A 2017 study from Pew Research found that more than 70% of the U.S. is scared that robots are going to take over our lives. And, while we can’t perfectly predict the emergence of a Skynet singularity, we can say with some certainty that technology is set to take over the repetitive, dehumanizing elements of our jobs instead of putting us out of work.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a strategic priority for 84% of businesses, and in some cases has been used to improve sales team efficiency by over 50%. Even I’ve used AI in the past to generate hundreds of relevant hashtags for social media posts at the click of a button.

It was once the stuff of utopian science fiction and huge enterprises, but now practically anyone can take advantage.

For this post, we will dive into 20 different applications of AI in the real world:

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While it might seem new and intimidating, machine learning in business is already bringing massive benefits to companies and consumers alike.

From increasingly effective product suggestions to accurate journey time predictions and advanced customer analytics, machine learning is an incredibly powerful tool which lets you analyze every important aspect of your business without wasting human hours on the task.

But what exactly is machine learning, and how do you go from knowing that to actually using it?

“Instead of using labels to teach an AI what each object it’s looking at is, this DeepMind project teaches itself because it learns to recognise images and sounds by matching them up with what it can see and hear.

This method of learning is almost exactly like how humans think and learn to understand the world around them.” – Vaughn Highfield, How Google DeepMind is learning like a child: DeepMind uses videos to teach itself about the world

In this article we will cover:

• What is machine learning?
• Benefits of machine learning in business
• Applications of machine learning in business
• Different types of machine learning in business
• Real-world examples of machine learning in business

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2/3 of HR managers agree that Human Resources is undergoing a digital transformation. And with this transformation comes a plethora of digital HR tools designed to optimize HR-related operations. These tools improve efficiency, employee experience, regulatory compliance, and save you money.

However, the sheer diversity of HR tools available brings a challenge. The challenge to find the right HR tools for you and your team, to build your ultimate HR toolkit. Your HR toolkit is a set of tools that aid HR-related functions, and it’ll be specialized for you and your business.

How do you choose the right HR tools to optimize your HR toolkit?

The answer to that question lies here. In this Process Street article, you’ll learn what HR tools are and how you can utilize the best HR tools for each specific HR-related function. After vigorous qualitative research and trial-and-error, we’re delighted to present you with our top 30+ HR tools to help you build your ultimate HR toolkit.

Click on the relevant subheader to jump to your section of choice. Alternatively, scroll down to read all we have to say.

• What are HR tools?
• Our top 33 HR tools to build your ultimate HR toolkit
• How to integrate Process Street with your HR tools

Let’s begin!
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Ah, the days before I started using project management software.

I don’t miss them.

70+ hour weeks of pure stress and disorganized skitting from task to task, unable to focus on the things that mattered when they needed to get done. It was a lesson hard-learned but one of the most valuable I’ve ever had the misfortune of going through.

So I’ll save you the trouble and show you the best free options on offer.

You don’t need a massive budget or a lot of experience to get the most out of these apps – hence why they’re the best free project management software. Most have paid plans but all are functional with the free version and all will help you and your team organize your projects and get things done on time and to a high standard.

I’ll be covering:

1. Process Street
2. Agantty
3. Airtable
4. Asana
5. Avaza
6. Backlog
7. Bitrix24
8. FreedCamp
9. HiTask
10. KanbanFlow
11. MeisterTask
12. Paymo
13. Pivotal Tracker
14. Podio
15. TeamGantt
16. Toggl
17. Teamwork Projects
18. Todoist
19. Trello
20. Wrike
21. Zenkit

Enough talk – let’s get stuck in.
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“Airtable vs Trello. Which is better?“

Our team (and customers) used Trello for years before transitioning to Airtable several years ago. We were having a tough time adjusting (old habits die hard), and my Process Street colleague Ben Brandall was trying to get to the bottom of why.

We love improving our productivity using everything from business process automation to focus music, and this case was no different.

Trello is a powerhouse of task management but Airtable is a masterful mix of database, spreadsheet, task and project management app. How are you supposed to choose?

That’s why I’m writing this post. After having used both apps personally and professionally for more than three years, I’ve been able to get to grips with who these apps are designed for and what makes them useful.

Most of all, you can learn from this to see which app would suit you instead of spending years testing them out yourself.

Let’s get started.

According to Bain & Company, a mere 5% increase in customer retention can equate to a profit boost of 25%. This is because repeat customers will spend more with your brand – 67% more to be exact.

Providing a top-notch customer service allows your business to recoup customer acquisition costs and cultivate a loyal following. Your customer service team is the heart of your organization and is your means of retaining and extracting value from your customers.

Like Bain & Company, we at Process Street think it’s vital to get your customer service operations right. And to do that, you need a refined and well-oiled CS delivery model. One that’s up to date with the times.

We turn our attention to The Digital Transformation of Customer Services report by Deloitte. We summarize the information from this report to present 5 actionable steps that’ll create Deloitte’s customer service delivery model. This model delivers effective customer service operations that mitigate today’s market disruptions.

Sounds good, eh?

