Robyn Palmer

How Can Artificial Intelligence Help Your Small Business? What if a small business owner had a dashboard of their business activities that could help them paint the broader picture of their business’s financial health? Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has the power to enable you to do just that, all the while solving a myriad of problems you may be facing as a small business owner. Artificial Intelligence or machine learning is advanced technology that can learn to perform traditionally human-driven tasks. AI is able to gather, read, understand and convert data to problem-solve and troubleshoot. While AI is typically associated with large corporations, this technology is becoming increasingly affordable and is transforming small businesses across the globe, so much so that ​an article by Maryville University​ states that “in just over a decade, AI will outperform humans in a variety of tasks, from writing essays to retail work.” How Will AI Help My Business? Small businesses can use AI to anticipate the needs of the company, find patterns and ask new questions using existing data. AI will provide recommendations on everything from emerging trends, marketing campaigns, logistics, scheduling, customer support, workflow and problem-solving. As a small business owner, you can incorporate AI into every element of your workflow that involves data. While insights from data capturing and interpretation leads to advancements in speed, accuracy, and overall workflow of any business; AI can be particularly beneficial for a small business where you and each employee shoulders more than one responsibility. Let’s look at some of the ways in which AI can help your small business: Data and Analytics AI will scour every corner of the web to collect data and then categorize and interpret it to create new insights for your business to use. Data and analytics generated by AI systems have the potential for a small business to solve existing problems, in a very short space of time. Since no two businesses are the same, it is difficult to assign a blanket solution for all small businesses. You will have to find an AI solution that best suits your business’s needs. By honing in on specific goals, and identifying what you want to gain from using AI programmes, you should be able to find the appropriate AI-based data and analytics solution for your business. The Face of eCommerce AI has revolutionized the face of e-commerce. If your small business has any online selling opportunities, then AI can help improve everything from your website to optimizing customer service response times. For instance, in terms of creativity, AI can assist and aid you and your design team to ​streamline your design processes.​ Web design is an essential element of any business, with the entire customer experience rooted in the website and its navigation from product to cart to check out. AI can determine the intent of your business and the aesthetic of your site. From there, this technology can help you make intelligent data-driven decisions about any creative aspect of your website, from the layout to the color palette, for optimal success. Categorizing products or services is equally as important as the design of your website. AI programs can automatically tag and categorize products with the most suitable search words, saving you time and making navigating your online portal a breeze. A Customized Marketing Tool As the future of AI becomes more accurate and efficient, you can use the insights generated from your data to create more personalized content for customers — in fact, this is arguably the most effective way to make use of AI, to assist with a ​range of content-generating tools​. By understanding the unique needs of each customer, their preferences and online movements, you can generate content suited specifically for them. This process includes an analysis of numerous platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Google searches, etc.) that would be virtually impossible without the help of AI. That being said, you still need to have a smart and comprehensive marketing plan as a small business owner, as you cannot rely on AI alone. As stated in the article by Maryville University, “AI can determine which marketing channels are performing best based on how potential customers engage with content. Then, the AI can automatically allocate additional marketing dollars to the most viable audiences.” Streamlining Logistics With the arrival of AI, human error is a thing of the past. The success of e-commerce businesses lies in the customer experience, which extends beyond your website to the end of the product chain. Every small business strives for an effective logistics process to deliver a flawless shipping experience for customers and suppliers alike. AI can generate an algorithm suited specifically to your business, as it relies on the insights coming from your data. With automated systems Ai technology streamlines the delivery process from A to B; ensuring timeous, accurate and cost-effective results. Customer Support Like Never Before Are you looking to improve employee and customer satisfaction? AI can change the way you interact with your customers, and provide a more intimate and personal connection with them, without making use of an employee as a resource. In an Entrepreneur article titled “5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Benefit from Artificial Intelligence Today”, author Artur Kiulian details how AI-powered chatbots are revolutionizing customer support for small businesses. Human customer support can be a costly element for small businesses, making chatbots a budget-friendly alternative. Chatbots try to mimic human conversations with a customer, offering various avenues and platforms to answer their questions before customers need to interact directly with an employee. AI can also elevate your businesses’ response time with automated responses that can answer basic or common customer queries. This system reduces the average handling time for customer concerns; and in turn, will streamline your customer support process while also analyzing your data and offering improvements. ----While you cannot rely solely on AI to take your small business to new heights, there’s no doubt that it can significantly help in developing effective systems to execute a winning business strategy. AI can radically change the way you operate your business, and with the right tools, help you quickly realize success.