Best Ways to Use AI for Your Small Business

What exactly is AI? AI can be defined as artificial intelligence, or highly intelligent machines that have the ability to work and react like humans. It’s obvious how AI can help large scale companies, but how can it be of use to small business owners?

By Helping Track Data

A great way to use AI for your small business is to enlist the help of CRM software. CRM (or customer relationship management) software can provide a variety of benefits to a small business.

First, it combines all of your customer data in one place. If your customers reach out to you via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and your website, how do you track all of this data? CRM platforms make it easy to see all your leads in one place.

CRM software can also automate administrative tasks such as data entry, which leaves your employees with more time to focus on more important tasks. CRM platforms can also hold and store all your company’s private information on the cloud, making it safer than keeping valuable company insights on your company’s hard drive.

Furthermore, CRM software can plug in and work with other business applications for a more integrated business process. Having all your business processes merged together in one place can make for ease of use and time saved.

Helping You Hire Better

AI can help save you time and money when it comes to hiring. Hiring can be a long and tiresome process for business owners. Using automation in various areas of hiring will help cut down on the time it takes to manually read through resumes, interview, and onboard candidates.

The first hiring automation software that is easily accessible to business owners is posting job opportunities on sites such as Indeed, Monster, and other hiring sites. These sites make it easy for you to type in the qualifications and use screening questions to automatically disqualify candidates without having to look at a single resume.

Another way business owners can hire better with AI is using automated pre-employment screening software to easily request background information on your future employees from different governmental agencies without having to call or email each one individually.

Provide 24/7 Customer Service

Reliable customer service is one of the most important components of having a successful business today. AI can help with customer service by providing chatbots for your customers to use when your customer service representatives are out of the office.

Chatbots can be used on your website, via applications like WhatsApp, and on your company’s phone answering system. Use chatbots on your website and WhatsApp to help answer customer questions ASAP until a representative is available. Use chatbots on your company phones to answer any customer questions after hours to help point them in the right direction as well as to filter messages and send them to the appropriate departments.

Analyzing Competitors

Small businesses are fighting to compete with big businesses as well as other small key competitors. Using AI to help track and analyze competitors can help you as a small business owner to use competitor data when planning future goals for your company.

Using AI competitor tracking tools such as Crayon you can quickly and easily learn about your competitors. This allows you to respond faster to changes in your industry as well as to tap into market segments that your competitors have yet to go after.

AI is a relatively new phenomenon in the workplace, and we are only starting to see what it can do to help make our businesses extremely efficient. Using these valuable tools already available to you, you can not only save money and time within your business but can improve your overall business processes.

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