3 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Your Small Business
For any small business, artificial intelligence can be daunting – but by no means inaccessible. With PwC’s finding that 52 percent of companies have increased AI adoption in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing AI is slowly becoming the rule rather than the exception. So how can AI fit into your business model?
Here are three ways your small business can leverage AI to enhance and amplify your company’s efforts.
1. Communicate with a chatbot to keep customers engaged
Excellent customer service isn’t just an option anymore; it’s an expectation that your small business must meet on all fronts. According to Salesforce, 72 percent of customers have decided against doing business with a company with long customer service wait times. But even as a small-to-medium enterprise (SME), meeting growing demand is still possible. Use a conversational AI chatbot to ensure your customers get the information they’re looking for at an appropriate time frame.
If you’re worried your customer service experiences might lack that irreplaceable human touch, don’t sell your chatbot short: today’s sleek and sophisticated chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) to provide human-like and personalized interactions. Comms100 shows that the average satisfaction rate of bot-only chats is about 88 percent, which is two percent higher than the rate for chats passed on to customer service agents.
2. Act on rich data insights with machine learning models
In the thick of the information age, data is everything. But you don’t necessarily need to empty your wallet on the most advanced AI-powered data services – use what you have to your advantage! With AI, your SME can review past processes and make adjustments for the future.
A recent IBM report surfaced that Italian bank Credito Valtillenese was sitting on a goldmine of unstructured data stored across multiple platforms. By implementing customer analysis AI and NLP to consolidate and draw conclusions from the customer relationship management (CRM) data, the organization could create detailed profiles for each customer. Credito Valtillenese then used these profiles to create highly personalized marketing campaigns for each customer segment. With AI, the bank saw a 10 percent increase in marketing campaign conversion rates.
3. Forecast cash flow and manage risk
Staying proactive about the near future can help mitigate risks for an SME that does not have the same cash buffer as its larger counterparts. With the relevant models in place, AI can help you make smarter financial decisions by more quickly and accurately identifying those subtle potential problem areas that a human alone may not be able to pick up on. An AI cash flow forecast may help to answer questions such as “with our current revenue streams, can my company afford to hire another employee?” or “are there any outstanding bills I forgot about which will cause a cash crunch next month?”
As a bonus, McKinsey notes that 44 percent of companies agree that adopting AI has reduced overall costs, meaning that you may also see a return on AI applications in the longer run.
Join the AI movement now
AI practices are here to stay and are constantly being implemented by small businesses globally. The key is to get started now rather than later when your outdated processes lag behind your competitors. That being said, we understand that, as an SME, you may not have the people power to get started in-house. This is where Skippet can help!
Skippet harnesses the power of AI and makes it a hassle-free part of your workplace’s everyday processes. Join our waitlist now and be the first to know when we launch!
