Quick Summary: By integrating AI, tasks that once took substantial time can now be completed faster and more effectively, allowing for increased productivity and operational efficiency. Keegan discusses his personal use of AI tools like virtual assistants and generative AI in Google Search to streamline tasks ranging from problem-solving to creating content like Excel formulas and HTML scripts.
The way technology, particularly artificial intelligence, has changed over the last few in recent years means a new way of performing old or mundane tasks. This is an exciting time for users to take full advantage of the features and capabilities that this technology offers. Because for people working in the digital sphere, such as software development, marketing, or UX/UI design, there are ways you can utilise this technology to improve your work efficiency.
The Benefits and Challenges of This AI Transition
The shift to a combined human knowledge and artificial intelligence relationship means that organisations will see an increase in employee productivity as tasks can be completed in less time. But the exciting part about this whole shift is the depth of tasks that can be performed by using this technology as part of your daily work processes.
At the same time, this does open a whole box of questions because if artificial intelligence models are currently doing certain parts of jobs, then how will our current jobs roles and responsibilities look in the future? If you look back 20+ years to the technology your parents or grandparents used, such as rotary dial phones or typewriters and see the advancement we have made in a brief time, this just shows what the future holds with the development of new technologies.
As a Demand Generation Executive at 7DOTS, I take full advantage of artificial intelligence and the capabilities that it can provide. And I’m going to touch on how I use this technology to upskill and improve my productivity.
I’d also love to hear your thoughts on whether you use these models, and if so, what are your prompts?Meanwhile, by using Google Search, you would get the same answer, but I’ve recently found this more useful as you get a direct response to your question rather than having to scroll through the top ten search results.
And with the recent launch of Search Generative Experience (SGE) on Google which is described as “A new way to search with generative AI” – will transform the ways people use search to find key information. Essentially, this will work in a similar way to current artificial intelligence models, such as ChatGPT or Bard, where users will be provided with an AI snapshot at the top of the search results that provide an overview of their searched topic.
This is more of a task-focused approach when trying to find a solution to a problem. Often there are alternative approaches you may not think of – and but by optimising ChatGPT prompts you will get different answers or approaches to solve your problem.
This leads nicely onto the next point on whether these tools can be useful for creative problem solving, to the concept of bouncing ideas around and brainstorming different approaches that could work for a client. This would work the same way as if you were in a meeting room - but rather than discussing ideas with colleagues, ChatGPT may be able to assist by providing different methods you could use.
But when following this approach, it’s important to make your prompts clear and precise, clearly explaining the contextual background and what you want the desired outcome to achieve. For example, here are some questions you could ask to prompt the desired response:
- How to ensure that our client's strategy is sustainable and adaptable over time?
- What are some unconventional approaches or out-of-the-box ideas we could consider?
- How can we identify emerging trends in their industry to stay ahead of the curve?
- What measures can we put in place to monitor and adapt our client's strategy?
- Are there any potential disruptors or threats in the near future we need to prepare for?
Work Process Efficiency
In terms of operational efficiency of work processes, artificial intelligence models can speed up the time it takes to complete tasks leading to cost reductions. Now, I’m not saying that every task can be completed with the assistance of AI models, but rather it depends on the outcome that you want the piece of work to achieve.
For instance, below are a few tasks that I’ve successfully managed to automate through the help of artificial intelligence models.
Excel Formulas
Crafting Excel formulas can quickly become a maze of confusion, particularly when multiple arguments need to work together for the formula to operate smoothly. But by using ChatGPT, this allowed me I was able to speed up this part of the process by using some form of automation.
Headings & Page Titles
I’ve also used this technology for simple tasks, such as creating catchy headings or titles for pages. You can add further prompts that allow you to generate multiple options to choose from, which helps in choosing the best-sounding one.
Python & HTML Scripts
Another area where this technology is efficient is in developing basic Python or HTML scripts. Typically, this process involves some back-and-forth communication to describe the technical errors encountered, enabling the script to be adjusted accordingly.
But as demonstrated above, artificial intelligence offers numerous use cases to save time and enhance operational efficiency. An effective method to gauge the effectiveness of various prompts is by manually inputting them into the model and assessing the returned results.
In the near future these AI models are going to form an integral part of the ‘standard’ work processes. This is going to change the day-to-day roles and responsibilities of many different jobs. On this basis, it’s a clever idea for people working in the digital sphere to immerse themselves in this technology and to stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends. From an upskilling perspective these types of technologies are a vast knowledge hub and if used correctly can provide many benefits. But the key is to find the balance between efficiency and an overreliance on them to perform a set list of tasks.
Anyway, it’d be interesting to hear your thoughts on the numerous ways you use AI tools to increase your productivity in the workplace.
Share this article