How Businesses Can Finally Solve Problems with AI

Expert Inna Logunova on optimizing Business Performance with AI

As businesses increasingly face pressure to make quick, data-driven decisions, many are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain a competitive edge. In fact, a 2023 report by PwC projects that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with businesses that adopt AI technologies seeing significant gains in efficiency and decision-making. Yet, despite the growing use of AI, studies show that 70% of companies struggle to fully realize the potential of their data due to a lack of proper tools and infrastructure.

Inna Logunova, Senior Strategist at Dataiku, has built a career around helping organizations unlock the power of AI and data analytics. With experience spanning startups to Fortune 500 companies, she has spearheaded projects that optimize decision-making and drive business growth. “Data is only as powerful as the tools and strategies used to interpret it,” says Logunova. “AI allows companies to dig deeper into their data, uncover patterns, and make more strategic decisions that drive growth.”

One of the most common issues businesses face is fragmented data, stored across various systems in different formats. This makes it difficult to get a complete picture of the organization’s performance and hampers effective decision-making. Logunova experienced this firsthand when she worked on a consulting project consolidating data from 42 subsidiaries, each storing multiformat information. “This required significant manual effort for data reconciliation, but with AI and advanced tools like image recognition, we were able to automate the process,” explains Logunova. The result was the development of a new sales incentives program that not only helped the client meet growth targets but also improved employee retention in the sales department by 15% year over year.

Logunova has applied both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques to solve various business challenges. In one project, she used supervised learning models, such as sentiment analysis, to assess customer success tickets. “This allowed us to analyze customer feedback on new product features and prioritize tickets based on urgency,” she says. “As a result, we were able to resolve customer issues more effectively, leading to a 20% increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) quarter over quarter.”

On the unsupervised learning front, Logunova utilized clustering techniques to segment customers based on behavior and demographics, which improved the accuracy of strategic targeting. “Unsupervised learning helps us identify patterns that we weren’t even looking for, which is essential for market segmentation and product development,” she notes.

In addition to traditional AI applications, Logunova has been at the forefront of integrating Generative AI into business operations. “We streamlined tasks like data enrichment using Large Language Models (LLMs) by leveraging internal and third-party providers’ data,” she explains. Additionally, Logunova implemented Generative AI assistants to develop customized emails and automate responses based on organizational data. Using the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) approach, her team trained LLMs to provide tailored responses to specific business needs. “This not only accelerated communications but also reduced manual workload,” she adds.

AI isn’t just about growth; it’s also about efficiency. “AI can automate time-consuming manual processes, freeing up valuable resources for more strategic tasks,” says Logunova. In a project where her team automated data reconciliation and reporting, companies saw their data processing time cut in half. This not only saved time but also reduced human error, which improved the overall accuracy of business operations.

Logunova believes that Generative AI can transform business operations boosting productivity by optimizing various workflows. According to a McKinsey report, 40% of organizations plan to increase their investment in AI, driven by advances in Generative AI. “Implementing Generative AI is not just about staying ahead of the curve — it’s about redefining how we work,” says Logunova. By leveraging AI to automate routine tasks and provide actionable insights, companies are not only saving time, but also gaining a competitive edge.

As AI-powered tools become more widespread, Logunova predicts a significant shift in how businesses operate. “AI should be embedded in the core of the business, driving decisions and creating efficiencies across departments,” she explains. “When implemented correctly, AI leads to measurable improvements in everything from customer satisfaction to revenue growth.”

While AI offers powerful insights and operational efficiencies, Logunova stresses that it is not a replacement for human expertise. “AI is designed to complement human experience, not to take over,” she says. “The most successful companies are those that combine AI’s capabilities with human judgment.”

With AI continuing to evolve and make its mark across industries, businesses that embrace these technologies today are positioning themselves to lead tomorrow, and experts like Inna Logunova are paving the way to innovation.