How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Nature of New Business Startups

November 11, 2019 –  Please welcome Andriana Moskovska who has written a guest posting to accompany an infographic focused on the challenges new businesses face and how artificial intelligence (AI) is providing assistance to give startups a competitive boost in the 21st century. 

The times are changing and faster than we have ever imagined. A few years ago not many would have foreseen how AI is changing lives today in our daily activities as we use voice assistants on our smartphones, chatbots for customer service, and increasingly robots in manufacturing and warehousing operations. Some of us fear that AI poses an economic threat. But AI is also bringing to new businesses some real benefits. And it’s not just the big tech companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon that are beneficiaries. Even startups have access to affordable AI technology to kickstart their businesses.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways AI is changing how business startups are working today.

AI Improves Customer Service

Customer service has always been a top business priority. It ensures customer satisfaction, produces loyalty, and leads to repeat business and great references that lead to new customers. A level of customer service equal to what big companies can do used to be beyond the capability of new business startups. AI, however, has changed the paradigm. With AI-powered chat support, a new business startup can address frequently asked questions, zero-in on problems and resolve them, and build a data library that can be mined to improve business processes and overall customer interactions. From initially using scripted AI to implementing more advanced predictive AI, a small business can build its interactions to the point where it can anticipate a customer’s needs, knowing the history, and advising on solutions and products that are the best fit.

AI Increases Productivity

AI is making employees perform better on the job whether on the factory floor, and in warehouse and office operations. AI is helping managers to make more-informed business decisions.

How?

Machines with AI are making it possible to manufacture faster and with more consistent quality. AI-powered sensors are predicting the condition of a company’s equipment and telling human managers when it needs servicing.

In marketing, AI is automating campaigns from advertising to emails, to blog posting, to the scheduling of social media content. These types of task intensive work including the analysis of results can be left to AI tools while the small business can concentrate on improving products, marketing strategies and growing.

AI Makes the Most Out of Customer Data

Whether a big or small business, lots of customers information gathered through interactions ends up in untouched databases. That’s because the cost and time associated with data analysis can be prohibitive, particularly to a new startup. Imagine going through every piece of information you’ve collected manually on each customer. Talk about eating up time, energy, and money.

AI tools change all this giving startups the ability to gain useful insights quickly on customers while eliminating human bias and error in the process. Automated data analysis has the ability to unearth and analyze thousands of customers’ data and uncover the details often overlooked allowing the business to understand its customers’ behaviors and provide better-targeted marketing.

With AI audience segmentation becomes more effective, providing a guide to every touchpoint in the customer’s journey, helping small businesses to address pain points and provide solutions. With AI tools marketing becomes a one-on-one customer engagement, more personalized, and highly effective method of customer retention and referral.

Final AI Thoughts

New business startups have a lot to gain from AI becoming far more agile in responding to market opportunities. And considering the effort it takes to get a new business off the ground, AI can be the difference between success and failure in the early stages of a new venture. After all, many business startups fail. In fact, 70% of them don’t make it to ten years. So, if you are about to start a new venture, do yourself a favor and begin it with AI at the forefront of your business plan.

The following infographic paints a picture of the perils and challenges faces in navigating the minefield that is a new business startup. Applying AI tools to help make it through this landscape which includes many thousands of failed efforts will allow you in ten years to emerge a success. And the sooner you bring AI onboard the faster you will likely succeed.

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