Analyzing The Impact Of AI And Machine Learning On Print Industry

AI and Machine Learning are the two revolutionary concepts that are being used for building modern-day solutions. These are the powerful technologies that power modern day industries. AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, which underpins the ability of machines to imitate human-like cognitive functions. Under this technology, machines can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. With this, machines can learn, solve problems, perform intelligent tasks and more, just like humans do. AI is an advanced field of machine learning and superset of it.

Machine learning involves getting machines make their decisions based on the data fed to them. They have a vast impact across different industries. The print industry can also take advantage of these technologies to provide better products and services. Print shops can embed AI into their devices and build techniques to collect and analyze the data to let machines make decisions. In this post, we will mention some of the key benefits that printing companies can reap from AI and machine learning.

Benefits that printing companies can avail with AI and machine learning

These technologies can be applied to many areas of printing industry. Some of those areas where they can be applied are as follows. The application of these technologies will endow companies with new opportunities for their businesses.

Defense against threats

AI can be a friend and a foe from security point of view. From the perspective of an enemy, it is believed that the new types of malware will utilize artificial intelligence to work like a human attacker, find their targets and bypass the security systems. Such malware will be able to breach security like a human attacker as well as change their attacking behavior when needed.

Networked printers and MFPs are IoT connected devices, they require a new class of security that could utilize the power of AI to protect devices from all kinds of threats. This will lead to more secure systems with ability to self-protect from AI breaches and attacks. Device will can perform network-level analytics and detect real-time anomaly.

Thus, the modern security solutions combined with the capabilities of artificial intelligence will provide bullet-proof security with the ability to self-detect, self-heal and identify the malware by learning from the patterns of different attacks.

Predictive maintenance

AI combined with Big Data enables companies to achieve higher efficiency by performing predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance is not new for printing companies, they utilize various methods for maintenance. Many organizations transform themselves into managed print service (MPS) for efficiency and quality reasons of their service. These days, a large number of devices such as multifunction printers (MFPs) and networked printers have integrated sensors, which enable them to collect and analyze data. However, the amount of data that is produced by the connected print devices has yet to be fully utilized besides continuous monitoring.

Usually, the analytical tools developed for print management are not sufficient to address massive data for analysis. Plus, they are often not flexible to incorporate machine learning. Thus, to improve business efficiency, they need to take the next step. They harness the potential of machine learning combined with advanced algorithms to draw effective inference from the real-time data insights.

Digital automation

Several organizations are still using papers for feeding data in their systems and use documents for keeping various records. In this regard RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is quite handy as it lets automate the processes. It is a kind of software powered by AI which replaces humans for various business processes. With this type of technology, organizations can bring efficiency in their work and beef up their business processes. With the power of such software, organizations can automate various tasks and put the resources to optimal use.

RPA is a class of software that replicates human actions with the power of AI, it is also able to self-learn. Even industries like banking and insurance have already integrated such intelligent automated systems into their business processes that are based on deep learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques.

Although it may not be true AI technology, but it uses sophisticated algorithms to understand complex documents that are unstructured like typed and handwritten information, then write them into categorized and legible digital files. With this approach, insurance companies can handle repetitive jobs quickly and precisely with such systems.

Customized products

There are tons of benefits that product customization industry can obtain from AI and machine learning. They can use solutions like product design software to automate their business. By using connected printers, they can handle multiple production units which will improve their efficiency and enable them to reduce human intervention. Print shops will be able to utilize different printing methods like Screen printing, DTG, Sublimation, etc from a centralized system without much human intervention.

By incorporating AI-based technologies into printing devices and processes where human intervention is required, printing companies can take their businesses to the next level. Just like many other industries that are reaping the benefits of AI and machine learning in terms of efficient processes and finer services, printing companies can also make this happen by harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning for their businesses.

What are the business benefits of AI and machine learning?

The concept of artificial intelligence has been here since 1950s, but this is in the past few years that there has been much discussions and advancements in this field. It has lots of applications across different industries. There is also a great potential of AI for businesses. By integrating this technology into their systems and processes, businesses can make better utilization of their resources. Following are some of the benefits that businesses get with AI technology. We will explore the benefits of AI for businesses across five major areas: human resource, marketing and sales, legal, accounting, and customer support.

Benefits regarding human resources

Artificial intelligence provides a significant opportunity for businesses in the area of process automation. One such example is from human resources and recruitment processes. Like companies can automate the tasks pertaining to on-boarding and administration of benefits. With AI, companies can utilize internal websites that would answer questions of employees on HR policy, employee benefits, IT and more. AI can utilize natural language search to find necessary information regarding specific queries which can be provided more quickly and accurately once the system learn more.

Marketing and sales analytics

Thanks to AI that data analysis can be done more quickly with huge data sets. It significantly affects different types of data analysis, which also include data related to financial and business decisions. Similarly, data analysis in the area of sales and marketing allows businesses to predict what specific customers want to buy by evaluating their purchasing patterns. Plus, it is also useful to show personalized ads to customers based on their interests, browsing history and other data.

Legal

A key advancement in AI technology is related to law and legal technological solutions. AI solutions that can read and understand contractual documents for extracting provisions using the NLP can be utilized for legal processes. They can analyze facts and provide useful answers. By analyzing data that are obtained from existing law cases, they can find hidden patterns in those rulings with deep learning technique. In short, by analyzing a wide array of legal knowledge, legal insights can be drawn more quickly and precisely with AI technology.

Accounting

Accounting is one of core business activities that require a lot of human intervention. However, with technologies powered by artificial intelligence accounting activities can be automated to take advantage of automation with areas like accounts receivable and payable through automated categorization and data entry. AI is useful for reconciling billings failures through extracting information from multiple documents. Humans working with AI can extract information and validate the results more quickly and efficiently. It can also be used for tax and auditing analysis tasks.

Customer support

A significant impact of artificial intelligence can be seen in the field of customer support services in form of virtual assistants, chatbots, direct chatting, etc. Traditionally, it was very challenging and difficult for customers to get required support and assistance from vendors. Mostly, the help and support was available through phone calls and emails, it took several days even weeks to get a reply.

Due to AI technology, today, customers can connect with virtual assistants or chatbots to find instant answers to their queries. They work like an intelligent agents who are available 24/7 for help. They are able to resolve a broad array of issues from simple password requests to technical support. These automated support services solution help businesses enhance their customer experience and build trust among them.

Final words

Businesses leverage different technology to expand their capabilities and uptake their business value. AI and machine learning has a great impact on different industries and it has also potential for print industry. By incorporating AI into various processes in printing, companies in print industry can bring efficiency and excellence in their processes. There are lots of benefits that businesses can reap from AI and machine learning technology. You need to understand the significance of AI technology and look for the right solutions that will enhance productivity of your business and add value to the business.

Understanding and integrating AI is critical for tomorrow’s businesses. However, many companies has to overcome various challenges prior to incorporating AI systems into their infrastructure. By adopting this technology for their businesses, enterprises can take it advantage to improve their business processes and server their customers in the most effective way.