An AI assistant, a form of artificial intelligence, utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP) and other AI technologies to perform various tasks that can aid and replace sections of daily work, otherwise being done manually.
One of these tasks is understanding and responding to human inquiries. Unlike traditional chatbots, though, AI assistants can retrieve answers intelligently through the knowledge bases they are connected to (Google Drive, Slack, Jira, Notion, etc.). Think of it as your workplace’s Google.
For example, when a customer asks an assistant about the company leave policy, an AI virtual assistant can analyze the question, retrieve relevant data from all company information it has access to, and provide an accurate response to the employee.
Since the assistant is backed by artificial intelligence, it can work through phrasing or spelling errors, nuanced questions, and much more.
In this way, they can act as – and even replace – help desks at companies (traditionally called HR/IT helpdesks).
But that’s not all.
There’s a lot you can do with an AI chat assistant, adding incredible value to your time at work.
Read on to find out 8 ways in which you can make the most of it:
1. Employee Helpdesk & Workplace search
Ordinarily, an employee would ask a question or search for something at work and wait – on HR or ‘the right person’ – to get back to them and resolve their query. This could be both highly time consuming and frustrating.
AI personal assistants can sift through extensive workplace databases (like Google Drive, Slack) to provide immediate answers with zero wait-time. Moreover, when the intelligent assistant feels like it does not have the answer, it can direct the employee seeking information to the exact person who can step in.
This feature is especially beneficial for quick resolution of common queries, eliminating the wait time typically associated with human responses.
This means, for instance, that asking about company policies or specific project details can yield instant, accurate answers, thereby enhancing efficiency.
This is also very helpful for HR teams, as it frees up a lot of their time answering the same queries on loop. In fact, companies with a highly effective HR service desk experience a 23% increase in employee productivity. (HDR)
2. Generate a first draft – of anything – using Generative AI
One of the most daunting work phenomena can be a blank slate – the beginning of a campaign or an empty page that you have to fill up with meaningful words.
Whether it’s crafting emails, reports, or marketing content, AI email assistants equipped with generative AI development capabilities can produce high-quality first drafts.
This not only saves time but also sparks creativity by suggesting diverse writing styles and ideas.
3. Summarize & understand: Tl;dr wherever required
AI assistants can summarize lengthy documents, research papers, or news articles, offering quick insights without the need for extensive reading.
Alternatively, you can use an online text summarizer for a quick summary of any thread, long text, or messages.
You can also use conversational AI to summarize Slack threads, thereby saving time and staying aligned on discussions and updates.
4. Data Analysis
Well-built, powerful assistant ai tools can even be used to perform complex data analysis that you would ordinarily spend hours on or need an external tool for. Plus, AI can identify patterns and trends that might be missed by the human eye.
AI assistants with this valuable GPT-4 ability also allow you to save the extra dollars you’d be paying for a separate tool with data analytics as a feature.
Here’s an example of this from the intelligent AI tool, Albus –
5. Get 360° insights into all activities at work
This one’s especially useful for leadership roles. Since an intelligent assistant is connected to all important knowledge bases, leaders can leverage it to get 360° perspective across teams and projects.
This can save hours of time spent in calls and meetings asking for updates or aligning various stakeholders.
Leaders can make informed decisions and quickly identify areas needing attention.
6. Onboarding, simplified
The impact of AI in knowledge management extends to onboarding new employees as well.
AI assistants can provide learning paths and resources, speeding up the acclimatization process and ensuring that new team members have all the information they need at their fingertips.
New hires also thereby have the opportunity to direct their queries without hesitation or self-consciousness, learning faster and feeling more at ease. This effectively reduces a new hire’s time to productivity (thereby saving costs), as well as increases retention.
7. Know your team better
Find the experts in your team –
The AI personal assistant can help you find people that you’re looking for.
- For example, if you’re looking for someone with a specific kind of expertise – say SEO – the assistant can, through its training on company databases, zero in on them and lead you to them.
- The assistant can also scan Slack conversations and make meaning out of them, from noting specific hobbies of people to tracking people’s behavioral trends and what they talk more about. This opens up a host of possibilities in terms of collaboration and forming connections in much less time.
Read trends and patterns –
With the dashboards that AI tools come with, you can get game-changing insights into your team.
You can monitor usage and performance with detailed reporting and analytics and understand what your team is searching for most often, what their pain points are, and where processes can be streamlined and improved.
8. Improve productivity
More than anything, an AI assistant can help you save valuable time that can be directed towards meaningful and productive work.
You can eliminate manual and repetitive tasks, get everything you want from a helpdesk, move faster with better workplace search, improve employee experience (like this online education platform did!), and automate processes. This also leads to more engaged employees.
All of this can be done by an intelligent AI assistant that can be customized as per the company’s and its employees’ preferences (think personalities, tone, and features), and that can have different use-cases across the company for various departments.
So meet your new sidekick, the personal assistant with an AI-powered cape (or, in the case of Albus, robes!), and fly on to save the world from tedious and unproductive hours!
