Google Cloud: How AI is Continuing to Drive Business Growth

The numbers tell the story. More than half (52%) of businesses implementing AI technologies report revenue increases between 6% and 10% annually, according to Google Cloud data.

“AI investment is not slowing down,” says Alex Rutter, the company’s EMEA Managing Director for AI. “Businesses continue to embrace new innovations, with advancements in Gen AI, multimodal models and AI agents driving everything from content generation to streamlined knowledge-sharing, fundamentally changing how businesses operate.”

Today, AI is solving real problems that have plagued businesses for years: how to create content faster, get information to the right people and connect with customers properly.

“With proven benefits of increased efficiency, productivity gains and cost-savings, AI is an opportunity no business can afford to overlook,” Alex explains.

AI models powering more personalised and engaging content

Online spaces are crowded with brands fighting for consumer attention, while customers expect personalised experiences – with research showing 84% of European consumers want brands to treat them as individuals rather than demographic segments.

“Advanced tools are now available that enhance production processes, streamline workflows and help brands to deliver more engaging and creative content than ever before,” Alex observes. “With image-to-video models, CMOs and creative teams can generate high-quality and high-definition videos in diverse cinematic and visual styles.

“These tools enable brands to maximise on their existing assets, generate stock imagery that can be tailored to the customer and discover new possibilities for creative expression,” he adds.

This enables marketing teams to test multiple creative approaches simultaneously without significant resource investment. They can deploy variations across different channels while maintaining brand consistency.

“Equipped with these capabilities, brands can create content that aligns with the customer needs with greater speed and efficiency, supporting them to drive loyalty and in turn, profitability.”

Enterprise search platforms eliminate information silos

AI can also help large organisations struggling with fragmented systems. Employees typically need to search across multiple platforms to find answers, jumping between different tools and databases for simple queries.

“Enterprise workers use an average of four to six tools just to ask and answer a single question,” Alex notes. “At times when employees urgently need to access information, this can be a real hindrance.”

AI-powered platforms like Vertex AI Search address this problem by consolidating information access. Instead of navigating separate systems, employees can ask questions in natural language and receive answers drawn from all company data sources.

“Employees need access to information, when and where it’s needed without having to jump through hoops,” he says. “Now, we’re seeing more organisations adopt enterprise search and knowledge management tools to address this challenge.”

These systems create single sources of truth for organisational knowledge. “Through these tools, businesses can centralise their information together under a single source of truth,” Alex explains. “Employees simply input a request and AI-powered agents provide assistance, whether that’s answering complex questions, making proactive suggestions or taking actions, all based on the organisation's unique data.”

AI agents can also automate routine tasks like drafting emails or compiling research reports.

“At the same time, businesses can deploy custom AI agents to automate repetitive tasks, such as conducting research or drafting content like emails.”

The result is employees spend less time searching for information and more time applying it productively.

“Organisations can both unlock the value of their own data and make it more accessible for employees, while enhancing productivity by alleviating staff of routine tasks and providing an assistant for complex tasks.”

Powering a smarter customer experience with real-time AI

Companies that can react quickly to changing conditions can gain significant advantages over competitors still relying on delayed reporting systems.

“Being able to respond and adapt in a moment’s notice is becoming more critical than ever – it can be the difference between those that remain competitive and those that don’t,” Alex observes.

Streaming APIs can transform data access by processing information as events occur, providing businesses with insights in real time through natural language queries connected to large language models at network edges.

For logistics teams managing supply chain disruptions, harnessing this real-time data is particularly valuable. “For example, for logistics teams that rely on quick decision-making, streaming APIs can provide real-time data on shipment delays, allowing them to efficiently respond whether that’s rerouting or sourcing supplies from elsewhere,” Alex explains.

Customer-facing applications can also benefit through real-time analysis of user behaviour, enabling companies to provide immediate updates on orders, stock availability and personalised offers.

“Externally, streaming APIs are transforming the customer experience. Through analysing user data, such as customer behaviours or profiles, businesses can supply real-time information relevant to them,” says Alex.

With 61% of consumers globally expecting personalised experiences, companies must move beyond standardised approaches and provide meaningful, personalised interactions across many touch points. “No two customers are alike, and businesses must move away from a one-size-fits-all approach,” he adds.

AI models enable this through comprehensive interaction analysis across voice, image and text, providing customer service agents with real-time insights about individual customers.

“Gen AI empowers businesses to exceed these expectations. By analysing customer interactions, from voice to image to text, across multiple platforms, businesses can generate real-time customer insights for human agents, allowing them to better understand and predict customer behaviours,” Alex explains.

This approach allows companies to serve more customers effectively while improving satisfaction and loyalty. “By supercharging customer operations in this way, businesses will see better return on investment as they increase the amount of customers they serve, while vastly improving loyalty and satisfaction,” says Alex.

“Every day, businesses are finding new and powerful uses for AI. Those who embrace innovation and embed AI throughout their operations – from supporting employees to enhancing customer service - will reap rewards of improved productivity, efficiency and profitability.”