How small businesses can harness GenAI-powered insights 

As most business owners are aware, Generative Artificial Intelligence, or GenAI, is reshaping industries and our everyday lives. Clare Reddan, Senior Design Researcher at MYOB, explains the findings from MYOB’s latest research and shares how small businesses can incorporate GenAI into their day-to-day.

MYOB research shows one in five (19 per cent) Australian small and medium sized enterprises are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their business, though a further 21 per cent plan to in the coming year.

Of those that are using AI, 88 per cent say it has helped them save time in their business and 81 per cent said it has helped increase productivity.

GenAI offers myriad opportunities for small and medium sized businesses to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and boost competitiveness. One significant advantage lies in AI-powered automation, which can handle routine tasks such as data entry, customer support, and inventory management, allowing employees to focus on more strategic activities. Additionally, AI-driven analytics provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour, market trends, and operational inefficiencies, enabling small businesses to make data-driven decisions swiftly.

So how do businesses get started with adopting AI in their business and what’s in store comes to AI-adoption.

What is Generative-AI?

Today’s GenAI uses what it already “knows” to produce probable outputs and continues to learn as we feed it more information.

GenAI has gathered significant visibility in November 2022 when Open AI released ChatGPT-3.5. This made GenAI widely accessible to the general public, who could type questions into ChatGPT’s “search box” and receive conversational answers.

Today, there are thousands of tools and technologies that use GenAI and machine learning to do things such as create images, music and video enhancement. MYOB recently announced a new partnership that will draw on AI-powered business advisory tools for accountants.

For many people, these tools are a game-changer because they are easily accessible and help businesses efficiently complete all sorts of tasks and rapidly access information.

5 Tips to adopt AI in your Business

The main challenges to AI adoption are privacy, security, data quality and general lack of AI-skills in the workforce. Here’s are some ways to steer your business towards GenAI success.

Tip #1. Task Readiness

Assess your ability to use AI by identifying the areas you want AI assistance with and how they align with your business goals.

To do: Create a playbook for AI strategy and operations—map out AI’s role in your data strategy and what resources and infrastructure your business needs to get there.

Tip #2: Skills capacity

How well does your team understand AI? People who use GenAI need adaptable and up-to-date knowledge of GenAI techniques like crafting prompts and data preparation.

To do: Conduct skills assessments, then ensure your staff are properly trained in your new AI solutions.

Tip #3. Accountability and transparency

Transparency matters. Customers and stakeholders may want to know if and how AI is factored into your business’ decision-making processes.

To do: Seek explainable AI solutions that can show their work and clearly communicate AI’s role in your business.

Tip #4. Data management + collaboration

Depending on the tool, AI solutions may need specifically formatted data and collaboration to deliver the most powerful results.

To do: Define and optimise how data is collected and shared across your organisation so it’s in good shape to incorporate into your AI solutions and remember to always protect the security of the data you hold.

Tip #5. Define roles + responsibilities of AI

A proper scope for AI-use in your business is essential so your principles and values for responsible AI are clear.

To do: Develop a Responsible AI Governance Framework. Include practical guides for your employees about how they can and can’t use AI and review to ensure it keeps up with developments in AI.

The Bottom Line

GenAI might be a new frontier, but with coordination and targeted implementation, you can deepen your understanding of your customers and boost your business’s productivity to help you to save time and money and continue your road to success.

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