Lately, one of the most popular words has been artificial intelligence. Over the past few years, many people have come to know what it is and what it can do for them. It has slowly made its way from a fictional idea to a concept that can be very valuable to small businesses. Artificial intelligence, AI, can be defined as the simulation of human intelligence by machines or computers. It uses large amounts of data by design. This is then used to analyze and react with the best solution possible.
It is no secret that larger businesses have been investing in AI over the past few years. Many reports have shown that companies such as Apple and Amazon have been making use of AI to successfully market and sell their products to their customers. Small businesses seem to have an aversion to AI. Many believe that it is a type of technology that is reserved for bigger tech giants. This is not the case at all. There are many ways in which small businesses can benefit from AI technology if implemented correctly.
There are many ways that AI can help small businesses. These include tools such as virtual assistants, machine learning, market strategies, accounting, customer support, chatbots, speech recognition, marketing, and sales. Many startups are using AI technology especially because of budget constraints. Implementing AI in the small business environment can be financially advantageous because so many aspects of the small businesses can be automated.
Before you get excited about the possibilities or the opportunities that AI technology can open up for your small business, you need to know exactly what it is you are looking to achieve along with how much it is going to cost you. Here are some of the ways that AI technology can help your small business:
Chatbots
More companies all over the world are making use of chatbots to boost their customer service. Essentially chatbots are a natural-language generation used to analyze swaths of text-based communication data. They create automated responses for customers to read and interact with. It can cut support costs, improve the agent-customer response time, and enable your company to deliver support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One company that offers an effective use of chatbots is Facebook. Their chatbots are particularly handy and easy to set up while you are waiting for your website chatbot to be set up. Just bear in mind that you do not want to completely disregard human customer service. At the end of the day, when a customer has a serious problem, tech solutions might frustrate them, even more, when they want to speak to a human being.
Speech recognition
Speech recognition is very much the same as chatbots. This is an audio-based computer recognition software feature. Many businesses like banks are already using it when customers phone customer service. This is done as a means to confirm their identities like when you are asked to provide your address or your date of birth. This technology might seem unnecessary and even a bit rudimentary. It saves a lot of time and money if your small business deals with high volumes of telephone calls.
Network assistants
If you are running a company, especially if it is a new company, you might have been telling yourself that you do not need an assistant. Perhaps the budget or space does not allow for it. Whatever the case might be, you have probably noticed that you have missed one too many deadlines that may be causing you are becoming overwhelmed. Virtual assistants are very affordable. They can manage your affairs, meetings, interact with customers by using an integration of AI technologies, and help support your company in many other ways. X.ai is a tool that automates personal communication through a virtual assistant called “Amy”. Amy will then respond to emails and keep track of meetings on your calendar.
Market research
AI is a great way of giving your competitors some serious competition when it comes to responsive marketing. There are many tools available that can track specific types of information, articles, keywords mentions, and subjects. It helps in keeping your marketing team and PR team in the loop at all times. It functions as more than just a search engine – it is almost like keeping a hungry journalist in your office and making sure that they sniff out anything that can keep you ahead of your competition.
This might seem amazing to you and you might have already thought of ways in which this can help your small business. You as the business owner mustn’t get too ahead of yourself without consulting the financial aspects of obtaining and maintaining AI technology.
How much will it cost?
There is no single answer to this question. If you are running a very small company on a small budget, you are probably not in a position to hire an AI expert to advise you on what the best course of action will be. The good news, however, is that there are many tools available online and it could be as easy as a few dollars in subscription fees per month. Virtual assistants are fairly easy to access and download these days. Market-research software can be paid for on a per-project basis.
Prepare before you invest
Adopting AI into your small business is not as intimidating as it might seem but you must make sure that you have the right tools in your artillery. AI will also bring about significant change into your business: some human jobs might be replaced but this does not mean that it will replace the human element completely. Owners can use workers in other areas of the business to make it function efficiently.
If you are unsure whether AI is right for your business, you are welcome to watch other companies adopt it. Just don’t stay in the same position for too long.
25 April 2020
