How AI and Automation in Business are Transforming SME and MSME Sectors

We are witnessing the rise of start-ups, small-sized, and medium-sized businesses in not just Canada but also across the globe. And with that, business-minded young entrepreneurs are not shying away from implementing state-of-the-art technology across all verticals of their organization. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation in business are some of those tools that are helping these sectors expand and be the “best of both worlds” solution among businesses and brands alike. 

What is Automation in Business?

When the least human intervention is seen in a business process because technology is implemented to perform usual tasks, we can say it is Automation in Business. Now coming to ‘what does this automation do?’ Let’s try to understand.

• Streamlines repetitive business processes
• Standardizes business operations
• Reduces the need for manual work
• Improves efficiency
• Enhances consistency in various operations
• Can be initiated without a lot of data

Importance of Artificial Intelligence

When computer systems are developed to perform regular tasks that typically require human intelligence that is called Artificial intelligence (AI) which includes learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and language understanding, to name a few. This computer function empowers machines to perform human tasks like decision-making, understanding context, and learning from data. And this is the reason why it needs a large amount of data to not just train but also enhance the overall performance.

What are SMEs and MSMEs?

When an organization has less than 10 employees, it is a micro organization. When there are fewer than 100 employees in a company, it is a small-sized business, whereas 100-500 employees in an organization make it a medium-sized company. Canada has a plethora of them and every business enthusiast is looking for great business opportunities here.

Key Considerations in Technology Implementation

Coming to the part, “what to keep in mind while implementing AI and automation in any business process and operation”, here are some of the key takeaways:

• Knowing the Needs: the companies involved in the SME or MSME sector need to narrow down to those areas in their business where they want the latest tech of AI and automation to leave an everlasting impression so it can be followed through in the long term. For this, the main focus must be on improving customer service, automating back-office tasks, and enhancing data analysis.
• Choosing the Tools: now comes the part of choosing such AI and automation tools that meet the expectations of their business's needs and wants. Depending upon the same, it can either be an off-the-shelf solution or a custom-built one. Hence it is of great significance to go with the tools that best fit their organization’s operation goals.
• Securing the Data: one thing that has to be paid special attention to while implementing these technologies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, is data privacy and security, which is a crucial aspect of AI and automation integration by default. 
• Training and Learning: continuous employee training is essential for the growth of any company involved in SME and MSME, or any other sector for that matter. So these entities need to make sure that their team is well-acquainted with these technologies. And its continuously evolving nature in the digital landscape makes learning a Must-to-do task.

Application of AI & Automation in SME and MSME Sectors

The use of this “technology of the century” is not limited to automating business operations and processes, it goes beyond just that. Some of its use cases in Canada and the world are as follows:

1. Support Service

To make the process of customer enquiry smooth and hassle-free, these companies can implement AI-powered chatbots so instant responses can happen without much delay. This 24/7 support provision works toward strengthening their customer relationships.

2. Personalized Recommendation

If their recommendation engines are well-equipped with AI, their end customer will come across personalized product recommendations (E-commerce consideration here). This latest technology integration refines the overall shopping experience of these visitors and boosts customer satisfaction rates.

3. Sales Prediction

These AI-driven sales forecasting techniques and tools make better predictions (and many times accurate) about the sales that are to take place in the future. As a result of that, it helps enable such inventory management and production planning that is much better than usual.

4. Digital Marketing

The evolved form of content generation tools has made it easy for businesses and brands of every size and budget to go another mile with their digital marketing efforts. Be it social media posts, guest blogs, or landing page content of a website, these Gen AI tools help businesses and brands save time and effort to a great extent. 

5. Analysis and Insights

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be banked on for data analysis that will eventually help these businesses get a better understanding of customer behaviour as well as market trends, so an ultimate level of operational efficiencies can be achieved smoothly.

Conclusion

If you are running a micro, small, or medium business in the SME or MSME sector in Canada and want to tap into opportunities that you have never explored before, get in touch with SkyTrust, your digital transformation partner. We are up and ready to take your business to another mile ahead. Let’s get started!