Take Advantage of AI, Read These 6 Tips for Small Businesses

I was one of the beta users of Amazon’s Alexa when it first came out three years ago. My wife, Sara thought it was silly at the start, but she has grown to love her as our home digital assistant. But artificial intelligence (AI) technology is no longer just for consumers. With its zero-user interface, it can help transform the way a small business works.

How is AI Helping Small Businesses?

Here are six innovative ways artificial intelligence can make a difference at your company:

1. Coaches for sales people.

An AI can transcribe calls for company sales reps and then enable a comparison of the strategies used by the most successful sales reps with the rest of the company. These types of platforms analyze variables like word choice, and the amount of time spent talking or listening. Tools to check out: Gong and Chorus aim to drive higher quota attainment across the entire sales team.

2. Virtual Assistant

Anyone can now give AI assistants specific instructions and they can track people for a meeting, follow up on emails, and generally help stay on track. Tools to check out: Brilliant Bots for Slack and other team collaboration software can make these logistic resources available to the entire team like tracking time and daily status reports.

3. Improve accounting

Accenture predicts that “30 to 50 percent of traditional shared services roles, including those in finance, will disappear over the next five years” because of artificial intelligence resources. Tools to check out: As a chatbot, Pegg can help manage expenses, record your receipts, and simplify cash flow.

4. Enhance employee engagement

In a strange way, AI chatbots can sometimes be easier for an employee to talk to than a human. This can especially encourage shy employees to raise concerns or share feedback. Today, if the AI is unable to answer an employee question, it can route queries to the appropriate person on a team. Tools to check out: Rocketbot can facilitates internal chatbot solutions that give all employees easy access to HR information.

5. Find market fit faster

Companies can provide artificial intelligence platforms with raw customer feedback and receive analyzed customer sentiments. Tools to check out: Keatext interprets customers’ written feedback to review their satisfaction, identify trends, and anything else impacting the customer experience.

6. Build a website.

This is another alternative for the small business owners instead of hiring a freelance resource. Tools to checkout:  Provide Bookmark with some key information about the business and the AI chooses from millions of design combinations to build a unique site.

Of course, there is also Alexa for Business. This AI can provide directions to a conference room, notify IT about a broken computer, or place an order for office supplies.

Republished by permission. Original here.

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This article, "Take Advantage of AI, Read These 6 Tips for Small Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends