1 day Ago
Sarath Babu Yalavarthi is an AVP of Product Management & Development at AT&T and a Salesforce CTA. getty Having worked with SaaS platforms for more than a decade, it has been fascinating to watch the introduction of AI into these platforms over the last few years. This trend has been most notable with features like AI-enabled lead-scoring, opportunity scoring, article recommendations and next best action.
As AI moves closer to the realm of science fiction, more intelligent SaaS features and use cases are popping up regularly. These features are about more than merely calling something "AI" to meet the hype of the moment. They are crucial developments for the SaaS market and SaaS users.
Let's look at how AI is improving SaaS and what business users should understand about this trend. As Gartner points out, many software applications are using AI to " drive personalized adaptive user interfaces ," something that is expected to be available in 30% of new apps by 2026. By analyzing your app usage and adapting, AI can personalize the SaaS user experience in a few key ways: • Project management tools suggest the most suitable templates for your needs.
The applications can also manage some of the more tedious tasks and suggest deadlines based on your work hours. • Pricing can be adjusted in real time according to how much you use the service and your user behavior. • Onboarding tutorials and tips can be personalized to ensure you can use the SaaS solution according to your needs.
Much of SaaS work is based on entering and analyzing data. AI can streamline the more menial aspects of these tasks—such as data entry —while processing and synthesizing large amounts of information. These features have also made AI extremely beneficial for marketing, as it can predict consumer behavior , identify potential customers and propose optimal suggestions for product development.
Data privacy is a top priority for SaaS solutions. Through automated classification, anomaly detection, compliance monitoring and anonymization, AI can speed up security efforts and reduce human error, which remains the top cybersecurity risk . While I've seen firsthand how these features can improve SaaS usage and streamline operations, I've also found that adopting AI requires a learning curve.
For SaaS users who are new to AI, here are a couple of major considerations that are crucial to understand: AI trained with biased data behaves in a biased way , which has major implications for both business and society at large. SaaS data quality, in particular, has to be top-notch. So work on data quality first before implementing AI.
Here's how: 1. Define data ownership, standards and policies. 2.
Validate data at entry, then cleanse it regularly. 3. Monitor data continuously while auditing and tracking its lineage.
4. Use robust ETL processes and versioning. 5.
Secure data with access controls, encryption and regulatory compliance. High-quality data means better decisions and user experience. So-called "black-box" AI systems —that is, AI systems that make decisions without explaining why they made them—can raise huge issues when it comes time to act on that data.
If you don't understand how a decision was made, how do you know it was the right one? When looking at AI-enabled Saas solutions, be sure to understand the answers to these questions: What data was it trained on? What are the algorithms used? How are decisions weighted? How are errors handled? Can the decisions be audited? Is it fair and unbiased? While you may not fully understand the implications of these questions at first, it's okay to start your AI journey by exploring with third-party audits of solutions or by bringing in outside experts to help through this initial phase. In short, prioritize AI explainability, and you’ll be more likely to trust that the AI is reliable and responsible in your SaaS products. With AI, SaaS can improve user experience, increase efficiency and improve security.
But we must approach AI deployment responsibly, making sure that AI is effective, accurate and being used for the good of society as a whole. By navigating this new domain, companies can see their SaaS solutions reach their full potential. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.
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