Why Small Businesses Need AI: Key Benefits Revealed (Part III)

With AI being a more accessible tool in the digital age, small businesses finally have a chance to thrive and grow into medium or large sized enterprises. By providing help with marketing, social media management, customer relations, and a large amount of time consuming labor, small businesses have chance to grow, gain new audiences, and compete with one another. While we have already visited the many different benefits that AI provides to small businesses, let's redirect our attention to less discussed ways that AI supports small businesses and more examples of small business who benefit from the use of the tool. 

AI Worldwide

As we already discussed, AI has had a significant impact across a multiple industries including government, business, civil society, education, healthcare, and financial services (Labbe, 2023). Looking at AI in the agriculture industry, AI systems are heavily utilized inin high-income countries. For example, in Braz, Austria, AI is employed in robotic milking systems to determine which cow should be milked and when. As a result, farmers have leeway to focus on other livestock and can supervise their cows less. Conversely, in low-income countries, AI use is often restricted to smaller-scale enterprises (Labbe, 2023). AI's use in small business in low-income countries include smart farming techniques and the processing of satellite imagery, primarily benefiting smallholder farms. The difference between the extensive and complicated, sophisticated use of AI in high-income countries and the restricted, yet significant, use in low-income countries showcases the potential for growth and development in the agriculture industry on a global scale. By understanding and discussing these differences, the opportunity to expand the benefits of AI is open to more areas regardless of their level of income

Generative AI for Small Businesses

Generative AI is a type of AI that can essentially create content for you to upload, use, and edit. A popular example is ChatGPT. Research has found that entrepreneurs have found a number advantages of working together with generative AI. First, they found that partnership between and AI led to the discovery of new and revolutionary uses for the technology, expanding its potential (Romero et al, 490). Secondly, these entrepreneurs also noted a remarkable boost in self-efficacy due to working with AI leading them to gain confidence in their technological abilities. Additionally, generative AI played a hand in alleviating "techno-anxieties", making technology easier to understand and less intimidating to use (Romero et al, 490). Finally, entrepreneurs have found that the assistance provided by AI has improved wrap-around support, help with mental challenges (Romero et al, 490).

To learn more, please watch the video below.

AI Developed Business Models

With the emergence of AI being used in various industries, a number of companies, both large and small, have had to revamp their business models to compete with rival companies. Although these concepts have been discussed in previous blog posts, three key goals that some AI-supported business models focus on are: making data usable, relieving employees and strengthening focus on core business, and support and optimization of customer processes (von Joerg and Carlos, 3558). Beginning with making data usable, as we already discussed, AI allows small businesses to "obtain and evaluate different data and information in order to derive and take meaningful measures" (von Joerg and Carlos, 3558). 

Moving onto employee relief, AI-generated algorithms help employees by working on repetitive tasks. Through automating these tasks, AI enables employees to shift their focus, time, and energy on more strategic and creative aspects of their work. This shift not only increases productivity but also frees up valuable resources that can be used towards enhancing the business in general. With AI handling time-consuming tasks, employees can work on tasks enhance customer service will help their business grow.

Lastly, AI is utilized to analyze data in real time. This gives customers essential information through insights that can enhance their planning and production processes. This analysis helps businesses to make  opportune adjustments, which boosts the efficiency of business operations. The insights gained from this data analysis not only boosts efficiency but also allows more opportunities for innovation. By understanding popular trends and examining patterns, businesses can adjust accordingly and develop new types of products and services that better meet customer's wants and needs. 

    Small Business Examples

Two less known examples of small businesses that have grown and benefitted from the use of AI are LS Digital and The Skimm. Founded in 2006 by Prasad Shejale, LS Digital is a digital marketing company that offers a plethora of digital marketing services. The agency has "worked on various platforms like search, social and mobile which have enabled it to deliver high-quality brand and performance marketing campaigns"(PCQuest, 2021). Two ways that LS Digital uses AI that we haven't discussed yet is competitive analysis and ad placement. Through its competitive analysis feature, AI tools can analyze competitors' activities, price-related strategies, and market strategy (positioning). Using this data helps LS Digital generate strategies and opportunities to separate their clients from the competition.

The Skimm (stylized as theSkimm) is an American based media company founded in 2012 by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisburg. The Skimm's mission is to "succinctly give women the information they need to make confident decisions" (The Skimm). The Skimm breaks down the news, trends, policies, and politics that impact women so that they can make better decision in their daily lives. Some of these decisions include managing paychecks or even casting ballots. Nonetheless, The Skimm provides their large target audience of millions "with reliable, non-partisan information, informing and empowering them while fitting into their daily routines" (The Skimm). Moving away from its origins and purpose, The Skimm uses AI to analyze users' behaviors and preferences. This allows them to create daily newsletter content to meet the wants of each individual reader.

Conclusion

To end the series, AI is and will continue to be an integral part of most business operations. We have learned that beyond the negative impact that AI has had on society, its use has been an important tool in building, expanding, and innovating small and big businesses alike. However, this blog was made to specifically support small businesses. Whether you believe so or not, using AI has proven to be the way to completely change the way a business operates while also saving small business owners time and stress. Through its use, AI has constantly generated creativity, innovation, and help business owners compete on a global stage. If you believe that you can't grow your business any further, or if your dreams begin to falter, please try using AI before you simply give up. In today's digital age, AI continues to prove that the relationship between humans and machine can be just as productive as it could be potentially destructive. Thank you for reading and please tune into the last post of this blog series for a surprise!

References

Digital, L. (2024, November 19). Digital Business Transformation | LS Digital Solutions. LS Digital. https://www.lsdigital.com

Labbé, M. (2023, April 6). ChatGPT and AI: What this means for small business. ProQuest; International Trade Forum. https://www.proquest.com/docview/3046436920?parentSessionId=JLQBZAk%2FRnD7UPB7K2%2Beb0arNnTYFgv50oglhZ6Hl0M%3D&pq-origsite=summon&accountid=10152&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

Quest, P. (n.d.). AI based Digital Marketing Agencies Helping Small Businesses & Startups. ProQuest; PCQuest. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2528186848?parentSessionId=dvWnebEejtmDerQgwb66%2BQGagYjX5SGJbk%2Fh43JlTg8%3D&pq-origsite=summon&accountid=10152&sourcetype=Magazines

Romero Lauro, Q., Bigham, J. P., & Kotturi, Y. (2024). Exploring the Role of Social Support When Integrating Generative AI in Small Business Workflows. Companion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 485–492. https://doi.org/10.1145/3678884.3681895

Skimm. (2019, November 8). About Us. TheSkimm. https://www.theskimm.com/general/about

von Joerg, G., & Carlos, J. (2022). Design Framework for the Implementation of AI-based (Service) Business Models for Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing Enterprises. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-022-01003-z