Small Businesses Leverage AI for Growth
AI has become a dominant force in the business world and is changing the game for all types of businesses. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that uses learned patterns to produce content, which can be anything from text to audio to code to images. Startups and industry icons alike, including Google and Microsoft, are developing new tools and applications powered by generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E, and GitHub Copilot. AI is one of the fastest-growing business technologies in history, with ChatGPT reaching 100 million monthly active users within two months. Main Street businesses are using AI in numerous ways, unlocking its potential to improve their businesses.
AI Adoption Rates for Small Businesses
BizBuySell’s quarterly Insight Report, a nationally recognized economic indicator that tracks the health of the U.S. small business economy, surveyed business owners about a variety of pressing issues. While many business owners are harnessing the power of AI to streamline their operations and enhance customer experiences, there are many owners who have not adopted AI into their businesses. The survey revealed that the vast majority of business owners, 73.60%, have yet to take advantage of the benefits AI tools and applications can have on their businesses.
How Small Businesses are Using AI
Business owners are overwhelmingly using AI to help in their marketing efforts, from creating targeted marketing campaigns to writing photo captions. In addition to marketing, business owners are using AI tools to help with customer service. As small businesses continue to experience hiring challenges, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants that can handle customer inquiries, provide responses, and offer recommendations are becoming increasingly valuable to owners. Owners are also relying on AI to automate various business functions, such as streamlining standard operating procedures, capturing data, providing coding assistance, editing photos, facilitating training and development, optimizing search results, ideating, and more.
As AI technology continues to evolve, new possibilities will emerge for small businesses. Keeping a human in the loop to ensure privacy, accuracy, and business goals are being met is key. Machine learning advancements, natural language processing, and robotic process automation are set to revolutionize how businesses operate. As business owners adopt to new technology, exercising caution with regard to data privacy, for the company and customers, as well as accuracy in these early days, will be paramount to success.
AI will no doubt become central to operating every business, small and large, more efficiently. Business buyers and sellers should expect some level of automation to be incorporated into businesses that enter the marketplace to improve value and business sale prices.