AI for small business: The 7 tools you need to make work easier

Enterprise resource planning systems and other foundational technologies also have embedded AI functionalities. Although AI can bring significant benefits to businesses, chatbot for small business it requires ongoing investments and human oversight, Hess said. “My advice is to look at it as a tool. It’s not going to solve all your problems,” he added.

As a small business built upon a reputation for fare that’s both on trend and fresh, Azahar needs to stay sharp to be able to compete in a growing market. Using artificial intelligence (AI) could help, by giving the café a way to use its own data to make smarter, more efficient business decisions. For example, by analyzing how many sandwiches are sold per day, it could eliminate waste by buying only as much as bread as is needed that day.

Best Practices for Implementing AI Tools in Small Businesses

We offer the following policy ideas for AI startups so they can thrive, collaborate, and compete. AI is revolutionizing the way small businesses approach marketing, providing tools that offer powerful capabilities on a budget. The democratization of AI technology means small businesses can now access insights and efficiencies that were once only available to larger enterprises. Many of these tools feature intuitive interfaces, making it easy to integrate AI into your marketing strategies without technical expertise. As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible, small businesses have a unique opportunity to leverage AI tools for their marketing efforts. With affordable options now available, even businesses with modest budgets can enhance their marketing strategies and streamline their workflows.

Here are eight budget-friendly AI tools that can elevate your marketing without breaking the bank. AI-powered chatbots have become essential for businesses aiming to improve customer ChatGPT App support and streamline service. Starting an AI chatbot service lets you design, deploy, and manage chatbots that serve different industries, from retail to finance to hospitality.

During Small Business Saturday and the ensuing holiday season, customer inquiries tend to surge. AI can support customer service representatives by providing recommended solutions and personalized scripts tailored to each customer’s needs, ensuring issues are resolved quickly and accurately. Shopify’s Sidekick serves as a virtual assistant for merchants, helping them with tasks such as writing product descriptions, suggesting marketing strategies, and optimizing store layouts.

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As AI technology continues to make strides, free online resources such as ChatGPT, Jasper AI and Google Gemini are making it easier for small businesses to harness the power of this new technology. For example, in a bid to increase AI’s availability to the masses, Apple debuted Apple Intelligence in June for iPhones, iPads and Macs. The new technology combines the power of generative AI models with personal context to help users manage email, enhance writing and improve images. Small businesses can turn to generative AI tools like these to help them improve productivity and strategic planning, and many are finding creative ways to use them successfully.

There are more than 30 million small businesses in the U.S. and I’m sure there are more than a few intrepid entrepreneurs that are leaning into AI apps and tools and platforms to help them run their businesses. They’re probably solopreneurs or run very small companies, where there’s low risk if something doesn’t work or “hallucinates” (which is another word for AI not working.) They’re geeks and gamists and enjoy monkeying around with technology. In recent years, artificial intelligence has had a tremendous impact on small businesses. More than half (54%) have cited AI as a key reason behind their growth, and nearly three-quarters believe that internal use of AI tools could give them an edge against competitors. Communities and businesses play a crucial role in shaping the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. To inform our decision-making, the San Francisco Fed hosts discussions with the people we serve so we can hear their stories and perspectives on how economic data translates into real impacts in the Twelfth District.

CEO Josh Silverman said Etsy has introduced a new feature called Gift Mode, which uses artificial intelligence and human expertise to provide tailored product recommendations based on minimal information about the gift recipient. Sectors such as construction, dining, and personal services are thriving, with construction seeing a 10% rise in activity and a 14% increase in wages. Regionally, businesses in the Southwest, Midwest and Mountain areas are leading the recovery, with the Mountain region experiencing an impressive 53% growth from 2014 to 2024. According to PYMNTS Intelligence data, small businesses in the U.S. are demonstrating resilience, often outperforming larger companies despite economic challenges. The Main Street Index, which tracks the health of these businesses, shows they have rebounded from pandemic-related difficulties and are growing faster than pre-pandemic levels. Over the past year, these businesses have had the lowest risk of closure since early 2020.

These platforms oftentimes provide good but not perfect responses and still cannot be relied upon. Top of mind for several of the roundtable participants was whether the trend toward adopting GenAI technologies made small businesses more competitive with larger companies in their industry. They emphasized that building and training custom GenAI models for their specific business needs was cost prohibitive. This meant that small businesses would likely need several third-party applications, many of which do not communicate and cannot be integrated with one another, to meet their needs.

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We obviously live in a tumultuous time, often characterized by disagreements among people and groups. But as in every age, we need to seize opportunities to find common ground. The United States has built a tech ecosystem that has helped fuel the nation’s economic growth for more than half a century. As reflected here, we believe that Little Tech and Big Tech can contribute even more in the decades ahead by coming together. We can build on each other’s strengths, and we can advocate together for public policies that will serve innovation and the nation’s broader interests. Generative AI can analyze historical data and predict future trends, helping teams make informed decisions.

