Abolaji Adebayo 
As the global business community are embracing full scale technology in their daily ventures, Nigerian investors have been advised to follow suit by keying into the huge Artificial Intelligence market in Africa in order to attract revenue into the country. According to the United Nations, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 – of which $1.2 trillion could be generated by Africa.
With the potential to unlock significant growth and development in key industries across the continent, AI is fundamentally changing how businesses operate, driving innovation, improving efficiencies, and transforming lives. Giving the advice in a document made available to New Telegraph, the Country Manager, Zoho Nigeria, Kehinde Ogundare, noted that businesses of all sizes that have already invested in AI were reaping its benefits, from increasing business productivity and agility to improving customer experience and decision making with McKinsey, noting that AI leaders were outperforming their industry peers.
“But if businesses are to make the most of the opportunities offered by AI, it’s also important that it be deployed in the areas where it will have the greatest impact,” he stated. He, therefore, highlighted some areas and subsequent examples of how businesses can use AI within those areas to drive revenue. One of the areas he mentioned is finance and billing. According to him, one of the most obvious places AI can help drive revenue in a business is in finances and billing.
He explained: “Having an accurate, up-to-date overview of finances can help an organisation know when to invest in growth, for example. And if a business wants a steady revenue flow, it must send out bills, invoices, and payment reminders on time. “Here, AI can help in several ways. When it comes to expense bills, for example, an AI tool with built-in image recognition would allow a business to scan its bills with the system, then auto-generate the amount, place, date, time, and category of expense, helping save loads of time and effort.
For billing, meanwhile, AI can greatly speed up the onboarding process for new clients by automating large parts of it. “AI-powered tools can also extract relevant information from invoices, including customer details and product descriptions, and automatically populate billing systems, creating further efficiency. “Another key area is new business leads. More specifically, AI can help assess the calibre of leads that the sales team is bringing in. After all, two or three great leads can be more beneficial than 10 weak ones.
“Using a points-based system, AI can help score leads according to their quality. That allows the sales team to better evaluate which leads are worth pursuing. In turn, that should allow them to make more sales at a more meaningful level. “Improved customer experience. Customer experience (CX), rather than product or price differences, has been the major differentiator for businesses for some time now. Customers are willing to spend more, are more likely to stay loyal, and recommend a business to friends and family if they have a good experience with it.
