Most of us are already aware of how digital technology can benefit the business community.
Modern advancements such as voice-activated searches and artificial intelligence (AI) are likewise transforming the ways in which organisations function on a day-to-day basis. However, a new approach is slated to have a profound impact upon how businesses interact with their customers. This is known as natural language processing (NLP).
How does this technology work? What are its potential applications and why might we soon be entering into an even smarter digital domain? Each of these questions warrants a bit more attention.
NLP Technology at a Glance
As the name suggests, this type of software is centred around understanding and interpreting everyday human language. The main takeaway point is that methods such as rule-based modelling and computational linguistics are much better at appreciating the nuances of speech. Therefore, extremely accurate results can be offered. Although this type of language technology is only beginning to emerge, its advantages are already becoming clear.
Applications Within the Business Community
Of course, it should already be obvious that one of the main intentions of NLP revolves around machine-assisted translations. It is now possible for a program to appreciate the context of sentences and larger blocks of text to draw more accurate conclusions. This approach can be used when collating and interpreting marketing data (such as client feedback) associated with larger audience bases; providing businesses with valuable insight.
Another interesting possibility involves the use of big data. In the past, it would have been difficult for businesses and IT specialists to analyse massive amounts of data in order to appreciate the main takeaway points. Machine translation services are now able to extract the most important details and to subsequently present these metrics in an easily digestible form. Such summaries can be used to gauge the efficacy of an ongoing marketing campaign, to understand which products are the most popular and even to predict if it may be time to tap into a new audience base.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) also comes into play when discussing the applications of language technology. The algorithms embedded within an NLP software package are able to better understand what unique queries signify. They can even sift through misspellings and highlight the differences between two nearly identical entries. Businesses can therefore better hone their SEO tactics while appreciating which keywords will resonate the most with a specific search. In the same respect, it is much easier to eliminate irrelevant search results and to discover any keyword trends so that a more proactive approach can be embraced.
Only Scratching the Surface
Please note that these are only a handful of benefits which NLP translation tools can offer. Sentiment analyses, efficient data entry techniques and more effective CRM systems are just as relevant. The good news is that even more interesting applications are being discovered on a frequent basis. Businesses should therefore make it a point to take advantage of all that this amazing technology has to offer.
