Plan for Use of AI in Your Business
Building an Artificial Intelligence (AI) plan for your business is essential to stay competitive and future-proof your operations. An AI strategy can drive efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, improving decision-making through data-driven insights, and enhancing customer experience with personalised interactions. It also allows businesses to scale more easily, manage resources efficiently, and innovate faster by leveraging AI-driven creativity in product development and marketing.
Implemented correctly, AI can offer the potential for significant cost savings by reducing labour expenses and operational inefficiencies. AI based tools can reduce cybersecurity risks by automating security monitoring and fraud detection. AI has important potential for customer service, sales, marketing, and operational management. Having a clear plan ensures the right tools and policies are implemented to maximise benefits while mitigating risks.
There are different types of AI from Narrow AI with examples like Machine learning and Natural Language Processing. Generative AI, like ChatGPT, fits into Narrow AI. This is where this article is focused. But there are more theoretical, or hypothetical, types of AI such as Theory of Mind and Self Aware AI that are, right now, just long term goals.
Developing an AI plan helps businesses capitalise on opportunities and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market.
Business Benefits of Using AI
The benefits that the use of AI might bring to a business are influenced by the type and size of the business, the skills available and potential benefits that might be obtained. Implementing a tool or solution because it’s the today idea that everyone is talking about will not lead to success or improvement. Look for and aim for:
Increased Efficiency, AI can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as data entry, customer support, or inventory management, freeing up employees to focus on higher-value activities.
Cost Reduction by automating routine tasks, AI can reduce labour costs and improve operational efficiency, leading to savings on wages, overtime, and errors.
Improved Decision-Making using AI-powered analytics and insights can help businesses make data-driven decisions, leading to better forecasting, market analysis, and customer behaviour predictions.
Enhanced Customer Experience using AI-driven chatbots and personalized recommendations can improve customer satisfaction by providing real-time support and personalized experiences.
Scalability with AI systems that can handle increasing volumes of data and customer interactions without requiring proportional increases in staff or infrastructure.
Risk Management using AI to monitor for potential risks, such as fraud detection or cybersecurity threats, and take preventive measures.
Profitable Use Cases
There are many potential use cases in every business for AI. Look for the most opportune use case that best fits your business and skills.
Customer Service and Support improves using AI chatbots for 24/7 customer support which can reduce response times and free up human agents to handle more complex inquiries.
Sales and Marketing using AI to automate lead generation, personalised marketing campaigns, and automating follow-up emails, improving conversion rates and customer engagement.
Inventory and Supply Chain Management, AI can optimise inventory levels, predict demand trends, and streamline supply chain operations, leading to reduced waste and improved logistics.
Data Analytics, AI can process and analyse large datasets to uncover valuable insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and operational performance, driving strategic business decisions.
Human Resources, AI can automate the recruitment process by screening resumes, analysing employee performance, and predicting workforce needs.
Planning the Use of AI in SMBs
Many SMBs fail to plan and take on an implementation without understanding the process. It is essential that as business managers or board members you build a business plan and review for successes and failures. The typical plan might follow these steps:
Assess Business Needs, which begins by identifying pain points or inefficiencies in the business where AI could provide value. Areas such as customer service, inventory management, and marketing are typical starting points.
Define Objectives, set clear, measurable goals for AI deployment, such as improving customer response times by 20%, increasing sales leads by 15%, or reducing operational costs by 10%.
Vendor and Tools Selection, depending on the identified needs, select appropriate AI tools or services. For SMBs, cloud-based AI solutions such as Google Cloud AI, Microsoft Azure AI, or off-the-shelf AI tools like chatbots, and CRM platforms, are often ideal for ease of implementation and scalability.
Pilot the Solution, use a proof of concept to start small by piloting the AI solution in one department or with one process. Use the pilot phase to gather data, measure success, and identify areas for improvement.
Integration with Existing Systems will ensure the AI tools integrate smoothly with current software platforms such as CRM, ERP, or supply chain management systems.
Train Employees, provide learning plan to employees to use AI tools effectively. This includes both technical training and education on how AI will affect their day-to-day roles.
Monitor and Optimise, continuously monitor AI systems for performance, accuracy, and alignment with business objectives. Use AI analytics to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and optimize performance as needed.
Business AI Policies and Procedures
Data Privacy and Security
Implement robust data privacy policies to ensure AI systems comply with regulations like the Australia Privacy Principles or General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for example. Encrypt sensitive data and use cybersecurity tools to monitor for threats.
AI Ethics Policy:Establish an ethical framework for AI usage, particularly in areas like customer interactions or employee performance monitoring. Ensure AI decisions are transparent and free from bias.
