Boosting Efficiency: AI Productivity Tools in Modern Workplaces

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become more prevelant in everyday settings, from the news headlines to possibly your own home or office. In fact, the majority of knowledge workers—75 percent—now use AI at work, according to the Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index [1]. The index found that these employees use AI to improve their productivity by saving time and supporting creativity.

AI has the potential to handle low-value, time-intensive tasks, allowing workers to focus on more important work. These benefits could apply to many different professional settings, but knowing where to start with AI productivity tools requires careful consideration. Explore how to choose the right tools for your needs and make the most of AI and its current capabilities.

Understanding AI productivity tools and their benefits

Understanding AI productivity tools begins with realizing what AI can do for you. Common AI productivity tools fall into various categories based on their key characteristics.

For example, natural language processing tools can understand and generate human language, enabling specific AI tools, such as generative AI tools, to comb through data and provide analyses. These tools can also help you brainstorm, providing ideas to solve a certain problem, among other uses. Some AI tools are specifically designed to assist with data analysis, while others can create visual content based on written requests. Still, others can transcribe notes or automatically put together a presentation based on a bank of information.

According to HubSpot's 2024 State of AI report, the following are tangible impacts that AI has on professionals' lives [2]: 

• Marketing professionals save an average of two or more hours per day by using generative AI.

• 75 percent of marketers report that AI and automation can reduce their time spent on manual tasks, like data entry and scheduling.

• 47 percent of marketers use AI for email marketing and newsletters; of these, 82 percent see a positive ROI.

• 38 percent of marketers use AI to create long-form content, such as articles and blog posts.

• Less time spent on manual tasks and more time spent on value-add tasks

• Greater efficiency and creativity

• Greater ability to make data-driven business decisions

With these benefits in mind, which AI productivity tools could be most helpful for you? You might find the greatest value in tools that help you reduce the time spent on daily tasks such as managing emails, assigning tasks to team members, creating collaborative documents, or organizing your to-do list. Read on to learn more about the practical applications of AI productivity tools.

AI productivity tools for email management and organization

Reading and responding to emails is an important part of most business roles, but it does take some time. One study of 31,000 Microsoft 365 users across 31 countries found that the heaviest email users can spend nearly nine hours weekly on email communications [3]. 

Certain AI productivity tools can help both read and write emails. For example, Microsoft Copilot will draft an email for you based on a tone and length prompt. It can also summarize long email threads, so you’re not spending valuable time wading through back-and-forths between your colleagues. Google’s Gemini tool offers similar functions. 

Examples of AI in your email account

You may already be using AI productivity tools within your email account. If you’ve ever written an email in Gmail and noticed that the platform suggests future text as you type, that’s an example of AI in the form of Gmail’s Smart Compose, a feature that you can turn on and off in your settings. Similarly, Microsoft Outlook’s Focused Inbox uses AI to presort your incoming emails so you can focus on what most deserves your attention. 

Any of these tools have the potential to reduce the amount of time spent in your inbox.

AI productivity tools for project management and task automation

AI-driven project management platforms work by analyzing all of the available data surrounding your project and its release. Some examples of how AI can benefit project management tasks include:

• Automating task assignments based on priorities and deadlines

• Projecting future costs, risks, and outcomes

• compiling data into one place for all team members to access

Some project managers are already seeing the benefits of these functionalities, as Capterra’s 2024 Most Impactful Project Management Tools Survey reports [4]. This survey finds that the majority of project managers are already using AI or planning to start using AI soon, and 88 percent of these project managers express confidence in delegating important tasks to AI. Those who have invested in AI have seen a positive ROI in just a year, and many plan to increase their AI investments [4]. Could you likewise see a positive ROI by investing in AI project management? 

Read more: Why Project Managers Need to Understand AI

AI productivity tools for document collaboration and knowledge management

For teams that frequently share documents and similar knowledge, AI tools with natural language processing capabilities can make using those documents and collaborating easier. These tools can:

• Extract insights from lengthy content

• Gather and organize information from content

• Help with searching for relevant content

For example, Adobe’s AI Assistant is accelerating to help users gather insights across multiple documents at once, edit content, and streamline the content collaboration process. Meanwhile, Microsoft SharePoint harnesses the power of Microsoft Copilot to use your written descriptions to craft SharePoint sites and pages. Similarly, in Google Workspace, Google’s Gemini feature uses AI capabilities to help teams collaborate and brainstorm in Google Docs, capture notes during Google Meet sessions, and enable workflows in Google Chat. 

AI productivity tools for personalized assistance and virtual assistants

Regarding AI productivity tools in virtual assistance, you’ve probably been carrying around an AI virtual assistant in your pocket for longer than you’ve realized, or maybe you’ve even chatted with one in your living room. While not as robust as some of the more modern AI solutions, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant are all forms of AI-powered assistants. 

Now, though, you can do more than ask an AI virtual assistant for the weather forecast or a baseball game's score. Thanks to the influx of AI assistants developed recently, you can also ask an AI assistant to negotiate a bill, hunt for a job, take notes, sort your business expenses, recruit employees, and more. If your needs aren’t quite extensive, the classic Siri and Alexa can still help you with simple tasks like setting reminders. 

Getting started with Coursera

Whatever your industry or role, there’s likely an AI productivity tool that can help you increase your productivity and efficiency to focus on other aspects of your role, like providing effective solutions for your company’s clients or customers.

As a relatively new landscape, AI will continue to evolve, and so will all the opportunities that come with it. Getting in on the AI action now can help you familiarize yourself with this growing feature of the modern workplace. Coursera is a great place to start, with offerings like IBM’s AI Developer Professional Certificate. This program covers an introduction to software engineering, AI, prompt engineering, and more. Or consider IBM’s AI Product Manager Professional Certificate to help build in-demand AI skills in product management. Upon completing either program, gain a shareable certificate to include in your resume, CV, or LinkedIn profile.