Guide to using AI tools for small business

While the top AI tools for business won’t solve all entrepreneurial issues, they have the potential to save startup money, boost productivity and efficiency and drastically improve customer experience.

Entrepreneurs at the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub leverage AI to help themselves and their customers and can show others how to do the same.

Some tasks just need to get done, even if they aren’t particularly enjoyable and take little expertise. Think of jobs like sorting through emails, taking notes during key meetings and sending calendar invites. These tasks are prime candidates for automation using AI.

By harnessing AI’s ability to perform regular, mindless tasks, people can spend more time focusing on things that matter. Implementing AI tools could boost efficiency, giving back time formerly spent on assignments with little value.

Zapier: Consider this AI tool to automate parts of your small business’ project workflow. Zapier can connect the programs you use, so activities in one app will trigger responses in other apps without manual action.

Tidio: This AI instrument is meant for small business owners seeking an easy-to-use chatbot. Using it helps your company respond to customer requests immediately, and Tidio claims that 76% of users don’t request transfers to human agents.

Cybersecurity risks are real challenges commonly faced by today’s small business owners. Luckily, AI can help protect entrepreneurs from sophisticated schemes attempting to take advantage.

By leveraging AI tools that constantly scan for unusual activity and alert you when issues pop up, you’ll stay better aware of potential cybersecurity challenges that could be detrimental to your small business.

SentinelOne: Use this cybersecurity tool to protect your startup against malware, phishing attempts and loss of sensitive data. SentinelOne provides constant threat detection and gives automated responses to cybersecurity threats.

As an entrepreneur, the best business strategy guidance to receive at first comes from humans. We’d recommend joining a startup accelerator program like the UC Venture Lab before diving into the world of AI.

Digital, print and social content takes both time and money to produce, and entrepreneurs rarely have either of those in abundance. With leading AI tools for small businesses, founders can quickly produce informative stories, edit photos and videos and write compelling social posts.

AI is a great resource but must always be fact-checked before publication. Otherwise, it could accidentally create weak content or even say something untrue about your business. Use AI but verify its work every time.

Grammarly: This tool is especially helpful for revising online copy. Look to Grammarly to check for spelling errors, grammatical issues, improper tone and opportunities for conciseness.

Sprout Social: Try this AI tool to improve your small business’ social media pages and campaigns. It can write captions for social posts, prioritize comments you should respond to first and analyze customer sentiment to key parts of your social campaigns.

Maintain trust: All campaigns and materials produced by AI should be thoroughly reviewed to make sure content is accurate and won’t damage customer trust. “Hallucinations,” moments when AI presents false outputs as truths, do happen – and far more often than some AI advocates would like you to believe.
Company privacy: Data shared with AI tools is no longer solely in your hands, so it could reach people who shouldn’t have access to proprietary or company-sensitive information. What’s inputted into AI could become one of its knowledge sources, potentially sharing your company’s most sensitive details publicly.
Intellectual property issues: Imitation learning, a technique of discovering how to answer prompts by replicating what’s been done before, is one of AI’s key components. Unfortunately, AI is known to mimic other people’s creative work without crediting sources. This could leave unsuspecting small business owners at risk of violating intellectual property laws if they don’t carefully vet prompt outputs.

There are many benefits to incorporating AI as a small business but always proceed with caution. Corporate partners and startups at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub work diligently to only use AI in ways that are responsible, effective and beneficial for customers.

You should follow a similar approach. While AI comes with a few risks, it shows even greater promise – not just for the big companies, but especially for small businesses like yours.

Featured image at top: Small business transaction taking place. Photo/Adobe Stock