With that said, let’s jump to it and get your customer service model right!

• The whirlwind of disruptive forces in today’s marketplace
• Reforming your customer service delivery model in five steps

Here’s to putting the success back in customer success!
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Alex Husar is the Chief Technology Officer at Onilab. For over eight years, he’s been working on Magento migration and development projects as well as building progressive web apps (PWAs). Alex is an expert in full-stack development who shares his expertise and in-depth knowledge on modern technologies and Computer Software Engineering.

Ecommerce businesses all over the globe have never been as focused on delivering the best possible user experience as now. The mobile-first approach, never-ending performance optimization, and the move towards headless ecommerce architecture are among core signs of this trend.

It’s about to accelerate in the coming months and years. Google has recently announced significant changes in its search ranking, connected exactly with the way people perceive websites. Page experience metrics will soon join other crucial indicators that influence websites’ positions in SERPs.

There are the Core Web Vitals:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
• First Input Delay (FID)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

These signals reflect how successfully users interact with web pages. The aim of measuring them is to improve the level of satisfaction from such experiences considerably.

Firstly, in this article for Process Street, we’ll get acquainted with the peculiarities of Core Web Vitals. And, secondly, we’ll consider what tweaks you could make to ameliorate these metrics on Magento-based online stores.

• Why worry about Core Web Vitals?
• How to measure Core Web Vitals
• Magento: Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
• Magento: Fix First Input Delay (FID)
• Magento: Stabilize Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Let’s get started!
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BONUS MATERIAL: Once you’ve installed the Process Street Slack App, it will transform your Slack space into a superpowered tool for all your team’s recurring work. Learn how to get it, how it works, and why you need it in your life here.

Slack has changed the way we work.

From being able to easily stay in touch with colleagues, no matter where they are in the world, to sending important files and docs in real-time, teams can work more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

It’s no wonder, then, that Salesforce bought Slack for a whopping $27.7bn (and just a few months after they invested in Process Street’s very own Series A).

But Slack really becomes a productivity powerhouse when using Slack Apps — additional made-for-Slack applications that can help you communicate, receive crucial information, and complete work faster.

That’s why Cameron McKay, Process Street‘s CTO, built a Process Street Slack App enabling teams to simultaneously superpower both their Process Street and Slack usage!

Sound exciting?

It is.

In this Process Street post, I’ll be discussing why we decided to build a Slack App, how our CTO managed to build a Slack App for Process Street in just 2 weeks, and how you too can install the Process Street Slack App immediately.

Read the following sections to get clued-up:

• How Slack Apps can help you improve workplace productivity
• How we built a Slack App in 2 weeks
• How to install the Process Street Slack App right now

Ready for a peek behind the scenes?
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Process Street is a simple, free and powerful way to manage your team’s recurring checklists and procedures.

Process Street helps you automate tasks, track progress, and manage documents — plus it integrates with over a thousand of your favorite apps.

Thousands of businesses in every industry use Process Street to make their recurring work fun, fast and faultless. We’ve been listening closely to our customers, and Process Street 3.0 proves it. Sign up for a free trial and take Process Street for a spin.

Processes are a part of daily life for every person in every role in every business. We designed Process Street to power any kind of process: employee onboarding, rental property inspections, new client onboarding, firewall security audits, monthly sales forecasts, and many more.

We’ve built strong lines of communication with businesses who use Process Street every day; with the launch of Process Street 3.0, their feedback has helped us make our platform:

• More powerful, with greater control to orchestrate and automate complex multi-departmental workflows.
• More intuitive, with a redesigned user experience to help you implement and manage all your processes even faster.
• More accessible, with new time-savers like application speed improvements, single sign-on, and a slick iOS app.

Before we dive into all of our 3.0 features, you have to check out our new explainer video! As you watch, consider what it can mean for your business if every person on your team knows what to do, and when.

Satisfying, right?

The feeling of working together to get processes done right, and right on time.

Ok let’s jump into it.
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A recent study from Ponemon and Globalscope reported the average cost of meeting compliance mandates is $5.47 million, versus non-compliance fines of $14.82 million.

No organization wants to cough up massive non-compliance charges. And one effective means of avoiding such scenarios is by using a robust, effective, and integrated governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) approach.

Due to today’s complexity of governance, risk, and compliance demands, it would be considered reckless to go about using an integrated GRC approach without utilizing viable GRC tools.

GRC tools help organizations strategize the management of governance, risk, and compliance regulations in an integrated fashion.

In this Process Street article, you’re taken through a quick tour of our top GRC tools to meet the specificity of governance, risk, and compliance demands.

I’ll then show you how to use Process Street, for free, to integrate these three separate entities for an integrated GRC approach.

Click on the relevant subheader to jump to your section of choice. Alternatively, scroll down for your quick introduction to all things GRC, how the discipline has developed, and top tools and techniques you can use to implement GRC in your business.

• What is GRC?
• GRC as a revolutionary approach and why it’s important
• Our top 14 GRC tools
• Using Process Street to integrate your governance, risk, and compliance solutions

Let’s jump straight to it!
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