With artificial intelligence becoming a mainstay in almost every industry, small and medium-sized businesses must learn to rely on such cutting-edge technology for driving digital transformation. Considering how small businesses account for over half the net job creation in the United States and over 40 percent of the GDP, developers of AI solutions are interested in making their products and services available to businesses of all sizes. With the artificial intelligence market expected to grow at a CAGR of 36.62 percent and hit the $190.61 billion mark by 2025, it’s time to get in on the ground floor of this IT revolution and take advantage of what the revolutionary technology has to offer. Find out how SMBs can do so and leverage AI and machine learning applications.
Identify internal pain points
Feel free to experiment with automation internally and perfect your products or services before releasing them to consumers. Proceed when you figure out your technology is more robust than the competition.
To identify pain points, turn to people on the ground, especially the ones who execute business functions. Host regular sessions with those employees to receive feedback on the biggest drawbacks and pain points within the team, and how AI can resolve the issues.
Harness the power of intelligent CRM technology
Implementing CRM systems in your business can help gather information pertaining to the customers as well as their behavior in the market concerning a particular service or product. Combining the power of a CRM system with AI allows for faster number crunching and data production, which is connected directly to the choices of the customer and their activity patterns.
For lead generation and marketing purposes, this platform provides a lot of useful information in the form of customer reviews, feedback, and preferences. Companies can process the available details to successfully pinpoint the market they wish to enter and what the people of that specific location want. This solution steers small businesses in the right direction.
Use smarter artificial intelligence
Small businesses often encounter unique problems when finding and recruiting top talent. To contend with the recognition, network, and resources offered to job seekers by larger companies, SMBs can use AI to level the playing field. Recruiters would earlier sift through large piles of resumes manually, but AI has made the process a lot more expansive and streamlined.
ML algorithms are able to determine the most effective hiring practices used earlier, and even learn the type of communication that appeals to certain candidates, inform recruiter’s about a potential employee’s work history, and discover leads in unusual places.
Offer chatbots for better customer experience
Chatbots can improve the customer experience and add different efficiencies to various service interactions. For effective chatbot deployment in the near-term, make sure your organization practices effective knowledge management. Think about the materials already used to train the service reps and keep in mind that chatbots are not independent agents. Sure, they are capable of performing specialized roles, but they normally fit into a bigger, cohesive strategy.
Develop a full-fledged marketing platform with AI
AI presents various opportunities to a number of industries, from advanced data analysis to mechanical task completion. While small businesses could afford a limited number of ads in local markets, they can now reach a huge audience online. With the help of AI-based advertising platforms from Google and Facebook, they can target certain consumers who are receptive to the message. They can analyze and collect consumer data from numerous channels without needing several marketers.
Leverage AI and grow your backend
AI is often considered as a risk for the future of jobs. However, the reality is that AI is simply a technology that does a specific task for you, not the entire job. And a lot of these tasks take place in the backend-logistics operations, like scheduling, basic accounting, and other kinds of day-to-day organization.
Given how most small businesses have a limited headcount of employees, transferring time-consuming tasks to AI can help use their human capital a lot more efficiently. Normally, most employees welcome technology that gets rid of monotonous activities and assigns them to more meaningful work.
Conduct competitive analysis with AI
Businesses must identify the competitors in the field so they can analyze the type of service being offered as well as the customers served. Competitor analysis is a critical role of any business and must be taken seriously as it offers insights into the competitor’s activities.
With AI-based competitor analysis, companies can get information on all activity on competitor channels. The data gathered during analysis provides a clear picture of the competitor’s strategy. Small businesses gain a big advantage when they study the existing market trends and enhance themselves accordingly.
Provide better coaching and training
AI offers improved support to salespeople and provides them with the tools necessary to provide the best performance. By accumulating and analyzing customer interactions, AI can identify the best sales strategies which can then be used to train sales reps and close more deals.
Improve conversion rates
All businesses wish to increase the bottom line, and that can be done by improving the conversion rate. ML helps keep the revenue engine firing on all cylinders with the new computer vision technology.
Powered by AI, computer vision has the potential to transform the way customers shop for products. Not only can businesses leverage the technology to merchandise intelligently but they can suggest associated products based on visual similarity with the requested item.
Go fast and cheap
Businesses should never automate just for the sake of automation. They must identify processes that allow them to deliver cheaper and faster products than their competitors. If there is a specific workflow that every employee in the company does manually, try to automate that first. The quicker you deliver a decent product than the competition, the more you will gain in market share.
Leverage AI for a competitive edge
AI is a growing technology and many businesses are yet to master it. This provides SMBs with the scope to use the technology for their own gain. Not only do they achieve a competitive edge over others when they leverage AI, but they can also create new opportunities for business growth.
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