Founders who have been bleeding customers, watching margins shrink, and losing sleep over cash flow, are suddenly breathing easier. Not because they fixed anything, but because they just signed up for an AI tool.

They’ve convinced themselves that this is the turning point. I want to gently, but honestly, tell you: it isn’t.

AI Is a Multiplier, Not a Miracle

Here’s the thing about tools: they amplify what’s already there. A sharp machete clears a path faster. A blunt one just tires your arm out more efficiently.

If your business has a clear value proposition, a product people genuinely want, and a team that understands your customers, AI will make you faster, leaner, and more competitive.

But if your business is built on shaky ground, like wrong pricing or a product no one truly needs, AI will help you do all of that at scale. That’s not a win but a faster road to the same dead end.

The Real Problems AI Cannot Fix

1. A Product the Market Doesn’t Want

In Lagos, a founder I know spent six months building an AI-powered inventory management app for small retailers. Brilliant interface, smart reordering logic, slick automation.

He kept tweaking the AI features while consistently ignoring the feedback he kept getting from traders at Balogun Market: “We don’t trust software with our stock numbers.”

The trust problem was cultural and relational. No algorithm was going to solve that. The app folded. Before you automate anything, ask yourself honestly: Do people actually want what I’m selling? If the answer requires a long explanation, something is wrong.

2. Broken Unit Economics

If you’re selling a product for ₦5,000 and it costs you ₦6,000 to deliver, including your time, logistics, and overhead, you don’t have a business. You have an expensive hobby.

AI can help you reduce some operational costs, yes. But it cannot restructure a pricing model that was wrong from the start. The math has to work without the technology first.

3. A Leaky Customer Funnel

Some businesses are excellent at attracting customers and terrible at keeping them. They spend money on ads, bring people in, and then lose them to poor service, slow responses, or broken promises.

Adding an AI chatbot to a service experience that was already frustrating people is like putting a fresh coat of paint on a cracked wall. It looks better for about a week. Fix the experience first. Then automate it.

What You Should Do Before Reaching for AI

Start by sitting with your numbers; just honest numbers. Where are you actually making money? Where are you losing it? Talk to five customers who stopped buying from you and five who keep coming back. The contrast will tell you more than any dashboard ever will.

Then look at your core operations. Which parts are slow or inconsistent because of how you designed them, not because of a lack of technology? Those are your real problems. Solve them with process and clarity first. When things are working well manually, then you automate.

AI Works When the Foundation Is Solid

The businesses getting the most from AI right now are not the ones that were struggling and needed saving. They are the ones that already had something working and used AI to do more of it, faster.

A Nairobi-based logistics startup reduced customer complaints by 40% using an AI routing tool. But before the tool, they had already spent a year rewriting their delivery protocols and training their drivers. The AI didn’t create that discipline; it rewarded it.

Fix the Business First

Technology has always been good at one thing: making a working system more efficient. It has never been good at making a broken one suddenly work.

So, before your next AI subscription, ask yourself the harder question: If this tool disappeared tomorrow, would my business still have something worth saving?

If the answer is yes, go ahead and use every tool available to you. If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that discomfort is pointing directly at the real work that needs to be done. Do that work first. The tools will still be there when you’re ready.

*Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the author of BUSINESS SENSE, and ON BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR. He maintains a personal blog, where he shares proven business ideas and principles for SMEs.

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AI has become an indispensable asset for enterprises aiming to productively thrive in today’s digital landscape.

There is a growing number of AI-powered tools that are useful for a variety of applications in business for performance max.

Improve your sales and marketing efforts

In the ever-evolving world of marketing, AI-powered tools can significantly enhance sales and marketing efforts. There are AI tools that you can leverage for lead generation and customer segmentation, and predict campaign performance among other things.

There are AI-driven algorithm platforms that would help you elevate conversion rates, optimise customer success, and identify the most promising prospects with intelligent insight like identifying trends, and unlocking customer preferences.

You can also use them to analyse customers behaviours, and predict their future actions like their buying patterns.

With AI, you can identify target audiences more effectively and develop personalised marketing campaigns that resonate with customers, automate some reputable sales processes, and assist you and your team in qualifying prospects.

By ensuring your marketing efforts reach the right audience with the right message at the right time, AI-driven marketing tools can maximise ROI and elevate the impact of your sales/marketing campaigns.

