Looking around at the business landscape, it’s evident that [Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to make meaningful changes to the way the average small business works.
Over a third (38%) of small businesses have used, or are considering using, AI according to new research from Small Business Britain and the global hiring platform Indeed.
AI may be the new kid on the block, but what are the actual, tangible benefits?
Let’s dive deeper into the advantages of using AI tools in your business.
Speeding up your admin and operations
AI loves the tedious, process-heavy tasks we hate. If there’s a laborious task that’s eating into your business time, the chances are there’s AI to automate that process.
AI-powered tools like Otter.ai can transcribe your meeting notes in seconds, while Google’s Smart Compose can automate your document creation and emails. This AI automation frees up your time and delegates many low-level tasks to your software tools.
Connecting manual procedures
Manual processes are slowing down both your efficiency and your accuracy. Connecting up your operational procedures and different software systems is one way to solve this.
AI-powered workflow automation platforms like zapier can connect disparate apps and manual processes. This means you systemise tasks like data entry between spreadsheets and CRM systems, reducing errors and saving time.
Automating time-consuming customer tasks
Connecting and interacting with your customers is a key part of building your brand. But not all customer interactions need to be person-to-person in the first instance.
AI chatbots like Fin by Intercom can automate your customer service inquiries, and AI phone agents like Lucy by Curious Thing can pick up your phone and answer FAQs. AI scheduling tools like calendly can even automate your appointment booking, keeping you connected to customers but without taking up your own business time.
Reducing your headcount
Being able to run your business with fewer employees is now a reality. You can grow and scale up, without the need to hire new people. Instead, you can put your AI agents to work.
For example, AI-powered marketing automation platforms like HubSpot Marketing Hub can automate your email campaigns and social media posting, without hiring a social media executive. This greatly reduces your need for a dedicated marketing resource.
Using business data for insights
Picking out the most important data insights from your business information can take time. You may well miss the prevailing patterns, trends or big-hitting numbers in the data.
AI-powered analytics tools like Tableau or Google Analytics 4, with their AI insights, can automate the whole process. These AI tools can analyse your sales, customer and operational data to identify the most important trends and opportunities, so you can take action fast.
Driving informed strategic decisions
Using the insights from your AI analytics tools, you’re in the perfect position to make informed, evidence-based decisions that can drive your strategic plans as a business.AI-powered market research tools like MarketMuse can even analyse market trends and competitor strategies. This helps you make data-backed decisions around what content marketing to generate, what topics to write and when to post to get engagement.
