The State of AI In Business and Sales [New 2024 Data & Statistics]

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As a longtime marketing and sales professional, I've seen firsthand just how impactful AI has become in the world of business. Indeed, the latest AI business statistics from HubSpot's 2024 State of AI report show that artificial intelligence is playing a critical role in many businesses, and it's poised to continue growing.

From automated assistants to content generation support, organizations large and small are leveraging AI tools to boost efficiency and drive value across their businesses. In this article, I'll walk through some of my favorite AI business statistics, shedding light on why businesses should invest in AI, how AI is impacting businesses, and more. Let's dive in!

Table of Contents

• Why Business Owners Should Harness AI
• AI Business Statistics
• AI Adoption in Businesses
• What Businesses Need to Know About AI
• How AI Will Impact Businesses
• Get Started With AI Today

Why Business Owners Should Harness AI

Today, more than half of HubSpot users report using AI at work. But why are so many business owners harnessing AI? In my opinion, it all comes down to efficiency. When you can offload the menial tasks to an automated tool, it gives human workers the time and space to do what they do best.

For example, HubSpot's comprehensive AI toolset can help professionals with everything from creating outlines and drafts for blog posts to generating sales emails and automating customer support chats.

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Indeed, I've learned that you can't stop progress - but by adapting to new technologies and incorporating them into your workflows, you can stay ahead of the game (and ahead of your competitors). AI is certainly disrupting a lot of traditional businesses, but it's also creating new opportunities to make us all more efficient, effective, and productive.

That's why I firmly believe that business owners shouldn't shy away from AI. To the contrary, we should all embrace these new tools, encouraging our teams to leverage them in new ways across every aspect of business.

If you're not sure where to begin, HubSpot's AI for Business Builders guide is a great crash course on how AI works, how to invest in it, and what resources companies need to get started. In addition, I'd definitely recommend taking a look at the many AI resources available on the HubSpot blog.

AI Business Statistics

According to the latest data from HubSpot, 87% of AI users - nearly nine out of ten - report that the incorporation of AI into their existing tools had increased their AI usage. But that's not all. Here are some of my favorite AI business statistics:

• 97% of business owners believe that ChatGPT will help their business.
• More than 60% of business owners report that AI will boost productivity.
• More than 80% of companies report that AI is one of their top priorities.
• 70% of Gen Z employees report using AI tools.
• By 2025, 95% of all communications are expected to take place through AI-assisted technologies.

AI Adoption in Businesses

Capgemini's U.K. Chief Technology Officer Steven Webb has argued that generative AI will bring about a "paradigm shift in modern business." But what exactly will that paradigm shift look like? Below, I explore several of the key trends surrounding the adoption of AI by today's businesses.

Marketers are AI power users.

The data shows that AI is making waves across the board … but it's been particularly impactful in the world of marketing.

While 43% of sales professionals surveyed in HubSpot's recent State of AI report indicated that they use AI at work, 74% of marketing professionals currently use AI in the workplace. In other words, nearly three out of four marketers are using AI on the job.

Generative AI tools are adopted at the highest rates.

Today's businesses are using a wide range of AI tools, from scheduling assistants to data analytics and more. That said, HubSpot data suggests that businesses are adopting generative AI tools at the highest rates. Specifically, 47% of sales professionals report using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Jasper, and DALL-E to help write sales content or prospect outreach messages.

For example, HubSpot offers AI tools that enable professionals to generate, rewrite, expand, or change the tone of content, such as landing pages and social media posts - all at the push of a button.

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Businesses are leveraging a wide range of AI tools.

When it comes to AI adoption in businesses, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. To the contrary, I've found that every business has its own unique needs, so every business benefits from different tools.

And indeed, HubSpot's recent survey found that beyond the most popular generative AI tools, 36% of respondents report using AI tools for forecasting, lead scoring, and pipeline analysis; 22% use AI to qualify leads; and 20% use AI tools to support their outreach to prospects.

AI isn't perfect.

Of course, while AI can do a lot, it's far from perfect. Experienced AI users know that to get the most bang for your buck, it's vital to pair strategic automation with human input and safeguards. That's probably why 98% of sales professionals report making at least some edits to text created with AI.

Indeed, as Laxis Founder and CEO Eric Xiao argues, AI tools are "not intended to replace" employees. Instead, he suggests that "they should be used to complement the human touch by handling data-driven tasks, such as lead scoring, email campaigns, and follow-ups." Xiao explains that this approach lets human sales professionals "focus on what they do best: building relationships, understanding customer needs, and closing deals."

What Businesses Need to Know About AI

Artificial intelligence is here to stay.

According to HubSpot's State of AI report, more than 40% of sales professionals currently use AI at work. Moreover, 76% of respondents agree that by 2030, most people will use some form of AI or automation to assist them in their jobs.

Of course, not all AI tools are equally impactful. Specifically, I've found that one of the most important aspects of an effective AI integration is subtlety. These tools work behind the scenes, powering data reports, automating tedious tasks, and creating valuable insights, often without anyone even noticing.

For example, ChatSpot is a conversational bot that can pull sales reports, create new contacts, draft prospecting emails, and more - all of which add up to less manual effort for salespeople. Similarly, Breeze offers a comprehensive AI-powered solution for AI marketing, sales, and customer service teams.

