British mathematician Clive Humby declared in 2006 that “data is the new oil.” And like oil, data needs to be refined and processed into something useful. In the age of digitalisation and social media, there’s a lot of data around. This is where artificial intelligence and machine learning comes into play.
How can a small business leverage AI? In this video, I explore how AI can address small business needs and challenges and provide use cases to encourage you to explore how you can integrate AI into your operations and strategy.
What is AI?
Artificial intelligence is the use of machines to simulate human intelligence processes like reasoning, learning, planning, and creating. In the business context, we use AI to help us automate iterative processes and analyse data to streamline operations, improve customer experience, and make better decisions. Put simply, it’s a tool we can use to implement our business strategies and improve day-to-day operations.
Please remember that AI as a field of study is new, in development, and very broad. Nevertheless, there is likely an AI tool out there that can help you in your business.
Let’s explore four common areas where small businesses use AI: customer service, personalised marketing, employee productivity, and content marketing.
- Customer Service
Have you ever encountered a chatbot? According to a study, about 39% of all chats between businesses and customers involve a chatbot. Another study forecast that by 2027, chatbots will become the primary customer support channel for a quarter of all companies.
Why would companies turn into chatbots? Because it turns out that many customers who contact hotlines or social media channels ask the same questions. What times do you open? Where can I find you? What services do you offer? Can I see your menu? These tie up customer contact representatives unnecessarily. And most customers don’t need to speak to a live human—they just need answers as quickly and conveniently as possible.
The cost-effective solution to this recurring issue is to use a chatbot. Implementing AI-powered chatbots on your websites and messaging platforms can provide instant responses to customer queries, improving customer service and reducing response times.
Like any tool, there are many chatbots out there to cater to every need. Some chatbot tools are free, while others charge a fee. Some chatbots require some coding work, while others can be used intuitively through a built-in user-friendly interface.
Some popular tools include IntelliTicks, QuicklyReply.ai, and Flow XO. Before selecting a chatbot platform, consider ease of use, customisation options, integrations, and customer support. Additionally, check the specific terms and limitations of each free plan to ensure they meet your business needs. Verify if these plans can be easily scaled in anticipation of your future needs.
- Personalised Marketing
Digitalisation makes marketing easy—because it allows businesses to send emails to many customers with just a click of a button. Automated messaging will enable businesses to communicate with a broad audience. The downside is that the message is canned and impersonal. It’s not the best way to make any customer feel special. Here is where AI comes in.
A small American company called Knee Deep Limited that runs a successful e-commerce store. The founders admit on their website that they continue to keep full-time jobs on top of running Knee Deep, and yet they keep no full-time employees. The best part is that they have made over USD40,000 monthly turnover. They use Omnisend to help them manage their email marketing, which is responsible for their monthly sales.
- Employee Productivity
One of the banes of running and working in a small business is that team members perform multiple roles, resulting in being responsible for many tasks. Many of these tasks can be repetitive, such as organising files, scheduling meetings, performing recurring tasks, or even running basic data analysis on sales and cost numbers.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could automate many of these repetitive tasks so that team members can focus on what matters most—making better business decisions? Automating repetitive tasks can also improve employee productivity. The good news is that AI-powered tools can automate repetitive tasks.
Many employee productivity AI tools available in the market today offer free plans. You are probably using some of them already. Examples include Google Workspace, Slack, Asana, and Trello. If you’re using Salesforce as your CRM, consider using their AI productivity features.
- Content Marketing
Content creation tools with AI features are typically the gateway AI tools for many small businesses. This includes Grammarly, a text editing tool, and Canva, an online graphic design platform. Many businesses use these tools to create their content. Canva is very popular because of its comprehensive design template options that one can use not just for social media but also for other digital needs, such as creating pitches, newsletters, and infographics. Furthermore, social media scheduling tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite now also include AI features, suggesting the best times to schedule posts.
The script for this video was developed using a generative AI tool. We used ChatGPT to research examples and small business use cases of AI. The results provided us with a starting point. While ChatGPT provided good examples and use cases, some didn’t pass our criteria or needed validation.
AI can assist some aspects of the business but does not fully replace these tasks … not just yet. But who knows what will happen in a few years’ time?
