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It’s true that we are still in the early phase of AI adoption, but our experience suggests the smaller the business, the quicker they will be in deploying AI tools in their operations.

The headlines (and there are plenty!) build the perception that AI is the preserve of large players – state-sponsored operatives, government departments, research organisations, multi-national corporates, and a certain car manufacturer, for example.

As a result, people will associate AI with words such as confronting, intimidating, scary, inaccessible, and just plain mystifying.

While AI will certainly be applied, either with good or bad intent, to projects and aims of massive significance still yet to be realised, chances are you have already interacted with this technology through a variety of everyday activities.

Take for example the local plumber who receives upwards of 20 calls a day with inquiries for availability, quotes, or emergencies.

In times past, such a plumber in a best-case scenario may have contracted a messaging service to process and screen those calls. The worst case may have meant they were trying to do it themselves, ending in burn-out for them and frustration for the customer waiting for their response.

Many tradespeople have ready-access to AI platforms that have been trained to respond appropriately to voice-to-text, a process that also filters out the lower priority calls for those that are more important or urgent which warrant personalised follow-up.

Retailers, especially those with an online shopfront, are using AI tools to do the work of customer service, receiving inbound inquiries, and directing customers to available stock being held or processing their warranty claims or product returns.

Have you interacted recently with a chatbot that has directed your query, transferred your call or shown you product options available to purchase?

If you’re in sales and you’re drowning in cold calls, instead use an AI tool to make videos of you talking and presenting, which then replicates your voice and gestures.

Type the script that you think will best capture your prospective customer’s attention, and the AI tool will match your voice and gestures to the words, splicing up the audio and video and packaging up the result as customised ‘reach out’ video sales calls.

Do you have complex commercial contracts to evaluate, legislation or policy to assess, financial reports to analyse or job descriptions to write? There’s an AI tool to help.

Are you tasked with developing a crisis communications plan, or a sales and marketing plan, or a risk analysis of a newly introduced procedure? There’s an AI tool for all of that too.

Have you recently had a lightbulb moment and now have the desire to bring a new product or service to market?

There’s an AI tool that will build images of your concept, so you can slot that into your pitch deck for your next round of investor meetings long before you’ve built the prototype.

Unsure how many calories in that restaurant meal? There’s an AI tool that can help you there as well.

Whether it’s saving your bottom line or your waistline, the application of AI is only limited by your imagination.

Our first suggestion is to get creative. Think hard about what’s eating up time and resources in your business and what this could look like if outsourced to an AI tool.

Our next suggestion is to talk to the team at PerData. We are across the suite of AI tools available and can recommend what you may need and how to integrate this within the IT systems driving your operation.

In many cases, especially where small to medium sized enterprises are concerned, folding AI into your business need not require organisational restructures, staff rationalisation and a change management program.

At most levels, AI is an accelerator or enhancer of what you currently do, not a replacement.

It’s like a new pair of running shoes as opposed to running bare foot. You still must run the race, but a new pair of shoes will help you go faster, further, and in comfort.

Isn’t it time you tried AI on for size?