AI ensures that each interaction with your audience is highly relevant and effective.

Optimise cost and manage resources 

Businesses that struggle to manage costs and other resources would have low productivity. AI can assist businesses in optimising costs and managing resources more effectively.

AI can also identify cost-saving opportunities and provide real-time insights that can help businesses make more informed financial decisions, leading to increased profitability.

More so, AI tools will also help you in demand forecasting and supply chain optimisation, inventory management thereby reducing wastage(s).

By embracing AI technologies and incorporating them into various facets of your operations, your business will be positioned for sustainable growth.

In addition, you will stay ahead of the competition, and meet the evolving demands of the digital era.

Enhance business efficiency

Today, to improve business performance has been made easy with AI. AI can enhance the efficiency of the business by providing improved performances and results on a whole new level.

AI isn’t just about speeding things up; it’s also about working smarter, and giving you back some free time in the process. AI tools will help you and your team to complete tasks more quickly and with less effort.

By leveraging AI-powered systems and algorithms, businesses can reduce human error, and improve operational efficiency.

With AI, your team will be reassigned to handle more challenging business tasks that would increase your business productivity. AI has become a game-changer in business. It will help you to boost your efficiency, productivity, and overall performance.

Always remember that AI should serve as your supporting tool rather than a replacement for human intelligence and innovation.

You employ AI to speed up the decision-making process. When using AI, remember the big picture, and how any AI and how you will adopt would impact your business goals.

AI is the future of technology, and it simulates human intelligence. It can learn from data, analyse it, and even make predictions. Intelligent business judgments have always been made using AI, and a combination of AI tools and business knowledge work wonders.

– End – [Featured Image Credit]

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AI is a transformative force that is enhancing productivity in businesses across industries with real impacts.

We are going to explore how you can use AI to accelerate productivity in business, and increase growth.

AI tools are superchargers

The rise of AI tools is changing how quickly you can get things done. These AI tools are available to help you simplify or even automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks and business activities like seamless interactions among team members, routine emails, data entry, customer service tasks, and the like.

AI tools can supercharge your creativity, help you explore new ideas, and enhance decision-making processes has made.

Their main purpose is to streamline your work and personal tasks, making you achieve more. For instance, you can employ AI workflow automation in several departments of your business like HR, finance, and sales.

Countless AI tools have been made to drive business productivity. They not only free up valuable resources but also allow you to focus on more creative and strategic initiatives that drive innovation and business growth.

Enhanced customer experience

AI can help you to create and deliver personalized and tailor-made experiences to your customers in unimaginable ways. As data grows and technology advances, personalised recommendations have become essential for standing out in the marketplace.

Today, machine-learning algorithms can analyse extensive customer data and provide personalised recommendations that improve their overall customer service experience. When your customers see that you understand them well, they will love to do business with you.

For instance, Netflix has reinvented the studio system using data, and looking at millions of customer touchpoints using AI. They use deep-learning algorithms to analyse what their viewers are watching and determine the types of shows they’ll want next. You now know why Netflix revenue keeps soaring high.

Again, AI-powered solutions can assist organisations to effectively address consumer complaints and questions. When you understand your customer preferences and behaviour, it is easier to foster deeper connections. This has a way of increasing customer loyalty and driving business growth.

Informed data-driven decision

The ability to make data-driven decisions is crucial for business productivity. These AI-powered analytics solutions can process and analyse vast amounts of data quickly and accurately, providing valuable and actionable insights.

This will push you away from guesswork toward data-driven decision-making. With data, you uncover the treasure trove in your enterprise that would transform your business.

By leveraging AI’s data analysis capabilities, businesses can uncover hidden patterns, predict market trends, craft targeted marketing campaigns, and make informed decisions that drive competitive advantage and revenue growth.

AI is the next big thing with boundless opportunities for business productivity. Predictive and generative AI has introduced new ways to accelerate business productivity, improve performance, and ultimately transform businesses including yours.

…to be continued

[Featured Image Credit]

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Speaking with business leaders across the region, several common themes have emerged. From the urgent need to build greater resilience and reduce risk, to leveraging the power of AI and improving sustainability efforts while ensuring that investments drive value both now, and in the future – these are the interconnected trends that European business leaders will confront in 2024:

Trend 1: De-risking the enterprise

In an environment defined by volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, business leaders face increased risk across their operations.

This is driving an acute need for operational and technological interventions to reduce risk and bring stability to the enterprise, while still safeguarding agility.

Europe’s regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex as policymakers try to keep pace with the disruptive impact of technology.

The new Artificial Intelligence Act, for example, will establish strict rules and standards around the development and application of AI in business contexts.

This includes guardrails for general purpose AI; a total ban on AI as it relates to citizens’ rights and democratic processes; and the right for consumers to launch complaints and demand meaningful explanations regarding decisions based on AI systems.

In addition, a wave of new regulations in trade and customs throughout the region will add compliance pressure on companies already reeling from ongoing challenges related to various elements of their supply chains.

From 1 January this year, companies wishing to do business in Europe are subject to the EU Emissions Trading System that aims to establish Europe as the first climate-neutral continent; a truly admirable objective.

All this complexity requires extensive investment in sophisticated digital tools to provide greater visibility over the climate impact of the end-to-end supply chain, which brings me to my next point:

Trend 2: Supply chain resilience is not the same as agility 

As if the continued ripple effects of the pandemic on global supply chains didn’t pose enough of a challenge over the last couple of years, business leaders have also had to contend with the ongoing geopolitical conflict.

Be it re-routing of ships to avoid the Suez Canal, high-tech component shortages, or commodity price volatility on everything from food to energy – these factors, among others, create immense supply chain instability.

In response, forward-looking companies are seeking greater agility to respond to supply chain threats. A recent S&P Global report highlights the importance of technology in maximizing organizations’ chances at success with maintaining stable supply chains.

One of the key objectives of digital transformation within supply chains is the ability to improve end-to-end visibility.

However, a KPMG study found that 43% of global organizations have limited to no visibility over the performance of their tier one suppliers – an astounding statistic.

Greater visibility over supply chain processes clearly also supports wider sustainability efforts. The same KPMG study found that only 5% of supply chain emissions stem from direct manufacturing; emissions from the broader supply chain are five to ten times greater.

Digital platforms can significantly improve enterprises’ ability to collect emission data and set appropriate targets for key suppliers to collectively drive improved sustainability outcomes throughout the supply chain.

In addition, organizations will increasingly leverage the power of AI to improve supply chain management, logistics, and procurement. In fact, half of supply chain organizations are expected to invest in applications that support AI and advanced analytics capabilities in the year ahead.

Trend 3: Unlocking AI’s true business value

On the topic of AI, the year ahead will undoubtedly see more companies leverage Generative AI and AI for business to drive innovation, efficiency, and productivity.

Unsurprisingly, Gartner has predicted that Trust, Risk and Security Management in AI Models will be one of the leading tech themes for the year ahead, built on advances in model monitoring, AI application security, and privacy.

However, European businesses may be more hesitant to unleash AI on their operations. A recent PwC study found that business leaders in EMEA are far less convinced that their customers prefer to interact with AI models than their North American peers.

And considering the EU legislation already mentioned, European companies looking to incorporate AI in their business models or operating environments will need to build their use case with both compliance and privacy front and centre.

However, companies can unquestionably accelerate the value from their AI deployments by leveraging AI that is purpose built for business. Large cloud and software providers, like SAP, have invested significantly in building responsible AI into their core products. This means that customers can immediately benefit and unlock business value from their software investments.

2024 will be a pivotal year for many business leaders across EMEA – while daunting in many respects, also an incredibly exciting time to lead.

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While much of the fear mongering is based on hearsay and outright speculation, there certainly are legitimate concerns.

However, businesses and consumers have more than enough reason to believe — and trust — AI’s ability to add significant value to their processes and lives.

Customer communication management (CCM), infused with complementary AI, has literally shifted the goalposts for what businesses can achieve with personalised, accurate and compliant customer communication at scale.

On the other hand, screaming headlines work people into a state. Rumours have surfaced that Sam Altman’s departure from OpenAI, before his return amidst the furore, was linked to concerns among OpenAI board members that significant breakthroughs in artificial general intelligence (AGI) had been made, and that Altman was rushing these into production without sufficient safeguards for society at large. The stuff of horror movies.

AGI refers to an advanced form of AI that can perform many activities as well as, or better than, humans. Many followers of AI think that AGI is closer than we may believe.

