5 Ways to use AI for business  

From optimising internal processes to elevating customer experiences, AI is no longer a “nice to have”, but an essential driver of efficiency, scalability, and smarter decision-making.   

Businesses adopting AI early are already seeing a 40% performance increase. These shifts require skilled, flexible talent who can work with AI, rather than be replaced by it.     

Sheila Flavell CBE, COO of FDM Group, believes:    

“AI has the potential to transform every sector of our economy, but real leadership on the global stage will depend on our ability to equip people with the right skills. Building a workforce fluent in AI, not just in using tools, but in understanding their capabilities and limits, is essential.”   

In our latest white paper – Workforce 2.0: AI Adoption and the Future of Jobs, we surveyed senior business leaders across the retail, energy, banking, insurance, education, and public sectors to gather insights on the state of AI adoption in their teams and their vision for the future of the workforce.  

Our survey asked: “In which business areas has AI delivered the most noticeable value or adoption within your organisation?”. Seven business functions were listed, including: IT support and operations, customer service and experience, marketing and customer insights, sales and revenue optimisation, financial planning and analysis, legal and compliance, and HR and talent acquisition.  

The state of adoption spanned from piloting and experimenting with AI in limited areas to AI being fully embedded across core operations.  

Top AI adopters:  

• IT support and operations – 26%  

• Customer service and experience – 15%  

• Marketing and customer insights – 9%  

These findings highlight exactly where businesses are already gaining tangible benefits from AI.  

Here are five other areas of your business where AI can start delivering real value: 

1. Product development and testing   

For businesses, speed and accuracy are everything. AI can help accelerate product development by automating testing, identifying bugs earlier, and providing intelligent suggestions for design improvements.   

Tools like GitHub Copilot and Amazon CodeWhisperer are already making waves by assisting developers with code suggestions, while AI-driven testing platforms help reduce time to release without sacrificing quality. A study conducted by GitHub Copilot showed that software developers could implement an HTTP server in JavaScript 55.8% faster with AI assistance.    

2. Cybersecurity and risk management   

As tech stacks become more complex, security risks become harder to detect and more damaging when missed. AI brings pattern recognition and anomaly detection to the frontline, helping security teams stay ahead of emerging threats.   

Sawan Joshi, FDM’s Group Director of Information Security, predicts:    

“In the next year, AI will become the force multiplier in cyber-attacks across all techniques, and smaller operational teams will struggle; the only way is to use AI technologies and the right tooling as a co-worker and let AI become the force multiplier that supports business resilience.”   

3. Data strategy and insights   

With the explosion of available data, turning information into insight is a growing challenge. AI can help your teams make sense of massive, complex data sets, without relying solely on manual analysis.   

By integrating AI into your data stack, through platforms like Power BI, Tableau with AI extensions, or custom ML models, you can enable faster, more confident decisions across your organisation.   

And when AI handles the grunt work of data wrangling, analysts can focus on what they do best: translating insights into strategy.   

4. Customer support   

Based on our research, the roles most impacted by AI or automation are: 

•      IT Support and helpdesk (40.09%)
•      Customer Service (23.27%)

IT Support and helpdesk positions, affecting about 40% of these roles. Customer Service roles are the second most affected, with nearly a quarter of these positions being impacted by automated technologies. 

Klarna, the Swedish fintech company popular for its “buy now, pay later” payment services, had laid off 700 employees in 2022, replacing their roles with an AI assistant. The company’s AI tool could handle customer queries like refunds, returns, and cancellations as well as resolve disputes and provide real-time updates on payment schedules. It was able to do this in over 35 different languages.  

Fast forward to 2025: Klarna is rehiring human agents as a result of falling service standards and widespread customer complaints about automated responses that were unhelpful in providing solutions to real problems. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later publicly admitted, “we went too far”.  

Klarna is a classic example of a company that cut costs through automation without considering the limitations of AI, particularly in jobs that require empathy and emotional intelligence.  

Siemiatkowski has since emphasised the importance of striking the right balance between human-AI collaboration to boost efficiency without compromising on service quality.  

At FDM, we believe AI can help businesses deliver faster, more consistent support experiences without sacrificing the human connection. By handling repetitive queries or surfacing relevant knowledge base articles, AI gives your support team the time to focus on high-touch customer needs.    

FDM Consultant Shriya Sriram, Business Analyst (BA) for a luxury retail client, believes:   

“On the customer-facing side, AI has the ability to elevate the retail experience by offering personalised product recommendations and faster/convenient checkout processes. It is quite exciting to see how much our world will change in the upcoming years.”   

Another client in the retail sector required a chatbot that could assist customers in navigating a highly competitive product landscape. During a 24-hour hackathon, FDM Consultants designed a solution that combined data engineering with conversational AI. Their focus was to create a deployable interface with speed and accuracy.    

The chatbot let users specify taste and price preferences; then it returned real-time product recommendations, eliminating guesswork and enhancing customer experience.    

The goal isn’t to remove humans from the loop; it’s to elevate their impact. Tools like Zendesk AI, Intercom Fin, or custom-trained chatbots are already helping teams reduce ticket backlogs and improve customer retention.   

5. Talent development and internal efficiency   

Recent research from HP and YouGov found that 72% of UK employees using AI tools say it saves them time every week. One in ten is saving more than five hours. Some are using it to reduce manual admin. Others say it helps them focus, collaborate more effectively, or feel more in control of their day.    

Your people are your most valuable asset, especially in tech. AI can help nurture their growth by creating personalised learning journeys, identifying emerging skills gaps, and even supporting managers with performance insights.   

It’s not about AI vs humans—It’s AI + humans   

The biggest misconception about AI is that it’s here to replace jobs. The reality? In tech and most industries, AI thrives when it’s used to empower your team, not displace them.   

How can FDM support?   

At FDM, our multi-skilled consultants can help your business get AI-ready. We don’t just connect businesses with skilled consultants; we invest in developing future leaders.   

Consultants from our five practices continually support and transform operations, helping to achieve business goals.   

Take the next step on your AI journey. Book your discovery call with FDM today and unlock the full potential of AI for your business.