The Role of Augmented Intelligence in the Future of Sales

What is Augmented Intelligence?

In a world driven by ubiquitous data, it almost seems impossible to think that most data never gets used again after its primary purpose – and yet, it is the sad truth. People are hesitant to apply artificial intelligence to their data in order to ride the wave of digital transformation. ‘Will it replace humans?’ ‘Will it take over decision-making and get out of control?’ While these questions have their place, they have also led to the emergence of an improved version of AI: Augmented Intelligence. Whereas AI solutions on their own may be replacing humans, Augmented Intelligence gathers relevant data from different sources, extracts actionable insights from it and presents it in a user-friendly way where people can use it to make better-informed decisions in a more agile manner and react to situations as they happen in real-time. Essentially, Augmented Intelligence provides transparent information and guidance, thereby making smart people even smarter.

But why should you use Augmented Intelligence, and why now?

Gartner has already made auspicious predictions for the growth of the AI market in the last few years, and these predictions are continuing into the present. Gartner's latest predictions show that the AI industry will be worth around $134.8 billion by 2025. We’re at the cusp of the next technological revolution, and AI tools are paving the way.

Virtual and Omnichannel Selling – and the Role of Augmented Intelligence

The new age of big data has also left its mark in sales, where the digital-first, everywhere customer is at the heart of selling. Sales professionals are faced with an ever-growing amount of data that they need to make sense of to provide excellent, customer-centric experiences seamlessly across all channels. At the same time, their shifting responsibilities and growing amount of tasks make it harder to do so. But what if the right insights about the right customer could come to sales professionals, right when they need them?

Augmented Intelligence solutions do just that, and much more: they can be integrated into sales dashboards, where they can monitor each individual customer journey automatically, and help sales professionals adapt to changes in the market or customer behavior in real-time. Augmented intelligence solutions allow sales professionals to be more agile and make better decisions, faster.

How Did Sales Professionals at a Leading Manufacturer Benefit from Augmented Intelligence?

Armacell, a leading provider of engineered foams and inventor of flexible foam for equipment insulation, was looking for new possibilities to support its sales professionals using state-of-the-art technology. The company opted for Squirro's Sales Insights – an Augmented Intelligence solution specifically tailored to sales professionals. Squirro’s Sales Insights solution provided them with a fast, flexible, compliant and cost-effective way to leverage data for tangible improvements in all sales-related activities. Its full integration into Armacell's existing CRM system, Salesforce, facilitated its adoption.

During the project, all relevant internal and external information sources were integrated in a secure and compliant way. This provided Armacell's sales professionals and account managers with a 360-degree view of every client, including a SWOT and sentiment analysis. Squirro's dashboards delivered instant information about relevant industry trends, competitor's moves and regulatory changes. The combination of this data with employees' emails, call notes and CRM entries allowed them to proactively identify the most promising sales opportunities and make the most out of them.