For small business owners, smart use of technology drives performance and growth. This has been true since the invention of the personal computer back in the late 1970s, and it’s no different today.
You’ve undoubtedly heard about recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and how they promise significant time savings, greater accuracy, and a superior work-life balance.
Interested in applying it to what you do?
Before you dive in, it’s crucial to approach AI thoughtfully and with a considered approach. Adopting AI just because it’s trending could become a time sink and, even worse, might not actually bring tangible benefits.
The true improvements come from strategically applying AI to targeted areas of your business, aligning technology with clear, specific goals.
Here’s where to start.
Accessible AI for small businesses
Integrating AI might seem daunting if you’re running a business with limited resources. It’s easy to think that AI is only for larger concerns.
However, AI’s accessibility today has made it far easier for small businesses to adopt than ever before – and in fact, it’s with small businesses where it can prove most effective.
For example, Sage Copilot found within Sage Accounting is right there to chat to when you need it, and will even pop up with useful suggestions.
AI can offer practical advantages even for one-person businesses. By handing over some of the admin load to AI, it can empower innovation and growth, and boosts productivity in meaningful, manageable ways.
How? Well, AI can free up considerable time spent on repetitive administrative tasks, allowing you to focus more on the work you really want to do and that generates income. It also empowers you to make better-informed decisions through data-driven outputs –providing a direct line to genuinely useful insights that previously were only available to larger businesses via experts.
What about generative AI?
Generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini have become almost hard to avoid in the modern world. They’re on our phones and within our office applications, such as Microsoft Office 365. Just login to Word, Excel or PowerPoint online, and AI is right there.
They produce content and other outputs from text prompts, proving versatile across various business functions. They can even create spreadsheets, presentations and documents from scratch, and in seconds, too.
Whether you’re drafting marketing materials, developing reports, or generating visual branding elements, generative AI tools simplify and enhance these tasks significantly.
Because of their ubiquity, they offer a great opportunity for you to test their capabilities and evaluate their effectiveness for your specific business needs.
The power of dedicated AI
However, while broad generative AI tools offer remarkable flexibility, small businesses gain the most significant benefits by using AI solutions tailored to specific business functions.
Applying generative AI technology to your accounting practices, for example, can drastically boost accuracy, efficiency, and decision-making clarity. Sage’s Copilot within its Sage Accounting apps keeps an eye on your data and workflows, flagging anomalies, errors, and opportunities. It’s a genuine step into the future of accounting.
Specialised solutions like this leverage your company’s own data, ensuring highly accurate and contextually relevant outputs. Additionally, dedicated AI tools enhance security by not syncing your proprietary information with public datasets, mitigating the risks associated with data privacy. This makes specialised AI tools a safer, more precise choice for your business.
Practical steps for AI adoption
If you’re wondering how to begin integrating AI into your business, Practical ways to use AI in your small business is an e-book by Sage that provides a structured, informative starting point. In summary, it looks at these crucial areas:
- If AI is right for your business and your situation
- Reasons to consider using AI in your small business
- Examples of how AI is already being used
- Considerations of specific generative AI
- The role AI will play in the future for small businesses
Additionally, the e-book delves into the practical considerations surrounding specific generative AI applications. It includes an exclusive insight into Sage Copilot, showcasing the kind of capabilities AI can bring to real-world small business environments.
Embracing AI with confidence
The route forward for any business owner or manager is simple: educate yourself about AI right now, or risk being left behind and giving your competitors an advantage. Then make the move without delay.
Sage Copilot found within Sage Accounting is a leading example of how the new technology is changing the way people work today. Why not ask for a demo to see how it can benefit what you do?
Taking an informed and deliberate approach with your investment in AI will give you the best chance to gain real results that improve your bottom line.