Risk Mitigation Plan:
Develop a plan to manage potential AI failures or malfunctions, including having manual overrides and backup systems in place.
Employee Transition Plan:
Create policies to manage employee transitions, ensuring that workers displaced by AI are retrained or reassigned where possible.
Third-party Vendor Management:
Establish procedures for evaluating and managing third-party AI vendors, ensuring they meet the business’s security and ethical standards.
SWOT Analysis Framework
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are the four cornerstones of a great plan. Every business will have a different set of foundation values and goals. There is no “out of the textbook” answer to the issues that might be reviewed in the SWOT meeting.
Strengths:
Increased operational efficiency.
Improved customer engagement and satisfaction.
Cost reduction through automation.
Enhanced decision-making via data-driven insights.
Weaknesses:
Initial cost of AI implementation.
Lack of in-house expertise may require reliance on third-party vendors.
Possible employee resistance to AI adoption.
Potential for system failures or inaccurate outputs.
Opportunities:
Gaining a competitive edge by adopting AI early.
Expanding into new markets through better data analytics.
Reducing costs and improving profit margins.
Leveraging AI for personalized customer experiences to boost loyalty.
Threats
Data privacy or security breaches.
AI system malfunctions leading to operational downtime.
Ethical concerns over AI decision-making (e.g., biases in algorithms).
Rapidly evolving AI technology may render current solutions obsolete.
Budget Structure, Expenses, and Costs
Implementing AI in your business is not free. There are many experts on the web and posts about the free tools that are available for AI. Using a free version of a tool like ChatGPT or Gemini is a long way from a formal business implementation project. For a small business the costs can be reasonable and worthwhile. It does depend on the skills of the resources that are available to your business. Many large enterprises have invested tens or millions of dollars and resources in pilot projects before starting and implementation. Following are the areas of investment that will need to be considered to create a budget for the project. This information is aimed an small to medium sized businesses. But a word of caution, if the only reason the business is pursuing AI is to cut cost on human resources then don't waste your money.
Initial Investment
AI Tools/Software - Depending on the scale, SMBs may need to spend anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 on AI solutions. Cloud-based services or software-as-a-service (SaaS) models can reduce upfront costs.
Hardware - If opting for on-premise AI, hardware such as servers or GPUs can range from $10,000 to $150,000 for small to medium sized businesses.
Implementation Costs - Consulting services, integration with existing systems, and customisation of AI tools may vary dramatically based on the skills available and the scope and complexity of existing systems. Projects might be from a few weeks to many months to complete. It is important to develop a comprehensive set of requirements and provide a complete Request for Proposal (RFP) to perspective vendors.
Ongoing Costs
Subscription/License Fees - For cloud-based AI, businesses may pay $500 to $10,000 per month, depending on usage.
Maintenance and Updates - Ongoing maintenance and updates can cost between $5,000 and $20,000 per year, depending on the complexity of the AI system.
Employee Training - Training programs may cost $1,000 to $5,000 per employee, depending on the depth and complexity of the AI tools being used.
Monitoring and Optimisation - Monthly or quarterly AI performance monitoring services may add an additional $1,000 to $5,000 in recurring costs.
Potential Return on Investment (ROI)
Never enter into a project without understanding what it will deliver back to the business.
AI-driven automation can yield cost reductions between 10% to 25% on operational expenses. But there may be financial benefits that cannot easily be measured against the bottom-line.
Customer satisfaction improvements can boost sales by 10% or more, with increased retention rates leading to greater lifetime customer value. It is important to set targets that can be measured.
Business Benefits versus Costs and Risks
If you are building a plan for AI then you need to be able to articulate the elements that weight up the benefits versus the cost of execution and risk of failure. This will enable the management and teams to look at the full impact on the business.
Delivering Business Improvements
Increases productivity by automating repetitive tasks.
Enables businesses to make data-driven decisions quickly.
Reduces operational costs.
Enhances customer experiences.
Scalable and can grow with the business.
Costs and Risks
Initial setup can be costly.
Potential job displacement may create employee dissatisfaction.
Requires ongoing maintenance and monitoring.
Possible bias in AI decision-making.
Risk of security breaches and data privacy issues.
By carefully considering these factors, an SMB can strategically plan for AI integration, maximising its benefits while mitigating potential risks.
Generative AI Solutions and Uses
There are many prominent generative AI solutions available in 2024 and you need to select the right tool for the business. Following are the key players with brief descriptions of their key features and applications. Please check and research the solutions available as the options and features in the Generative AI market change rapidly.
Google Gemini
Description: Google Gemini is a cutting-edge generative AI model integrated into Google's ecosystem, offering a wide range of capabilities from natural language understanding to creative image and video generation. It focuses on generating conversational content, assisting in tasks such as summarizing, answering questions, and creating multimedia content.
