An ITWeb survey on the role of artificial intelligence in sales, marketing and customer experience, being conducted in partnership with The CRM Team, has gone live.

The aim is to find out what SA businesses know and think about AI, particularly in the sales, marketing and CX fields.

“AI is developing faster than we can keep track of or legislate,” says Paul Mulder, a senior solutions sales professional at The CRM Team. He believes that organisations need to start embracing AI to meet customer expectations and remain ahead of the competition.

“Businesses that don’t include AI in their strategies risk being left behind,” says Talhah Jeewa, a senior solution sales professional, The CRM Team. “We want to find out if South African organisations understand the value that can be realised from the deployment of AI in business software like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot and the potential impact of not evolving with the technology.”

“We understand that people are cautious about the rate at which AI is moving, and that they’re nervous they could lose their jobs to AI, but we don’t believe this will always be the case," adds Mulder. "Businesses need to use AI technology to assist employees with labour intensive tasks, freeing them up for more strategic roles.”

Many organisations may not realise they’ve been using AI for years. For example, if they’re using Outlook on Microsoft Office, they’re already using AI in their business.

“We believe AI will impact jobs, especially in the areas of sales, marketing and customer experience that we focus on in the survey," says Mulder. "However, we don’t believe that AI is going to replace jobs, it’s just going to change them. We want to know what South African businesses know about AI, and what topics we should discuss with them.”

“Organisations that don’t adopt AI risk being left behind. If deployed responsibly and at the right pace, AI can be the best tool in your business,” concludes Jeewa.

We encourage you to set aside a few minutes of your time to participate in the survey and stand a chance to win a lucky draw prize, a Takealot voucher to the value of R3 000. The detailed results of the survey, and the prize winner, will be published on ITWeb.

Complete the survey here.

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