How AI Is Changing Business and What BBA Students Need to Know

AI is becoming part of how businesses work across marketing, finance, operations, customer service and decision-making. Companies are using it to understand customers, analyse information, create campaigns, forecast demand and improve everyday processes. What was once associated mainly with technology teams is now becoming relevant across different business functions.

The scale of this shift is significant. According to McKinsey’s 2025 research, 88% of surveyed organisations reported using AI in at least one business function. This shows that AI is moving beyond experimentation and becoming part of how businesses approach their day-to-day work.

For BBA students, this makes AI relevant to the subjects they study, including marketing, finance, operations, strategy and consumer behaviour. Understanding business fundamentals remains important, but students also need to know how AI is being applied within these functions and how businesses are using it to address real-world problems.

AI Is Changing How Businesses Understand Customers

Understanding customers has always been central to business. What is changing is the amount of information businesses can analyse and the speed at which they can use it.

Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, is one example. According to Amazon’s 2025 results, more than 300 million customers used Rufus, which helps shoppers research products, compare options and make purchasing decisions.

For BBA students, this connects directly with consumer behaviour and marketing. Recommendation systems and AI assistants can influence how customers discover products and evaluate their choices. Understanding these applications gives students a clearer view of how technology is becoming part of the customer journey.

AI Is Turning Business Data Into Decisions

Businesses generate data through sales, customer interactions, manufacturing, distribution and supply chains. AI can help analyse this information and identify patterns that support business decisions.

ITC, for example, uses AI, machine learning and advanced analytics across areas including consumer insights, manufacturing, distribution and supply chains. Demand forecasting is one practical application. Businesses can analyse historical sales and other information to estimate future demand and use those insights for inventory and operational planning.

For BBA students, this makes data interpretation increasingly important. They need to understand what the data shows, ask the right business questions and assess whether an AI-generated insight makes sense before using it.

AI Is Becoming Part of Marketing

Marketing is another business function where AI is being used for research, content development, customer analysis and campaign planning.

Coca-Cola’s Create Real Magic initiative provides an example. The company developed a platform using GPT-4 and DALL-E that allowed digital artists to create artwork using Coca-Cola’s brand assets, as explained in the company’s Create Real Magic announcement.

The example shows how AI can support creative work while business and marketing knowledge remains important. A tool can generate an image, headline or campaign idea, but marketers still need to consider the target audience, brand identity and campaign objective.

AI Is Changing Business Operations

AI can also help businesses analyse trends, improve processes and respond to changing customer demand.

Walmart’s Trend-to-Product system uses AI and generative AI to analyse global trends and support fashion product development. According to Walmart, the system can reduce the traditional fashion product timeline from around six months to approximately six to eight weeks.

For BBA students, examples like this show how AI connects with operations, product development, supply chains and decision-making. The focus is not simply on using a tool but understanding how technology fits into a wider business process.

AI Skills Are Becoming More Relevant

As businesses use AI across more functions, the skills expected from employees are changing as well.

According to PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, jobs requiring specific AI skills grew 69% faster than the overall jobs market in its analysis. PwC also found that workers with AI skills received an average 62% wage premium compared with comparable workers without those skills.

These figures describe broad labour-market patterns and do not predict what an individual graduate will earn. They do show that AI skills are becoming more relevant across the employment market.

For BBA students, learning AI therefore goes beyond knowing how to operate a tool. Students also need to understand how to frame a business problem, evaluate AI-generated outputs, verify information and use the results appropriately.

Why AI Needs to Be Part of a BBA

A BBA provides a foundation in marketing, finance, operations, strategy and entrepreneurship. As AI enters each of these areas, students need to understand how it applies to real business functions.

The objective should not be to teach AI separately from business. Students need to understand how to identify a business problem, select an appropriate technology, evaluate its output and make an informed decision.

Business Knowledge and AI Skills Need to Work Together

For BBA students, this makes a combination of business fundamentals and practical AI skills increasingly relevant. They need to understand customers, numbers, markets, operations and strategy while also knowing how AI can support work across these areas.

A BBA with AI can bring these two areas together. Students can learn the fundamentals of how businesses operate while gaining practical experience using AI to research, analyse, create and solve problems. As AI becomes a regular part of business, knowing both sides can help students understand how modern organisations actually work.

The business world is changing. Make sure your education keeps up. Explore a business programme built for today’s AI-driven workplace.

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FAQs

1. Why is AI important for BBA students?

AI is increasingly being used in marketing, customer experience, data analysis, operations and strategy. Understanding these applications helps BBA students connect what they learn in the classroom with current business practices.

2. How are companies using AI in business?

Companies use AI for product recommendations, customer research, data analysis, forecasting, content creation, product development and process improvement. Amazon, ITC, Coca-Cola and Walmart provide examples across different business functions.

3. Does a BBA student need coding skills to learn AI?

Coding is not essential for understanding how AI can be applied to business. Students need to understand what AI tools can do, how to use them, how to evaluate their outputs and how to apply them to business problems.

4. How does Stride School of Business integrate AI into its BBA?

Stride integrates AI across business learning rather than treating it as a standalone subject. Students work with 15+ AI tools and complete 25+ real projects while applying AI across areas such as marketing, finance, operations, strategy and entrepreneurship.