Kennedy also noted that small businesses using AI can significantly reduce the time needed for marketing efforts. He emphasized that time is the most valuable asset for small businesses, and AI can be a crucial tool in managing it appropriately. Chamber of Commerce, 40 percent of small businesses are now using generative AI tools and are experiencing growth as a result. Small businesses are also turning to generative AI to create and maintain dynamic dashboards that provide real-time insights into business performance metrics. These dashboards can be tailored to the specific needs of different team members, ensuring that relevant data is always accessible. As integration requirements increase, customized dashboards can help IT leaders keep track of what products have been purchased, which ones may be duplicative in scope and when licenses are up for renewal.

Google.org and Grow with Google are announcing $10 million in funding to America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and new training to help U.S. small businesses grow with AI. Some 40% of small businesses in the United States are using AI tools in 2024, up from 23% in 2023, according to recent research from the US Chamber of Commerce. Alex Williams is a full-stack developer and technology writer in the United Kingdom specializing in web development and data management. There have also been improvements aimed at preventing the chatbot from giving harmful responses such as illegal answers, the sharing of sensitive financial information, or the adoption of a political position. Sign up today to receive our FREE report on AI cyber crime & security – newly updated for 2024. If this trial goes well, it could ultimately be rolled out across the full government website, made up of 700,000 pages.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The UK government is scaling up trials of its generative AI chatbot, designed to assist small businesses by streamlining access to essential resources on gov.uk. The chatbot, now available to up to 15,000 users, aims to provide quick, personalized responses to business-related queries, including tax, registration, and business support, linked from 30 key pages on the gov.uk platform. Many small business leaders are still trying to build out an artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to drive efficiencies, supercharge automation and spark creative productivity among their people. This report outlines the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), concerns about regulatory impacts, and the need for education on the benefits of AI. Here’s how small business owners can effectively implement artificial intelligence into their workflows, with practical tools and strategies for success.

While AI can streamline certain processes and offer new ways to engage with customers, the ROI for a $10 million contractor or a $4 million machine shop might not be as substantial as the hype suggests. Many owners view AI as a tool for large corporations with extensive technical resources and expertise. They struggle to see how AI can be meaningfully integrated into their operations without substantial investment and disruption. Many software suites are starting to incorporate AI; for example, Google Workspace Labs introduced AI-assisted capabilities to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Free tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E, Canva, and Grammarly can assist with content generation, while software like Fireflies and Otter can help with transcription and meeting notes.

Because new technologies like GenAI can be catalysts of fundamental changes to the economy, it is vital that we understand their early impacts on our businesses and workplaces. For this reason and as part of EERN, we will continue to survey our business and community leaders about their experiences with GenAI and share what we have learned with our wider Twelfth District community. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible.

AI-driven platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams streamline communication by automating reminders, assigning tasks, and integrating with other business tools, ensuring that everyone stays aligned without the need for constant check-ins. For example, in customer service, AI-powered chatbots provide 24/7 support, meeting the instant-gratification expectations of today’s consumers while allowing reps to focus on more complex or strategic questions. These chatbots can handle a wide range of inquiries, from answering ChatGPT frequently asked questions to assisting with product recommendations. For example, a small online retailer can implement a chatbot to help customers with product searches, order tracking, and returns, significantly improving customer satisfaction and reducing the burden on customer service representatives. Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that small businesses can harness to help solve these problems. AI delivers smarter ways to personalize interactions, predict behavior and automate processes.

Streamlining finances with AI in bookkeeping and expense management

Today at the Annual America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Conference in Atlanta, Google.org and Grow with Google announced two new initiatives to help small businesses succeed with AI. Here’s a look at the details of these programs, including how to access them if you’re a small business owner yourself. Small businesses face many challenges when managing customer relationships, often due to limited resources and budget constraints.

• AI tools like Jasper, Canva, and Hootsuite can streamline the marketing process by generating content ideas, designing on-brand visuals, and automating social media posting.
• Additionally, many tech firms offer free or low-cost resources, which serve as stepping-stones for small businesses eager to embark on their digital journey.
• These safety features prevent the chatbot from providing guidance on sensitive financial or political issues, ensuring it remains focused on practical business support.

Manually processing documents such as invoices, shipping orders, contracts, and more can be time-consuming and error-prone. AI and machine learning document processing tools can extract data from paperwork far more efficiently—reducing the time and effort of manual data entry. “You want people to experiment but have governance ready to go so you can accelerate adoption,” he added.

For businesses, the challenge is figuring out where to start and what to prioritize. Today’s collaboration solutions are built with AI assistants that can summarize meetings or provide live subtitles or even translations into different languages. Modern productivity suites, such as those from Google and Microsoft, are leveraging generative AI too.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. As natural language processing models keep evolving, generative AI tools will become more powerful and accurate. More and more tools are adopting this technology and applying it to new industries and specialized use cases. AI translation tools can provide a quick, low-cost solution for certain applications, while AI recording and transcription tools can be a handy aide in capturing meeting notes or follow-up tasks. What started out as a company to support small businesses has grown into a retail giant, with brands like Mattel, Glossier and most recently, Ami Paris joining the platform. To learn more about how small businesses are using AI and what impact it’s having I talked to Dylan Sellberg, the director of product AI at HubSpot, a company that works with over 200,000 small business clients. Our two companies might not agree on everything, but this is not about our differences.