Let’s be clear: the real reason behind Altman’s departure is not known, and may be unrelated to AGI. It is also important to highlight that AI experts are divided on whether true AGI is imminent, or even likely.

I would suggest that even if the output of AI approximates that of the human mind, such as when Deep Blue stunned the world when it beat a reigning world chess champion, there is a critical difference between the approaches used by AI compared to those used by humans.

Sophisticated AI algorithms such as Large Language Models (LLMs) do not understand the meaning of concepts in the way humans do.

Computer algorithms tokenise words into numbers from the outset, which means they don’t imbue words with meaning in the same way as humans.

The AI Talk: Breaking Down ChatGPT and Google Bard – Which One Speaks Your Language?

More generally, for AGI to become a reality, there will need to be significant advances in AI’s ability to understand the meaning and context of patterns in the data, and not just detect them.

The question, then, becomes: What does any of this mean for businesses who wish to leverage the power of AI to improve their business processes and customer service?

As a point of departure, it’s interesting to read the views of Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO, referring to Microsoft’s AI tool for its Office suite, in an article in the New Yorker.

“The Office Copilots seem simultaneously impressive and banal. They make mundane tasks easier, but they’re a long way from replacing human workers. They feel like a far cry from what was foretold by Sci-Fi novels. But they also feel like something that people might use every day,” he is quoted as saying.

The article goes on to say that if Scott, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Chat GPT CTO Mira Murati get their way, then “AI will continue to steadily seep into our lives, at a pace gradual enough to accommodate the cautions required by short-term pessimism, and only as fast as humans are able to absorb how this technology ought to be used. There remains the possibility that things will get out of hand—and that the incremental creep of AI will prevent us from realising those dangers until it’s too late. But, for now, Scott and Murati feel confident that they can balance advancement and safety.”

This is a sound approach. What about the rest of us? Businesses have a responsibility to serve their shareholders, but also their customers and society more broadly. Treading a thoughtful line in the release of AI functionality to the market requires regular consideration of the benefits and potential risks.

It is crucial for business leaders to support the notion of good corporate citizenship in how they serve customers and develop products.

Regulation will play a massive role.  It appears as though EU lawmakers have concluded marathon discussions to put in place a regulatory framework for AI.

The framework will probably maintain a list of all AI models deemed to pose a systemic risk, and providers of general-purpose AI will be required to publish summaries of their algorithms and the content used to train them.

The EU is leading the global regulatory response to AI and could become the blueprint which other governments may follow.

If we cast our gaze back towards CCM, GhostDraft’s use of AI is specifically focused on supporting the generation of documents to capture contractual agreements between companies and their customers quickly and accurately. CCM is an absolutely crucial part of modern customer communication.

Gone are the days when document automation was sufficient. The smart and calibrated use of AI is a great example of how technology supports a transformative evolution of businesses’ capabilities to create mass communication that’s personalised, compliant, well-designed, dynamic and fast.

If a company cannot communicate clearly, quickly and accurately to its customers, it will lose them.

GhostDraft uses AI for design and development of communications templates and generative AI to analyse sample data, informing the structure and production of future documents.

It is enhancing the readability and completeness of key customer documents and forms, so that customers can feel comfortable about their business interactions.

It is clear that AI can improve customer service and interaction and it can make more relevant recommendations to customers, ensuring that they receive products and services tailored to their needs.

In addition to this, using AI can deliver cost efficiencies to businesses, which can then translate into more accessible and affordable services for customers. These benefits engender trust.

On the other hand, we already know that AI doesn’t understand context the way humans do. It doesn’t understand nuance, hope or fear. If we allow AI to have unfettered access to run business activities, it will miss things, and that is where customer trust will be damaged. In fact, the term “AI hallucination” refers to instances where AI tools identify patterns in the data which are actually non-existent or nonsensical.

There are practical ways this can be addressed over and above regulation. Businesses can restrict chatbot scope to simpler questions, and the routing of complex or nuanced business functions to humans. Giving users more control is also important.

Businesses can do this by offering users control over their data and the extent to which AI is used in their interactions, and by allowing users to easily opt in or opt out of AI-driven features.

When AI practitioners are building and training models, they would do well to record and selectively audit AI recommendations, and use this to refine their models.

Responsible businesses, meanwhile, should communicate clearly to customers how AI is being used in their products or services in a way that is understandable to non-technical users.

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