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Today, three out of four professionals believe that by 2030, most software they use will have built-in AI or automation capabilities. As AI continues to integrate with more and more business tools, I believe that it will become an increasingly intuitive, natural part of daily operations.

Get Started With Breeze

AI frees up more time to focus on the human side of business.

AI isn't just automating repetitive, manual tasks away. It's also freeing up valuable time for people to focus on the human side of business.

Indeed, when HubSpot asked sales professionals why they used AI, their top responses were that these tools saved them time by automating manual work, enabled them to spend more time selling, and helped them use data to optimize the sales process by improving forecasting pipeline management.

For example, Sarah Spoja, CFO of Tipalti, notes that AI has been particularly helpful in performing manual tasks at her company. In a recent interview, she shared that her team has had success leveraging AI automation tools, finding that "AI [can] perform standard workflows quicker and with fewer errors." When these standard tasks are performed automatically, that leaves more time for people to work on more complex, human projects.

The ability to connect with people on a personal level, build rapport, and nurture long-term relationships is critical in every part of business - and AI can give us all more time and energy to excel in these uniquely human areas.

AI can take the guesswork out of decision-making.

Businesses produce a lot of information. And in the past, it was up to leaders to sift through all that noise and somehow make sense of it. But today, AI has led to an influx of 'usable' data: data that can be transformed into actionable insights.

AI tools turn data into insights by processing large amounts of information, identifying patterns and trends, and then leveraging those trends to inform the best course of action going forward. In other words, they take the guesswork out of making decisions.

52% of sales professionals surveyed in HubSpot's recent report shared that they used AI to conduct data analysis, leveraging automated tools to inform decisions related to lead scoring, pipeline analysis, and forecasting.

Of course, AI isn't a replacement for human intuition or expertise. However, it can often offer highly informed, data-driven insights, ultimately empowering humans to make smarter, more reliable decisions.

How AI Will Impact Businesses

Professionals are split when it comes to AI.

As AI tools have become increasingly widespread in many workplaces, one of the most common fears I've heard about AI is that it will replace people's jobs. That said, data from HubSpot's State of AI report suggests that professionals are split when it comes to their perceptions of the impact AI will have on job security: 59% were concerned that AI will make their job obsolete, and 44% shared that AI and automation made them want to move to a field with better job security.

In my experience, people skills and relationship-building abilities are among the most important capabilities for professionals to cultivate - and I don't see AI replacing that anytime soon.

HubSpot data suggests that, for most people, AI is used largely as a productivity assistant. Today, sales professionals' number one use of AI is to automate manual processes, such as manual data or information entry. In other words, AI promises to serve as a trusty sidekick, complementing and enhancing human capabilities (rather than replacing them).

40-65% of professionals say AI saves them at least an hour per week.

When I'm being pulled in a hundred directions at once - or bogged down with endless, tedious tasks - I don't have the time or headspace to do what I do best: connecting with people. That's where AI enters the picture.

For example, let's say you're conducting a discovery call. Rather than getting distracted by jotting down notes manually throughout the call, you use a tool like Grain, an AI-powered note-taking app.

Because the AI tool takes notes for you, you can give the prospect your undivided attention. Moreover, Grain automatically highlights, clips, and summarizes key moments during the meeting, empowering you and your manager to revisit them later and identify what worked well (and where there may be room for improvement).

Tools like these can automate many menial tasks, giving people the time and space to focus on the areas that truly need a human touch.

AI will make people more effective.

From prospecting to content generation and more, data from HubSpot's recent survey of business professionals suggests that many people are confident that AI will make them more effective and efficient in their jobs.

When it comes to prospecting, for instance, AI can help salespeople reach the right prospects at the right time with the right messages. At the top of the funnel, AI tools can analyze and identify high-quality leads, enabling professionals to hone in on the leads who are most likely to convert.

In addition, tools like Superhuman AI can help sales professionals optimize the timing of their communications. This tool sends an alert whenever a recipient reads an email, and users can even set up reminders if a prospect doesn't reply after a certain number of days, empowering salespeople to follow up in a timely fashion.

In addition, 22% of sales professionals report using AI to personalize their outreach efforts. For instance, I've used AI tools to analyze information about my prospects - including their demographics, buying behavior, and our past email exchanges - and extract key insights to inform how I reach out to them.

AI can help organize and share data more effectively.

Modern organizations create and manage a lot of data. Not only that, but this data often comes from a lot of different sources, making it really challenging to track and make sense of all that information.

Here, again, AI can help. AI tools can automatically track prospects and consolidate all the relevant data into one single source of truth, creating a central repository that you and your team can access to find the right data when you need it.

Moreover, beyond just managing data, I've found that AI can be a great option to extract important insights from that data - insights that I'd otherwise be unable to find. For example, HubSpot's AI for business suite offers a range of tools designed to boost teams' effectiveness, optimizing marketing, sales, and service processes and enabling companies to deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

Get Started With AI Today

The AI business statistics I've shared in this article highlight just how powerful AI tools can be.

From boosting productivity to enabling more personalized interactions, it's hard to overstate the impact AI is having on today's organizations. So take it from me: To set yourself up for success, it's essential to start looking for areas in your workflow where AI can give you and your business a major boost.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics: Artificial Intelligence

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