AI is everywhere now, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. While there are a plethora of tasks that benefit from direct human input–and can even be harmed by AI intervention–the fact remains that you could probably streamline a few things if you delegated them to artificial intelligence. AllBusiness’ Neil Hare breaks down actionable ways in which your small business can benefit from using AI.
Hare’s premise is simple: artificial intelligence tools can help fill the gaps in day-to-day operations, allowing you and your employees to focus on the work that matters most. It can also relieve some of the stress associated with HR tasks, such as scouting and hiring, that have become more arduous in the wake of COVID and the resulting normalization of remote work.
Citing a report by SBEC, Hare explains that “…25% of small businesses said rising labor costs led them to AI tools; 19% said they moved to AI to augment the skills of existing workers or because they were unable to find skilled workers,” showing a direct correlation between the current job market and AI adoption.
For small businesses, even using a modicum of AI support to account for a missing employee or role can be the difference between profit and a sinking ship.
There are other reasons to use these tools, of course; not everything needs to be a response to a hiring crisis. Hare provides an exhaustive list of AI tools that cover everything from content generators to meeting and calendar assistants, all of which can fill the relatively minute role of taking over ground-level administrative work while you direct your attention to things that only a human can do.
Again, the premise here is fairly straightforward: Using artificial intelligence to supplement employee tasks can help them ascend to higher-order work, meaning you’re getting more out of your day. In a small business, maximum productivity is a must; AI simply takes more things off of your plate, allowing you to reload that same plate with all of the necessary work.
Obviously, there are some notable downsides to AI use–increasingly tight regulatory measures, a general rejection of AI-generated content by both consumers and tech giants alike, and the propensity of AI to make mistakes all come to mind–so consider any AI implementation an additional tool rather than a magic solution.
Jack Lloyd has a BA in Creative Writing from Forest Grove's Pacific University; he spends his writing days using his degree to pursue semicolons, freelance writing and editing, oxford commas, and enough coffee to kill a bear. His infatuation with rain is matched only by his dry sense of humor.
