AI appears to have appeared out of seemingly thin air. In the last few years, it seems like everyone is talking about it, from tech-savvy entrepreneurs who are ecstatic on one hand, to concerned authorities on the opposite.
Indeed, it’s not just a whim. Siri was launched by Apple in 2011 and is widely believed to be one of the very first AI tools, and was followed by Amazon Echo and their AI assistant Alexa in 2014.
However, it was not until ChatGPT was introduced by OpenAI in the month of November 2022, soon followed by GPT-4 on March 20, 2023, that people began paying to. If everyone is talking about something, businesses must stay ahead whenever feasible, regardless of whether they’re already established or are still figuring out the best way to launch their own business.
Like all new trends like all trends AI has been greeted by mixed reactions from small-scale business owners. Based on results from an opinion poll conducted by Indeed, nearly one in three small business owners is concerned about implementing AI, even though they recognize the potential benefits of this technology.
However 41% of small-business owners have said they would like to incorporate AI into their business. However, they aren’t sure where to begin. It’s a frequent issue. With a growing number of AI-powered applications, tools, gadgets, and gadgets now accessible, it’s a challenge to make sense of the clutter and determine what’s the best option for your company.
It was reported that the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) stated that 93 percent of business owners believed AI tools provided low-cost solutions that could lead to reductions and increase profitability. Recently, more entrepreneurs have come out to claim that AI efficiency may open the way to a 4-day working week.
So, where should you begin? What can AI help businesses reduce their costs and increase growth? What are the most effective AI solutions for businesses? What are the potential risks that you should be aware of? Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What AI tools can benefit your company?
The running of a business involves numerous tasks, ranging from the day-to-day business operations to communications and marketing. Even though AI cannot (yet) manage a company and perform all the tasks that are required but it could help to reduce time, money, and also reduce the risk of human error in certain tasks – each of which is crucial to a successful company.
Let’s take a look at the tasks that small businesses face and explore the ways AI could be able to relieve some of the burden to allow you to focus on the expansion of your company.
Customer service
Customer service can seem like a strange place to begin. It is usually a direct interaction between customers and businesses or, more simply, one person to another. However, AI is now capable of taking control of a large portion of the arrangement and sorting of inquiries and complaints. This is an operation that is time-consuming and laborious, and could result in human mistakes. AI can even assist customers on your behalf anytime, which an expanding business would greatly gain from offering.
Tickets and requests – AI can sort and prioritize customer service queries. This will significantly accelerate the process since AI manages simple questions directly while directing more complicated problems to humans.
Automatic responses. With an extensive range of AI chatbots available today, AI can handle many of the most frequent customer inquiries, including tracking orders, product details, and FAQs.
Communications
The more you talk to your clients in a manner they are comfortable with and on topics they are particularly interested in, the greater chance you stand of increasing sales or delivering your message. AI tools can handle many of these processes that can help boost your business’s expansion through your company’s communications channels.
Automation of email – If your company needs to communicate quickly about promotions, follow-ups, or other general outreach to customers, AI can come in and aid, with software that is available to draft and schedule emails.
Transcription – Have you ever had trouble trying to keep up with the minute-taking in a frantic meeting? Do not worry about it anymore, as AI is able to easily translate conversations and meetings into text. It’s never been simpler to capture the most important meeting information and the actions that can be converted into written content.
Content creation without putting my job, I’m sure AI could even assist in creating newsletters, blogs, and social media-related content. It may not have that human touch, and will require a thorough verification of the facts – but it’s an excellent starting point for the content you need for your business.
Sales and marketing
Sites have been collecting data about us, the user, for a long time. However, AI can transform any information that you gather through your company’s website or social media into useful and actionable data that makes AI for marketing in business an essential tool.
Targeted advertising – If you’re trying to increase conversion rates, AI can analyse any information about your customers to find out who your customers are. This allows you to use AI to create more targeted marketing campaigns and more optimized advertising.
Find leads AI can now arrange and prioritize potential leads from customers by combining data from multiple sources. Based on this data, AI can sort leads according to potential buying signals and other behavior and help your business focus on leads with the highest quality.
Analytics and data
Making the wrong choice because of a wrong interpretation of data can cause many issues. AI can mitigate some of the risks by creating reports, dashboards, and even predictive models. The more data you have that is presented in a way that is easy to comprehend, the more likely you’ll recognize new growth opportunities. This, in turn, will enable you to make informed decisions about your company.
Processing and reporting of data – If you need to analyze massive datasets that will help you identify patterns or uncover insights, AI’s got you covered. It also produces live reports and dashboards. When you are able to quickly conduct the analysis and present the results, you will be able to get a better understanding of a variety of things, from customer behavior and market developments.
Models and predictions – By gathering the historical records, AI can help your company predict future events, including changes in market prices, sales, and demand.
Product development
Product development can be a thrilling and exciting aspect of growing your business. Finding issues in your existing product line and creating new products are crucial steps in transforming your business from a simple idea to a huge success. The first step in developing products is taking feedback from customers or market research sources. AI can provide insights from the feedback of your customers and identify trends or gaps in the market. This means you’ll be able to focus your efforts on the right areas faster.
Market research – To be able to stay ahead of the competitors and keep up with the needs of customers, AI can help identify the gaps in market research by analyzing information. The information could come from trends that are emerging or strategies of competitors, as well as the most recent market trends. All of these can aid in keeping your company one step ahead of the competition.
Analysis of customer feedback. One of the most crucial aspects of product development is implementing customer feedback. Depending on the actions you take and the method you use to gather feedback, it could require an enormous amount of reading prior to. AI can analyze feedback from a variety of sources, such as surveys that you could conduct or social media posts, as well as customer reviews. It is then possible to clearly identify the areas of concern and identify preferences that are used to inform any improvement to your product.
The pros and cons and AI
As with all technologies, AI comes with its benefits and drawbacks. While some positives are important in saving time and identifying new trends in the market to boost growth, some of the disadvantages raise ethical issues and raise concerns about what this technology can do for us.
Pros
- Improved efficiency: Free your time to concentrate on more important things and let AI take over the routine tasks
- Cost savings: A few of the more labor-intensive tasks, such as marketing and customer service management, can be handled by AI, and reduce the total costs associated with managing your company
- Improved customer service: Making use of chatbots, you can provide your customers with round-the-clock 24/7 support, helping to increase your satisfaction ratings with customers.
- Faster decisions made: By looking at data quickly and presenting it to you in simple-to-comprehend dashboards or reports – AI can assist you in the use of data to make decisions.
Cons
- Costs of setting up: AI tools might require an upfront expenditure, be it to purchase and set up the software or to train your employees to make use of it. These additional costs may be a challenge for small businesses with smaller budgets.
- Complex systems: A few among the AI tools are difficult to set up and manage. It is necessary to have an expert to assist in getting things up and running, particularly at the beginning of implementing the technology.
- Privacy issues: You might have to transfer customer data to an AI tool, which raises concerns regarding privacy as well as security. It’s crucial to know the fine print and make sure your company complies with GDPR.
- Job redundancies: One of the larger ethical concerns associated with AI is what happens to the employees whose work can be performed by AI? Certain tasks that are now able to be automated could lead to a lower need for certain roles, as well as workplace adjustments that are needed.
