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AI Is No Longer A Diamond In The Rough For Small Businesses

Forbes Agency Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Ivan Todorov

AI is certainly changing the business of commerce. Most recognizable to the average consumer, of course, are all the voice-activated assistants that are coming into our lives care of Apple, Google, Microsoft and other technology giants. AI is impacting every business sector at every level. For small businesses, an effective AI strategy can make all the difference between success and failure.

Walk through the Diamond District of New York and you’ll find more than 2,600 small businesses, nearly all of them dedicated to selling diamond jewelry. Glittering gems fight for the attention of every passing glance. For a shopper looking for the perfect engagement ring, just a few feet of window shopping can be a daunting — not to mention blinding — experience.

Taking the search online isn’t any easier. RockHer, a luxury jeweler in Los Angeles that we've worked with before, recently launched an artificial intelligence-enhanced e-commerce site to give consumers a better option. The brand created a virtual gemologist, Rosi, that uses AI to scour the global diamond marketplace. After a user details their budget and preferences, Rosi crunches more than a million data points to deliver her selections in seconds. No matter how connected and tech-savvy the best diamond seller may be, they would be hard-pressed to provide the same breadth of research and at that speed of service.

The technology gives the consumer access to inventory they would never have the opportunity to consider in a retail store or even another online jewelry site, as it pulls its data from a wholesale database of currently available GIA-certified diamonds. And while a human gemologist couldn’t match Rosi, it is the human intelligence in the company founders’ decades of experience in the diamond industry that programmed her to consider more than 30 different variables for a diamond, far beyond the typical 4Cs that consumers have come to expect.

It is a competitive advantage that only AI can bring a small business.

It is predicted that by 2020, up to 85% of customer interactions will be managed by machines. So the brands that manage to do so by making the customer experience effortless and delightful stand to win. Challenger brands especially have the opportunity to better compete by leveraging AI to out-innovate their rivals.

Once the sole domain of the Silicon Valley elite, AI technology is fast and furiously being deployed to the masses. Technology giants such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and IBM are open-sourcing their technology, making it freely available to developers or at a lower cost than previously available to advance the technology forward.

Macy’s recently implemented an AI-driven virtual assistant that does so much more than just answer questions. The virtual agent can share the exact status of an order, add coupons to shopping bags or query inventory at local stores for immediate pick-up. And if the virtual agent can’t answer a question, it seamlessly transfers the customers to a live agent. Smaller institutions — startups, small businesses and challenger brands — can learn from big-brand examples and use available technology to transform business.

AI optimizes the consumer experience, giving both new e-commerce sites and established retailers the chance to harness years of expertise in the real world and leverage machine learning to create a new kind of customer journey. Artificial intelligence can make any small business smarter, whether it is by offering a higher level of customer service, more targeted inventory or sales leads or by handling operational tasks, like scheduling. It can supercharge every area of a business.

However, the idea of investing in AI can be a daunting proposition for a business of any size. While interest in AI is high, a recent study conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group found that while three-quarters of business executives expect AI to create a competitive advantage, only one in five has incorporated AI in some of its offerings or processes today, and only 40% have an AI strategy in place. The study also revealed gaps in understanding about the data needed to train AI and the associated costs.

There is still much education that needs to take place for executives to understand how AI technology can benefit their businesses and how to use it, but the forward-thinking companies that do take the leap will find themselves prepared and in top fighting form for a future powered by AI.

Here are three ways AI can help your small business grow:

1. Virtual Assistant: AI can be a skilled assistant, trained to perform functions with a high degree of accuracy. HubSpot recently introduced an AI chatbot that can be programmed using a simple interface to perform various sales and customer service tasks. It can be trained to walk a prospect through an RFP submission or process customer flows without the need for human interaction. This, of course, can cut staffing costs and allow businesses to scale more efficiently.

2. Sales And Marketing: Computer learning can help a small business score inbound leads. While it takes time for the AI to have enough data to be credible, AI can learn customer preferences. Based on activity across a brand’s marketing ecosystem, AI can determine which individuals are most likely to convert and buy. This is especially handy in instances where a CRM has 50,000 contacts. For example, HubSpot tracks activity across social, site pages, thought leadership, forms, email open and response rates and can guide a small business development team to focus on leads most engaged and likely to close.

3. Expense Management: Our parent company uses Microsoft’s Azure services to analyze expense reports and flag errors. Image recognition APIs assist in reviewing submitted content for inappropriate image uploads.

These are just a few ways machine learning can help a company do more with less. AI can make a business more efficient, productive and prosperous. AI can help it grow faster and smarter, making it a perfect partner for any business.

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