June 1, 2023

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6 AI Applications that Can Make SMEs Give Big Firms a Run for their Money

5 min read

There used to be a time when small organizations did not have a chance against big corporates when it came to production, generating profits, etc. However, with the introduction of AI and other emerging technologies, SMEs need not worry about big capital. Furthermore, automation has reduced the need for a workforce, simplified the workflow, and much more.

In this blog, we will take a look at how SMEs can utilize AI and relevant technologies. 

1.E-Commerce

As per a Capterra survey, 54 percent of small company executives, had or wished to implement tactics to sell products or services online amid the pandemic. Artificial intelligence, thankfully, has aided with the shift. The eCommerce platforms are employing AI in a variety of ways to help small businesses increase revenue and reduce costs:

  • Natural Language Processing

AI can translate complicated and misspelt client searches into the products and services they want using natural language processing and autocomplete suggestions. According to one study, even adding autocomplete to your search box can increase sales by 24 percent.

  • Intelligent Product Recommendations

Intelligent product recommendations, like those seen on Amazon, leverage data from a customer’s browsing behavior, and previous purchases to provide recommendations. These algorithms also personalize the shopping experience. Customers are three times more likely to convert after only one interaction with a suggestion.

  • Inventory Management

AI can optimize inventory management by assessing prior sales data, seasonal trends, and forecasts to ensure you always have the correct amount of the right goods in stock. Overall inventory expenses can be reduced by 10% or more by reducing the amount of out-of-stock and overstocked items.

2.SaaS and MLaaS Provide Multiple Benefits

Knowledge markets can help SMEs find external AI expertise and solutions to compensate for the lack of internal capabilities. Software as a Service (SaaS) and Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) based on cloud computing offer several benefits. These include scalability of AI solutions and costs, no technical expertise requirement (for SaaS), and digital security elements directly built in the so-called cloud.

3.Easy Customer Appointments

Many businesses rely on customer appointments to stay afloat. However, far too many businesses fail to schedule them at the appropriate times. However, this was a major hurdle, even before the development of technology to help with scheduling began.

Every business should take advantage of the potential to schedule consumers automatically now that AI is available. You can use pre-programmed scheduling criteria to help the software figure out when the optimum times are for your staff and clients. In this regard, companies can rely on Acuity Scheduling, Picktime, Doodle, Calendly, etc.

4.Recruiting

Finding and hiring talent is still a top issue, even in a depressed economy. According to a survey conducted by The Manifest, 51% of small firms aim to hire new employees in 2021. This ratio climbs to 63 percent for those expecting revenue growth this year.

Lots of Unanswered Questions?

With unemployment currently hovering around 6%, there are lots of opportunities for outstanding hires. But where do you look for them? What’s more, how can you find them among hundreds of job candidates? Gallup discovered that, due to a lack of time to adequately assess candidates, organizations fail to hire the correct individual for the job 82 percent of the time.

Time for an Effective Solution

Small firms may use AI to reduce recruiting costs, improve candidate experience, and raise their chances of obtaining a fantastic job. Some instances are as follows:

  • Candidate Sourcing Tools

Candidate sourcing technologies use AI to scour the internet for individuals who meet a variety of criteria relating to experience, abilities, and other factors. Recruiters can then reach out to these sourced individuals to persuade them to apply for a job by working with a larger pool of options. Some examples of such tools are Talentbin, Zillionresumes, Hired, etc.

  • AI Can Rate Applicants

As resumes arrive, AI can go through them and evaluate or score the candidates based on the same criteria employed during sourcing. For hiring managers, facing time constraints, being able to start with the most promising prospects first can save a lot of time.

  • AI Assesses Key Indicators

When determining who to employ, AI may examine performance statistics, skills evaluations, and other datasets from current top performers. Then it will use predictive analytics to show users which candidates are most similar to those who have previously proven themselves in their organization. As a result, better employment judgments are made.

5.Marketing

Your customers will not have the right perspective if you do not pitch correctly. They may not even be aware that your business exists. By automatically recommending marketing techniques, AI can help with the problem of obscurity. It can detect the patterns of conduct that led users to your page and prompted them to make a purchase. Then all you have to do is scale and repeat the process.

Programmed Bidding

Choosing where to display advertisements and messaging is a difficulty that many marketing teams face. Marketers employ AI to address this issue through programmatic advertising. These programs rely on Machine Learning to bid on ad space relevant to target audiences in real time. Data such as interests, location, buying history, buyer intent, and so on are taken into account.

Dynamic Pricing

By providing dynamic pricing, AI can assist brands in becoming more competitive. By analyzing massive amounts of historical and competitive data, AI project platforms can advise ideal prices for products in real time. This method has proven to be particularly successful in the retail sector.

Choosing the Right Message 

Diverse consumers respond to different messages across channels. Some may be moved by an emotional appeal, others by humor, and yet others by rationality. Machine learning and AI can track which messages consumers have responded to and generate a more detailed user profile.

In addition to this, the strategy includes granular personalization, and Predictive Analysis.

6.Customer Service Using Chatbots

Chatbots can search firm support information to deliver answers or direct clients to the appropriate resource without involving a person for simple questions and requests. Customers do not have to wait until business hours to solve their concerns because the service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If a human is needed, a chatbot’s AI system can run through a script to gather basic information and even their preferred channel for assistance (phone call, text, email, etc.). The chatbot may then route the request to the most appropriate agent for the situation, saving time and improving the customer experience.

These are some of the ways AI and other emerging technologies can prove to be beneficial for small businesses. If you write a paper on it, you can use the points mentioned here. And if you need business assignment help, you can seek professional assistance.