difference between tools that require advanced technical knowledge and software for beginners. Beginners should avoid software that’s built for data engineers.
The Different Types of Business Intelligence Software
Business intelligence software can be segmented into different categories based on its primary functionality or toolset. Here’s a quick overview and explanation of the most popular types of BI software available on the market today.
Data Visualization Software
As the name implies, data visualization software helps you analyze complex data sheets with visual tools. Visual reporting is arguably the best way to make sense of large sets of data. You can turn huge data sets into meaningful reports in a matter of minutes. This makes it much easier for decision-makers to analyze the insights.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Business process management software is a component of business intelligence. These tools are also a core component of operational management and intelligence.
BPM software leverages automation and improves the efficiency of day-to-day processes. You can find business process management functionality within BI software.
OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
OLAP software leverages tools that help analyze data from several sources. These interactive solutions provide a multidimensional view for each user (such as different department heads). OLAP tools will consolidate and aggregate different operational data.
Embedded BI Software
Embedded BI software is exactly what it sounds like. These tools are integrated directly within your applications for process management. They can also be embedded in operations portals, websites, portals, and other types of business-related systems.
ETL Software
ETL (extract, transform, and load) software combines data from different sources into a single dashboard. Then the software will blend these various data sets and make sense of them in terms that the end-user can understand.
Data Mining
You can use data mining tools to identify patterns in your data sets. Data mining software typically leverages tools like machine learning and AI to uncover these patterns for data-driven decision making.
#1 – TIBCO Jaspersoft Review — Best For Embedded Analytics
TIBCO Jaspersoft is a developer-friendly business intelligence solution. The software uses embedded BI, which brings the power of business intelligence directly into your company’s applications.
The dashboards are ultimately displayed within the interface of the application to enhance the end-user experience and improve decision-making in real-time.
More than 500,000 developers across different industries use TIBCO Jaspersoft to improve applications for millions of users. Here are some of the other reasons why this BI tool ranks so high on my list:
Customizable visual reporting
Production reporting for high volume distribution to the masses
Javascript API for embedding
Deploy using any method with an agnostic architecture that’s 100% open
Pre-configured multi-tenant support
Ad hoc self-service reporting
Big data connectivity for native reporting and real-time analytics
The tool is a bit unique in the sense that it’s built for developers but enhances the decision making for end users. If you don’t have a technical background, you won’t really be qualified to deploy this on your own.
Try TIBCO Jaspersoft free for 30 days to see if it’s right for your business before buying.
#2 – Entrinsik Informer Review — Best For Analyzing Multiple Departments
Entrinsik Informer is perfect for large organizations that collect data from multiple sources and need to make sense of that information within different departments.
The software makes it easy for you to connect data from the cloud, spreadsheets, unstructured web data, traditional databases, enterprise applications, and more, and aggregate it within a single source.
It’s a popular choice for manufacturing, insurance, distribution, education, and government organizations. Noteworthy features and highlights of Entrinsik Informer include:
On-demand self-service reporting
Powerful data visualizations
Ability to evaluate roles of end-users across your organization
Streamline data workflows
Faster access to data with curated subsets of information
Aggregated data flows for higher quality data
Robust governance and security features including team roles and custom security levels
Flexible architecture for endless extensibility
For businesses seeking a fast and simple way to discover intelligent data, this will be a top choice to consider.
Users across your entire organization, such as department managers, business users, industry partners, data scientists, executives, database admins, and more, can all see unique information within Entrinsik Informer based on their needs and role.
Schedule a free demo to learn more.
#3 – Zoho Analytics Review — The Best For Data Visualization
More than 500,000 companies and 2+ million users rely on Zoho Analytics for business intelligence. It’s trusted by well-known brands like HP, Hyundai, Ikea, and Suzuki.
Compared to other solutions on our list, Zoho Analytics is definitely a bit more user-friendly. If you’re just getting your feet wet with BI software, this tool won’t have as steep of a learning curve.
My favorite part about Zoho Analytics is the visual reporting. Non-technical users can easily navigate within the platform to create and view custom reports that are easy to comprehend. Other features and benefits include:
Ability to embed analytics in your product, website, portal, or application
Integrates with 500+ tools out of the box
Secure team collaboration features
Augmented analytics powered by AI
Blend data from multiple sources into single dashboards
Assess the health of your entire organization across each department
Customize reports with drag-and-drop dashboard
White-labeling capabilities with ability to fully re-brand the portal
Powerful HTTP-based web APIs for scalability and extensibility
You can even access your BI reports on the go with the Zoho Analytics app, available on iOS and Android.
Zoho Analytics is the best beginner-friendly BI software on the market today. Plans start at $22 per month, and you can try it free for 15 days.
#4 – Sisense Review — The Best BI Software For Complex Data
Sisense is one of the most popular BI tools on the market today. It’s used by developers, business leaders, product managers, and data professionals alike.
The software is trusted by 10,000+ companies, including well-known brands like GE, Verizon, Motorola, Wix, Hewlett Packard, and the Salvation Army.
Sisense has industry-specific solutions in categories like retail, healthcare, government, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain management, and more. They also have solutions that are tailored toward specific departments within your organization.
Noteworthy highlights of Sisense include:
Ability to create powerful analytics applications
Self-service analytics for each user
Cloud-native data analytics
Ability to embed analytics with full customization
Deploy on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid deployment with Windows or Linux
Seamlessly integrate Sisense with your existing tools and branding
Secure access to information at the object, data, and system levels
Users of any technical skill level can use Sisense to transform complex data sets into interactive dashboards. Watch the demo and request a free quote to get started.
#5 – Chartio Review — Best For Simple Charts and Dashboards
Chartio is a cloud-based BI solution. It empowers users of varying technical backgrounds to analyze data from business applications.
The tool makes it easy for you to simplify data with charts and dashboards for more informed decision making.
Here’s a closer look at some of the top reasons why your business should consider using Chartio for business intelligence:
Easy to share visuals in embedded web pages, Slack, PDFs, and more
Tools for product managers, sales teams, and customer success
Self-service functionality for all users (C-suite, sales reps, etc.)
Easy to browse data with visual SQL
Connect all data from multiple sources (Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, etc.)
Create and save custom themes
Collaboration and team chat tools
Chartio also provides exceptional support. They view themselves as a strategic partner in your success. So they provide you with live training, extensive documentation, and access to experienced data advisors.
Plans start at $40 per user per month. You can try Chartio free for 14 days with a no-obligation trial.
#6 – Tableau Review — Most Versatile BI Software
Tableau is an industry leader in the business intelligence space. The software is trusted by individual analysts, small teams, large organizations, and everything in between.
They offer a wide range of BI tools, including Tableau Desktop, Tableau Online, Tableau Server, Tableau CRM, embedded analytics, server management, data management, and more. The list goes on and on.
In addition to the extensive product offerings and use cases, Tableau also has industry-specific solutions, and tools based on different types of technology, making it the most versatile software in this category.
Top features of Tableau include:
Cross-platform support (desktop, browser, mobile) and embedded analytics
Team collaboration tools
Advanced analytics displayed in powerful visual interface
Easy to connect with data from multiple sources (Google Analytics, Salesforce, etc.)
Ability to map your data
Overall, Tableau is robust and feature-rich. The only real downside is that it can be tough to figure out with so many capabilities. But it can still be used by developers and non-technical users alike.
You can try Tableau for free with a 14-day trial.
Summary
Business intelligence software has rapidly gained popularity over the past few years. If your organization is ready to take your data analysis to the next level, I strongly suggest investing in a BI solution.
Which business intelligence tool is the best?
Just use the buying guide I outlined at the beginning of this article to help narrow down your options. Then start by exploring the top picks reviewed above.
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