Applications: Conversational AI, image generation, and video creation.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Description: One of the most well-known generative AI models, ChatGPT is a conversational AI that excels in generating human-like text responses, content creation, coding assistance, and even multimodal tasks involving image generation. Used also as the basis for Microsoft Co-Pilot.
Applications: Writing assistance, creative content generation, technical problem-solving, and customer service chatbots.
Claude (Anthropic)
Description: Claude specializes in handling long-form text and can process up to 200,000 words in one session. It excels at summarizing large documents and offers advanced reasoning, including some coding capabilities.
Applications: Document summarization, large text analysis, and secure, ethical AI interactions.
Jasper
Description: Jasper is an AI content generation tool focused on marketing, allowing users to create blog posts, ad copy, and social media content. It provides templates and integrates seamlessly into marketing workflows.
Applications: Marketing, content creation, and social media management.
Midjourney
Description: Midjourney is an AI tool that generates highly detailed, artistic images from text prompts. It’s especially popular in creative industries for its ability to produce visually stunning content.
Applications: Artistic and design content generation.
DALL-E 3 (OpenAI)
Description: DALL-E 3 generates detailed and coherent images from text descriptions. Integrated with ChatGPT, it enables easy back-and-forth between text and image creation for a seamless user experience.
Applications: Image generation for marketing, design, and creative projects.
Runway
Description: Runway is a generative AI platform that enables users to create videos from simple text inputs. It’s used for producing creative or animated videos and includes features for editing and transforming video content.
Applications: Video content creation for marketing, film, and creative industries.
ElevenLabs
Description: A comprehensive AI tool for voice generation, ElevenLabs creates realistic and diverse human voices from text. It’s widely used in audio content creation, such as audiobooks, podcasts, and virtual assistants.
Applications: Voice generation for media, virtual assistants, and interactive content.
Suno
Description: Suno is an AI platform designed for music generation, allowing users to compose songs and soundtracks using natural language prompts.
Applications: Music creation, soundtracks for media, and personalized audio content.
Beautiful.ai
Description: An AI tool designed to create professional presentations automatically. Beautiful.ai simplifies the process by generating slide layouts and content based on user inputs.
Applications: Business presentations, design, and automated content formatting.
Tome
Description: Tome leverages AI to create engaging presentations, integrating data and visuals into the slides. It also offers storytelling tools that enhance presentation narratives.
Applications: Presentation design, data visualization, and storytelling.
Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence)
Description: Wix's AI-driven website builder allows users to quickly create professional websites without coding knowledge, offering design recommendations and automatic content generation.
Applications: Website creation for small businesses, e-commerce, and personal branding.
Framer
Description: Framer is an AI-powered tool for building responsive websites and landing pages with minimal manual input, allowing even non-designers to create interactive web content.
Applications: Website development, UI/UX design.
Pico
Description: Pico is an AI-based app builder that simplifies the creation of mobile and web applications by automating much of the development process, offering customizable features without requiring extensive coding.
Applications: Mobile app development, software creation for SMBs.
Adobe Firefly
Description: Adobe Firefly is Adobe's generative AI tool for creative professionals, offering features like text-based image generation and editing, automated design tools, and generative fill.
Applications: Graphic design, video editing, creative content generation.
Wondershare Filmora
Description: Filmora integrates generative AI tools for video editing, allowing users to enhance video content with AI-driven effects, transitions, and visual adjustments.
Applications: Video editing and content creation.
Microsoft Azure AI
Description: Microsoft Azure offers a range of generative AI services, including text and image generation, code development, and data analysis tools, integrated with Microsoft’s suite of enterprise products.
Applications: Enterprise-level content creation, automation, and business insights.
IBM Watson AI
Description: Watson AI provides businesses with generative AI models that assist in tasks like report generation, content creation, and customer service. Its focus is on reliability and scalability.
Applications: Business automation, content creation, and enterprise AI services.
Meta AI
Description: Meta AI generates content tailored for social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, offering AI-driven tools for generating images, videos, and engaging content for marketing purposes.
Applications: Social media content creation and personalization.
Amazon AWS AI
Description: AWS offers a suite of generative AI tools, such as Amazon Polly (text-to-speech), DeepComposer (music generation), and DeepArt (image generation), providing scalable solutions for businesses.
Applications: Content creation, AI-driven analytics, and automation for enterprises.
Business needs that are addresses vary between the different AI solutions and tools available, from content creation and customer interaction to technical development and marketing, offering scalability and ease of use for businesses across industries.
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Author: John Debrincat FACS, MAICD
Chair - ACS Foundation
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