According to Google’s estimates, Southeast Asia’s digital economy will increase by 25% by 2025. This represents a $300 billion boom that will require a 25% increase in technical workers to support it.

However, the supply of candidates that have the right skills already fails to meet the demand. Tech positions in places like Singapore can remain vacant for up to three months.

The Great Resignation does not help the situation. According to Mercer’s survey, former technical workers are dissatisfied with both their salary and the benefits they receive.

So, how can a company offer competitive compensation to technical workers who have the right skill sets? Various ways to save money must be found.

Because there’s such a low supply of quality candidates and a high demand for them, some of Southeast Asia’s best candidates demand a high level of compensation.

Without a generally accepted standard pay range for a particular job, companies could lose their edge. Using A.I. can make outdated salary surveys, guesswork and negotiating with candidates things of the past.

A.I. can standardize compensation expectations

In an environment where there’s such a shortage of suitable job candidates, some candidates can command as much as a 30% increase in pay over what their current job pays. Some companies will give in to their demands, while others won’t. Such wide differences in compensation expectations slow up the hiring process.

A.I. enables employers to screen candidates. However, A.I. can also allow both candidates and employers to see what the widely accepted compensation amount is. This amount would sufficiently compensate candidates and also meet the company’s objective.

A.I. can enable employers to hire people who are a good fit

Besides compensation, a company’s workplace culture, flexibility, learning opportunities, employer branding and employee benefits are also important to candidates. Therefore, employers should think about the decision-making process that candidates use. Not only can A.I. discover differentiating factors among candidates, but it can identify any problems the company may need to work on.

Knowing what each candidate really wants in a job and what you as an employer have to offer would allow you to hire people who are a good fit. Satisfied employees tend to stay at their job longer than unhappy employees do.

A.I. can streamline the hiring process

The hiring process normally starts with a job posting on an online platform that allows candidates to respond with a CV. The HR department assesses the CV. After coming to a consensus with the hiring business department regarding an offer package, the HR department sends an offer to the candidate.

The candidate may seek to negotiate the offer. However, since the HR department and the hiring business department don’t have the same information about the candidate, nobody really knows what the optimal salary should be. This causes a counteroffer to be delayed.

If A.I. assessed the CV at the very beginning instead of the HR department, the company would be much more likely to extend an optimal offer the first time. That’s because A.I. can provide real-time market data, giving everybody an idea of the candidate’s likely compensation expectations. Additionally, both the HR department and the business department would have the same candidate-differentiating information, such as a candidate’s decision-making process and motivations.

A.I. generally presents candidates in a favorable manner. Because everyone can readily see both the candidate’s likely salary expectations and their actual worth, utilizing A.I. technology would cut down on negotiations. Fewer negotiations speed up the hiring process.

A.I. can also give you a clear view of your company. For instance, if a company combines machine learning with an employee’s personal data, A.I. can give the company a real-time performance review on that person.

A.I. can let you understand your company culture and how your employees and the public view your company. This is important to know because 76% of respondents in a Mercer survey cited company culture as a major determining factor when it comes to staff retention.

Grouped information can point to both problem areas and potential growth opportunities. If your organization has a high turnover rate, A.I. will tell you. You can also see whether some departments have a lot of employees clocking in late.

These are signs of trouble that managers can be alerted to. Naturally, this sort of information requires a lot of data points.

You can apply A.I. to things that have to do with your customers too. A.I. solves growth obstacles.

It can help you speed up customer adoption, provide you a competitive advantage and give you massive growth opportunities.

It can enable you to build a relationship with customers through the use of customer data, help you expand your customer base and assist your customers in real time. Using data analytics, A.I. can predict outcomes too.

One of the newest A.I. invention is the chatbot, which simulates online interactive human communication. Other names for chatbots include chatterbot, chat robot, chatterbox, talk bot and Artificial Conversational Entity (ACE).

You’ll find chatbots integrated into instant messengers, websites or apps. They interact with humans much like a human customer service person would but cost much less.

While this may seem unappealing, many customers prefer to deal with a chatbot. One reason is that chatbots don’t require customers to wait for them to become available – they’re ready at all times. A ResearchGate survey showed that customers not only like the quick responses but also the effective solutions that chatbots provide.

Chatbots can be simple or scripted, intelligent or smart. The simple or scripted type will work if the customer types in a keyword that the chatbot understands. This limitation can frustrate customers, though.

The intelligent or smart chatbot gives users a more personalized experience because it uses an A.I. feature called natural language processing (NLP), which better understands questions posed.

As you can see, A.I. has a wide range of uses for businesses. From helping with the hiring process to assisting your company with customers, this technology is a great asset.