How Can AI Help My Business?
Exploring Use Cases for SMEs and the Benefits They Can Bring — Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving at a rapid pace. As it continues to improve, it is redefining the way companies operate, creating a wealth of opportunities for them to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve employee satisfaction. In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, knowing where to start can be challenging. To help your small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) get ready for AI, here are some of the most popular use cases for this technology, as well as a few important facts to know before getting started.
What Are the Main Advantages of AI?
AI offers several potential benefits for SMEs. these include:
- Increased Efficiency: By automating tasks, employees are free to handle higher-value activities—a big plus if you are dealing with a labor shortage.
- Improved Employee Satisfaction: By freeing workers from dull and repetitive tasks, AI can enhance employee engagement.
- Cost Savings: AI can help reduce maintenance costs by predicting equipment breakdowns, among other uses.
- Enhanced Value Proposition:AI can improve customer support and communications, quality control, and product recommendations.
What Are the Main Disadvantages of AI?
Despite its many benefits, AI comes with a few areas of concern. With a bit of awareness, business owners can reduce risks. “Governments are working on AI laws to protect users, but these will take time to become effective,” Easto-Lefebvre says. “If it’s the right solution for them, SMEs shouldn’t wait for AI regulations to pass before using it. A combination of awareness, proper precautions, and ethical considerations is the key to using AI safely.” Key issues include:
- Privacy Concerns: Some AI tools, especially generative AI, can put your customers’ data and your own at risk. Additionally, some outputs it generates may be copyrighted.
- Ethical Concerns: Due to biases in existing information, some generative AI tools can generate false or discriminatory outputs. SMEs should always have someone knowledgeable review AI-generated information.
- Cost: While many AI tools are affordable, personalized solutions can be expensive. SMEs must carefully weigh the potential benefits against the financial investment when choosing a solution.
- Complexity: Not all SMEs have the skills necessary to implement, manage, and monitor AI tools. It’s important to understand the level of difficulty involved in a given project before proceeding.
Top Use Cases for AI by Business Function
There are countless uses for AI in a small business. Generally, AI can process vast amounts of data and automate time-consuming, routine tasks. Here are some common ways AI is used across various business functions:
AI for Marketing
- Generate Product Descriptions: Generative AI can draft preliminary product descriptions based on provided characteristics and specifications, saving time and effort.
- Create Visual Content: Tools like DALL-E can create images to enhance your website, newsletters, and social media channels on a limited budget.
AI for Sales
- Formulate Personalized Recommendations: Using sales data, AI can recommend products based on seasonal trends or a customer’s buying history, enhancing sales and customer satisfaction.
- Generate Website Reports Automatically: AI-enhanced algorithms can analyze metrics like page views and bounce rates to provide insights on customer behaviour and website performance.
AI for Customer Service
- Improve Customer Communications: AI-powered typing assistants like Grammarly can help employees respond faster and more professionally to clients and customers.
- Handle Customer Support: Advanced chatbots, powered by large language models (LLMs), can comprehend customer queries and provide relevant, easy-to-understand answers.
AI for Supply Chain Management
- Create Restock Alerts: Predictive AI algorithms can anticipate future demand patterns and create automatic restock alerts, improving supply chain management.
- Manage Supplier Relationships: AI can assess supplier performance, track deliveries, and identify potential risks, ensuring a reliable and resilient supply chain.
AI for Human Resources
- Screen Resumes: AI tools can quickly scan through thousands of resumes to identify those that match desired skills and qualifications.
- Identify Skills Gaps: AI can assess the skills of existing employees and identify gaps, aiding in the development of targeted training programs and talent development initiatives.
AI for Manufacturing
- Predict Machine Maintenance: AI tools can predict equipment failures using sensors, runtime information, and historical data, enabling proactive maintenance and reducing downtime.
- Improve Quality Control: AI-powered computer vision systems can inspect items in real-time, identifying defects or anomalies before products reach the market.
How Can I Prepare to Add AI to My Business?
Before implementing AI, ensure you understand the challenges and requirements associated with your chosen use case. Here are three important considerations:
1. Understand the Rules: Ensure your employees understand best practices regarding data privacy, copyright infringement, and inaccurate information. Draft an AI usage policy and provide training.
2. Explore Technological Requirements: Assess whether your company is technologically ready to implement the chosen AI solution. For example, sales analytics tools require sufficient sales data to extract useful insights.
3. Consider Practicalities: Some AI solutions are more challenging to implement than others. Look at what your peers and competitors are using to identify practical solutions and reduce risk.
In summary, AI is a powerful tool for your business, offering numerous use cases. Choosing the right tool for the job is key to success. Stay informed about the rapidly evolving field of AI to maximize its benefits. After all, a bit of human intelligence will go a long way towards achieving your goals.
Next Step: Discover a variety of low-cost tools and software, some of which are augmented by AI capabilities.
