How AI and Machine Learning is Changing the SaaS space

The SaaS space is about to change forever. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are leading the way, and they’re going to revolutionize everything we know about SaaS, micro-SaaS, or software in general.

It might sound like science fiction, but AI is already in use by some of the biggest companies in the industry: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, to name a few.

It’s only a matter of time before every company has turned on their AI systems and let them take over part or all of their workload.

Here’s how it works, AI and ML – the basics

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that deals with intelligent behavior, learning, reasoning, and self-correction. It does not need to be programmed, it can learn on its own from experience. The system can study patterns in data and make inferences for new data.

Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that uses statistical techniques to give computers the ability to ‘learn’. It does this by feeding information into the system, which then becomes more efficient at processing new data.

Let’s take an example – imagine you’re in charge of your company’s sales process. You prefer to follow a strict procedure with your teams, so you have a set script that everybody follows, step by step. The steps are:

1. Find the right leads
2. Achieve qualification
3. Close deal
4. Reward success
5. Look for other leads

This is a simple system but it breaks down when you think about how it would look if we had to scale. There are hundreds of salespeople all working hard at the same time, and they’re all following that process.

In that situation, if one person follows procedure A, but another follows procedure B, then what happens? The result can be completely different you could get the exact opposite result.

Now imagine AI and ML coming in to play here – you’re no longer using your own judgment about how the sales team should work, but you’ve handed it over to an algorithm. It will take that data about each of those salespeople and then work out a way to put them all together into a single system that will produce the best results for your company.

The benefits of AI and ML in SaaS

The benefits of AI and machine learning are profound in the SaaS space as they allow developers to code less and focus on other things while machines do a great deal of work.

At present, AI and ML are mostly found in SaaS solutions that offer customer service as their main feature.

One interesting example is Kiwi.ai which uses artificial intelligence combined with proprietary algorithms to help customers design their own chatbots. Another example from the SaaS space would be Talkable, which also offers AI-powered chatbot development services.

The success of Walkme's chatbot was a key milestone for AI in the SaaS space. The company hired two designers and one developer to implement the chatbot without using machine learning algorithms.

The designer drew the lines on a whiteboard and gave instructions for how to respond but this process was time-consuming and tedious.

That year, they decided to try using machine learning algorithms and stopped coding altogether since it could be done by machines instead.

All they had to do was start with the design of the chatbot and feed it data. While they did this, hundreds of people were testing the prototype, providing feedback and ideas on what could be changed and improved.

Due to machine learning algorithms being able to process so much information in real-time, the designers didn't have to spend too much time adjusting the chatbot until it was ready for production.

"This is the power of AI and machine learning,".

"It allows you to be creative and focus on other things while machines do a great deal of work for you."

-Aviad, Aerial Advertising Leaders

As SaaS continues to mature, these innovative solutions will continue to make everyone's lives easier. Rapid advances in software research have led to the development of all kinds of new applications that are solving problems for people from all walks of life.

How it will change the SaaS space forever

AI and machine learning are changing the SaaS space since a lot of the heavy lifting is done by machines instead of programmers.

"The benefit of AI and ML is that there is no need to spend time coding when you can simply give a machine the instructions and let it do the work for you.

This innovative approach will revolutionize the way we use the software forever."

-Steven Smith, President of EMEA at Infusionsoft

One of the greatest benefits of artificial intelligence is that it gives you access to new data. This is possible because AI can help you make sense of data that otherwise remains hidden.

By using machine learning, it becomes easier to get insights from your customer data and use them to target the right customers with the right message at the right time.

AI has endless possibilities for scaling businesses in ways that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.

A lot of the work done by machines doesn't necessarily have to be an improvement over humans, but it is incredibly efficient. When you have a few thousand small tasks that need to get done at one time, it's much easier to just give it to a machine and have it done.

People make mistakes (especially when they are working quickly) while machines follow instructions exactly which provides a better level of consistency.

AI is already being implemented in customer service, account management, business intelligence, data analytics, product management, sales forecasting, etc.

"Artificial intelligence [will] completely change how we work and live in the next ten years"

- Alex Kostal, Chief Business Officer at AI company WITTENOFT.

AI will be able to collect data from all sorts of sources and find patterns that would have been impossible for humans to discover on their own.

This ability is crucial for companies if they want to improve their efficiency and have a better customer experience.

With the tremendous amount of work being done by AI and ML in SaaS, there is no doubt that AI will change the SaaS space forever.

How to prepare for this change

First, be sure to educate yourself about artificial intelligence so that you can keep up with the changing environment. The more information you have, the better.

Second, recognize that the AI is now smart enough for its own tasks without any human involvement, so make sure you prepare for this change in the best way possible.

Third, be open to different ideas, because AI and ML will become an integral part of your business way before you expect it.

And last, but not least: stay human. Since AI is intended to do what you want it to do, so make sure that the tasks are done efficiently as well as effectively.

If a task needs deep thinking or sophisticated analysis, hand over the work to a human instead of letting machines deal with it directly. Wait until you learn to instruct the AI or it learns to do the work.

The more work you do, the more intelligent and advanced AI becomes. It gets efficient and accurate after the completion of each task.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are changing the SaaS space for good. One of the benefits of AI is that it allows for hands-off activity with software, so you don't need to spend time coding and can instead give machine-specific instructions.

This innovative approach will revolutionize how we work with software from now on, so start getting ready!

To ensure your business remains competitive in today's environment, make sure to invest in cutting-edge technology like AI or ML now before they become mainstream trends everyone knows about. Want to know what's next in SaaS? Here's a list of top 10 predictions for the SaaS market. 

And if you are someone who is sleeping on the idea to launch a SaaS business, then why not give us a call. With BufferMint you will be able to launch your SaaS in 45 days or sooner. 

Book a discovery call today!