How Small Businesses Are Using AI to Save Time

In the past, small business owners spent hours each week answering emails, balancing their budgets, managing their calendars, brainstorming ideas, and performing other basic tasks. Today, AI (Artificial Intelligence) productivity tools can complete many of these tasks for you, giving you more time to develop new products and enhance your marketing strategy.

Use AI tools to streamline everyday tasks

Increase productivity

Email automation tools could potentially save hours each week. When you receive an email, the software places it in the appropriate folder, adds events to your calendar, and generates a response in seconds. This gives you more time to answer emails that require a thoughtful, human response.

Likewise, AI solutions have the power to generate documents, reports, letters, and slides. You'll still have to review the work for accuracy, but this cuts down the time you need to spend in the office, giving you more time to walk around, talk to customers, and reach out to employees.

When you write your own content, AI tools can offer suggestions and fix spelling and grammar issues. Often, the AI suggestions rephrase your writing in a cleaner, more concise manner that helps you get your point across. Some tools send weekly email reports that track your progress.

Summarize meetings and documents

If you have lots of documents to read, workflow automation tools can read and summarize the text. From there, you can ask in-depth questions or perform more research on the subject. AI can also summarize text messages, emails, and conversations, making it easier to catch up when you've been away from the office.

During meetings, AI assistants have the power to transcribe the discussion and generate comprehensive summaries. If you need to review the transcription later, you can ask the assistant to search for specific terms or topics. Afterward, you'll save it for future reference.

Automate customer communication with AI chatbots

AI chatbots give your clients instant answers. When they type their question, the software pulls information from your FAQ or answer database and responds accordingly. This process happens in seconds, freeing up your customers to explore your website or reach out for more information. Meanwhile, your employees can focus on responding to in-depth questions instead of repetitive support tickets.

Some companies invest in chatbots that allow customers to type freely. This gives your visitors more freedom and allows the bot to answer trickier questions, but it also has a higher potential for abuse. For this reason, other businesses prefer chatbots that allow users to choose responses from a limited selection. In any case, the bot runs 24/7 with little oversight needed, which helps you reach customers that you might have otherwise lost.

If the software can't answer a question, visitors will fill out a form with their contact information and wait for a human representative to get back to them. For more personalization, you can give clients the option to switch to a human agent at any time. Many chatbot platforms include agents in the package so that you won't have to hire more employees.

In the past, chatbots responded in a cold, robotic tone. Today, customer support AI can interact with customers in a friendly, personalized manner that makes them feel seen. This shows them that you care and promotes positive associations with your business.

Adopt AI-driven workflow automation for operations

If your system is missing a specific function, AI assistants can produce apps that you can integrate into your workflow. These can include:

• Custom job trackers
• CRM workflows
• Image generators
• Translators
• Communication tools
• Task automation

Smart technology also has the ability to automate small tasks, such as opening a support ticket, updating your status, or sending notifications when an issue arises. With predictive analytics, the software studies your workflow and predicts outcomes ahead of time, allowing you to catch minor glitches before they become major conflicts.

For some business owners, this might sound overwhelming. Fortunately, you don't have to throw out your existing software and start over. Most AI assistants integrate with your existing network so that you can streamline your workflow without adjusting to a completely new system.

Improve planning and financial decision-making with predictive analytics

AI tools study past trends and then use this information to make predictions about supply and demand. They also consider seasonal trends and make predictions about your revenue if you make adjustments or stick with your existing strategy. With this knowledge, you can refine your product line and get ahead of booms or recessions.

In addition, smart technology can review your budget, locate vulnerabilities, and adjust your spending automatically or write a report about its findings. Your assistant may help you find the best times to launch a new product, open a storefront, talk to investors, or apply for SBA loans.

Enhance marketing and content creation efficiently

Content creation

Whether you're highlighting a woman-owned business, celebrating a milestone, or getting ready for a flash sale, AI assistants will generate content for virtually any topic. On a basic level, try typing a request into ChatGPT, such as "Generate a Facebook post about Black Friday" or "Can you write three tweets about our 50% off sale?" You'll get an instant response that you can tweak and refine until you're ready to post.

When you need more advanced materials, some productivity tools can generate images, videos, music, and voiceovers. The quality levels vary, so look up reviews and experiment with free options before you buy a subscription. You can also talk to an AI software company about developing in-house programs for your company to use exclusively.

Assets that smart technology can generate include:

• Fliers
• Blog posts
• Social media posts
• Short videos
• Songs, soundtracks, and jingles
• Charts and graphs
• Illustrations
• Photorealistic images

If your content needs the human touch, you can ask AI to generate plans, outlines, and rough drafts. Then, allow your team to create the final product. AI tools are also great for brainstorming and finding new ways to attract an audience.

Personalized marketing

AI software can work in the background to personalize your customers' shopping experience. Many businesses use AI plugins that analyze each visitor's shopping history and then display a list of recommended products with "Add to cart" buttons underneath. You can list these products on the front page to grab your customers' attention right away or place them on the checkout page to drive sales at the last minute.

Similarly, try using this software to generate personalized emails and texts. The technology will analyze the customer's profile, then create a message that references previous purchases, relevant holidays, or the customer's birthday.

Troubleshooting and refinement

Every day, AI software scrapes the internet to learn about news stories, technology updates, customer perceptions, business trends, and more. You can use this technology to test ideas before gathering feedback from clients and focus groups. While AI can't predict the future with a 100% success rate, it can evaluate your idea and see how it holds up alongside current data.

Once you've polished your concept, AI can refine your idea and offer suggestions that you hadn't considered. With the software's vast library of knowledge, you can avoid common pitfalls and reach as many customers as possible.

When you're struggling with an app or program, troubleshooting bots can answer your questions and look at past data to find the source of the issue. Not all AI software has this skill, so make sure you're working with a specialized bot that knows your program in and out.

Use AI to improve financial visibility and reporting

AI may present a clearer picture of your finances. To start, your assistant can review your records and generate a summary that discusses your budget, spending, revenue, and debts. This empowers you to make informed decisions without digging through complicated paperwork. Plus, AI can flag unusual spending activity to help protect your business from fraud.

With this knowledge, you can prepare for important financial decisions, such as increasing your spending or securing financing. You'll also have concise reports that keep your stakeholders informed. If you're thinking about taking a financial risk but don't know how to proceed, ask your assistant to predict the most likely outcomes.

Prepare your business for a more efficient future

Adopting AI requires some time and investment. However, once you've integrated AI into your workflow, you may enjoy increased efficiency, better fraud protection, and a stronger operational structure. With these benefits on hand, you'll give your team the power to succeed and take your business to the next level.