Image by Philipp Marquetand from Pixabay

By Sheryl Wright

Small business owners live under the misconception that artificial intelligence is only for big businesses and not for small businesses. However, AI can help even the smallest businesses, and there are many ways that you can incorporate it into your specific business. It can help you to do many things and can help make your business run smoother and your life much easier.

Understanding data

As a small business owner, you are going to have to sift through hours of reports on your business. You may find that these reports are difficult to read and understand, but they are a must when it comes to running your business. Reports help you to learn what your business is doing, where money is going out and coming in, and many other aspects of your business. Some reports that come in are not going to be useful, and you could find yourself spending days just trying to sort through all of this. You may find that you need to have different reports done, images copied, image annotation, and more. AI can help you do all this easily. When you use AI, it can organize the relevant information for the non-relevant information, which will help you to focus on the things that you need to do to run your business effectively. This will also free you up to do more things for your business.

Intelligent marketing

AI can play a valuable part in marketing your business. You may do ads and marketing strategies to reach your customers thinking that they will work, but when it comes right down to it, they do not work. You may send out a lot of money on an ineffective marketing campaign. AI will help you to predict your content, outreach efforts, and the effectiveness of your ads. The solutions that the AI comes up with will be smarter and more helpful to you and will help your business reach your customer base more effectively.

Automated customer service

Automation with AI can help you to replace some time-consuming customer service tasks like order confirmation, stock management, and even invoice processing. This is not all AI can do for you. It can help you with other customer service tasks. For example, if customers have questions about your product, it is a good idea to answer them in real-time. People love this attention to detail. However, hiring an employee to do this can take a lot of time and money. With AI, you can create a custom chatbot that answers all questions that a customer might have about your product or service. It is important that when you choose a chatbot, that you choose one that sounds great and does not sound like it is not human. Thankfully, with technology today, chatbots can resemble real-life human beings.

Improved HR processes

Artificial intelligence can also improve your HR processes. They can do things like onboarding, CV screenings, and even background check. This can save over a third of your time when it comes to hiring new employees. AI can also help to improve the employee experience and help to provide accurate information. Many businesses have found that AI has helped improve their hiring effectiveness and employee retention.

Supply chain efficiency

AI can also help you with your supply chain efficiency. It can help to get rid of unnecessary touchpoints in the supply chain. With AI, the system will become more focused on your customer and helps to address risks throughout the process. It can help save money and delivery time which will, in turn, make your customers very happy.

It may take you some time to come to terms with going with embracing artificial intelligence. Do your research about adding it to your business, and you will see that there are many benefits. With the technology constantly evolving, you will be able to make your business more productive and even more profitable by adding AI. Just remember to be patient when learning how to use AI with your business. There is a bit of a learning curve when you first learn this new technology and implement it over several different aspects of your business.

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Sheryl Wright is a freelance writer who specializes in digital marketing, inclusive business, and interior design. If she is not at home reading, she is at a farmer’s market or climbing in the Rockies. She currently lives in Nashville, TN, with her cat, Saturn.