Business Intelligence

Introduction

For many years ago there was not much imagination into what the world would become in future as compared to what it really is nowadays. The much that people could foresee was the population growth, the cultural change due to migration and may be the structures especially in housing. However, every level of technological advance is usually seen as the last step in the area only for more to be discovered later on. There have been many changes in technology some of them new discoveries and others as modification of the earlier discoveries (Stapleton, 1997). Others are a combination of two or more discoveries in technology and a merger between traditions and technology. This trend has benefitted many people in development and especially in business.  One such benefit is the use of Business Intelligence which has been very effective in the modern business and especially for the large businesses. Business Intelligence (BI) is a type of technology applied by businesses in analysis of as many sorts of data as possible which relate to the business (Raisinghani, 2004). It uses computer programs to analyze data such as sales, the revenues, expenditure, by products and other numerical business data. This analysis is supportive in decision making for businesses.  This research will be focused on the application of Business Intelligence in a business for artificial marketing (Bobrow, 1994).

Research Background

There is an increasing population in the number of virtually all businesses and so the attainment of maximum profit is no long based on increasing the price of the goods and services offered by the businesses. The level of competition in almost all fields of business is demanding that a business sells its goods or services at the cheapest possible price (Nilsson, 2002). However, it is difficult to sell most of the products at rock bottom prices due to the increasing cost of production of goods and services. The increasing cost of living has demanded that workers be given relatively larger packages in salary, wages and allowances in a seemingly unconditionally manner. This in return has led to increased cost of operation which is later on felt in pricing of goods.

Not so long ago, the cost of labor used to be high only in Europe, North America and a few other relatively developed parts of the world. There used to be relatively cheap labor in most parts of Africa and a few other places such as Taiwan. Many companies used to set most of their laborious activities in these cheaper regions or hire workers from those regions because they could offer cheap labor (Thierauf, 2001). However, there is a changing trend in relation to the cost of living and so the previously cheap sources of labor are also changing and becoming as expensive nearing the rates in the developed world. This has necessitated the adoption of various methods of reducing the cost of production and especially reducing the cost of labor and increasing efficiency in terms of operational cost in relation to the profits earned from any type of business whether a small business or a multinational (Vercellis, 2009). It is for this reason that Artificial Intelligence in marketing is a preferred method of lowering the operational cost and therefore the profits will be relatively higher as compared to those of other competitors which operate in a similar line.

Artificial Intelligence is a computerized intelligence which asses the various variables determining the cost of a product (Butje, 2005). Since the cost of a product is the main determinant of the price of the product, easy and effective method of determining the cost is useful in marketing. Having identified the minimum possible price of commodity then the decision makers are able to decide on how they will sell their products. Artificial Intelligence also reduces the number of decision makers who would be consulted before determining the price of the products. As such, businesses will not have to hire many professional and especially at decision making level which is relatively expensive. The few decision makers will determine the price of the products to be marketed based on the values given by computerized system (Turban, 2011).

Research Problem

One of the reasons as to why many businesses have been unable to thrive is due to the increased reliance on human labor which in most cases is relatively expensive than machine work. There is therefore the need to search for an alternative way of reducing the cost of labor thereby increasing the profits to allow for competitiveness in the market.  It is for this reason that Artificial Intelligence will be useful as a marketing tool. The efficiency level and accuracy of the Artificial Intelligence is by far much better than the accuracy of human beings and so the values given by the computerized system will enable a reliable level of accuracy to be used in decision making.

Research Objective

To establish the main causes of high cost of labor in the businesses

To establish the major benefits of reducing the cost of operation through the use of machines such as Artificial Intelligence programs in computers.

To establish the challenges in the use of Artificial Intelligence in the market  

Research Scope

The research will focus mainly on capitalizing on the use of Artificial Intelligence in marketing in the developed world. This is mainly because the cost of marketing in these regions is higher than in the developing world. However, it will also focus on the use of the same technology in developing world as the cost of labor is also rising in the developing world.  The research will try to identify the major areas to capitalize on and also the limiting factors in the specific markets so as to deal with them individually.

Research Methodology

The study will be conducted in two cities in different parts of the world. This will help in generation of the effectiveness of the Artificial Intelligence in marketing for both the developed and the developing world. It will be conducted in Los Angeles and also in Kampala. These are two cities in different levels of development and so they will be useful in determining how effective the Artificial Intelligence will be in the different levels of economies.   

Research Design

Descriptive research will be used to describe the characteristics of the different markets. The Artificial intelligence in marketing is slightly sensitive to some of the basic measures of development such as education and the effectiveness of the Artificial intelligence is related to level of education because less educated people may not be able to use the technology. Explanatory research will also be useful in interpretation of the data. This will involve comparison, classification, analysis and development of data measurement and quantification so as to be useful in decision making as will be developed by earlier Artificial Intelligence already in use for data analysis.

Expected Results

Artificial intelligence in marketing is expected to be more efficient in the developed world for the main reason that it is here where there is a relatively higher level of education which is useful in the automation of the decision making process. The economic level is also influential in adoption and implementation of the automated programs and so there is high likelihood that for now the strategy will only be effective in the developed world.

However, there is a growing level of awareness in the developing world and so the new technology will be much effective as a long term investment. As the development world grows, there will be more use of the new technology and it will be more effective because there will also be an increased cost of labor. Therefore it will be even more effective to have the program in place and develop this before other competitors establish themselves.

Conclusion

Technology has come as one of the solution s to the ever increasing challenges facing humanity. However, there is technology which is somehow inappropriate but if used appropriately it can be a solution to many problems being experienced nowadays. Artificial intelligence in marketing is used to assist decision making using computer programs which help in evaluation of appropriateness of a potential market. It is therefore important that it be adopted as it will reduce the many decision makers who would be involved in decision making. The many decision makers are by far likely to increase the cost of operation more than the machine because of the salaries and the allowances they get while a computer program would only cost the company the initial cost of installation.