While customer relationship management systems have made data accessible, manually processing and analyzing that data is prohibitively time- and resource-consuming for many businesses.

Conversely, by using artificial intelligence, you can go through reams of data and come away with more than just a migraine. AI makes intelligent connections to tell team members who is buying what and what they’re most likely to buy in the future. The result is not only a better conversion rate and improved productivity, but also better relationships with customers.

CRMs have traditionally been limited to legacy reports — sales funnel analysis, revenue generated, etc. — but AI promises to take metrics to the next level, providing information on things like the patterns of customer emails and the best time for the sales team to engage with new customers. IDC predicts that utilizing AI in a CRM capacity will increase global business revenue by $1.1 trillion between 2017 and 2021.

Read Jonathan’s full article on Tech.co.