As a business-owner, just when you thought your business operations were stable, AI happened. This is the story of every other entrepreneur. The biggest issue right now is all the noise that we hear related to AI and its possible takeover.
Every day I come across people telling me AI will take over the world or change the business landscape. In the last few months, AI has advanced so much and so rapidly that I believe its possible global domination is inevitable.
If you are looking for ways to future-proof your business, keep reading as I share my personal experience about that is possible:
Future-Proof Your Business – My Journey
Things were different when I started my online e-commerce store seven years ago. Everything was manual – From scraping online data to posting pictures, writing descriptions, and then optimizing each product. With more than 3k products, it took me 30 days, a team of 6 resources, and a lot of time-consuming effort.
At the time, the world was slowly shifting to running online marketing and business. Service companies were embracing this new business landscape. Tech companies also joined this bandwagon and started offering online services. For instance, I always looked up to Optimum and wanted something similar for my brand. It is an ISP that offers top-notch internet, along with customer support services. The brand has focused on its wider audience by offering a dedicated customer support line for Spanish users. It also include online Optimum pagar factura for their Spanish customers, which helps Optimum become an authority in business. For small businesses, replicating this strategy can become quite a challenge because it is expensive. However, by leveraging AI, this is possible.
For my business, I utilized a custom chatbot option that has helped me minimize the response time and guide my customers. The process is simple and easy and it costs me just $30 every month, which is a very small amount compared to an onsite resource.
How Businesses Are Doing It In The Market?
To stay abreast of the trends, I generally follow a lot of business and marketing journals. These journals help me stay ahead of the curve and eventually, I get to utilize these ideas for my business.
Big brands have big budgets. Therefore, when they have a new strategy, there is no budget restriction. On the contrary, replicating these strategies can be impossible for small businesses. Moreover, big businesses can afford to bleed money in the name of experimentation. Considering budget is such a huge part of business, it is no wonder the startup failure rate is so high.
To get on the level playing field, small businesses are now trying to leverage AI. For every possible task that a professional can perform, an AI tool can do it much better and faster without human error. Businesses I deal with today are delegating mundane tasks to AI, leaving creative tasks for professionals.
Here are some of the industries where AI is dominating:
- Customer Support
Nearly every business has a chatbot integrated into their website. They are actively using communication bots for attending calls, greeting, categorizing, and then redirecting these users to the respective departments.
A slightly primitive model of this AI support tool was IVR. Users would listen to the IVR and simply interact with the system to talk to the agent. However, modern-day AI tools can understand the information, interact with users, and then redirect them for more information.
- Moderation
Moderation on social media is one of the biggest and most important tasks. Big companies hire teams to not just conduct social listening but also censor comments and opinions shared on official sites. However, hiring people 24/7 can be very expensive.
AI can now commit moderation for businesses. It filters out abusive comments, filters out comments that mention rival companies, and even filters out fake profiles and bots. These moderation tools are ideal for companies that have high engagement rates on their websites and social media channels.
- Marketing
Marketing is all about creativity, this is a common misconception and needs to be addressed. Tasks like scheduling, posting, moderation, social listening, and addressing queries do not require creativity. This is the reason marketing tools are on the rise.
Nearly every business is now relying on marketing tools for scheduling, creating , and filtering out posts that can bring better engagement. Tools like Midjourney, jitter, and Microsoft Design take this to the next step by offering fully functional designs that can be used for marketing.
- Quality Assurance
You write code, handle accounts, build strategy, or work in design; nearly every department has to pass quality assurance. People working in quality assurance require an eye for detail and they must ensure that the product stays error-free.
However, manual quality assurance is a lengthy, time-consuming, and extremely difficult task. Small businesses are now using AI tools for quality assurance. These tools filter out mistakes, adjust responses, and commit functional tests, unit, and smoke tests.
There are many myths about AI and the future of business. With so many contradictory opinions, one thing is for certain: trends will change and the only way to make the most out of these trends is to take the initiative and embrace the change.
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