Page 15 - The South China Business Journal
P. 15

unning a small business is no small feat. Every
             Rday, small business owners wear multiple hats:
             the visionary, the accountant, the marketer, and the
             customer whisperer, among others. And the fruit
             of this toil does not go unnoticed. These seemingly
             modest enterprises are creating jobs, driving
             economic growth, and empowering the communities
             they serve.
             While innovation and ingenuity are essential to
             entrepreneurship, the emergence of arti昀椀cial
             intelligence (AI) offers enormous promise to such
             endeavors. According to our report, Empowering
             Small Business: The Impact of Technology on U.S.   Cook noted that the backend of her business relies
             Small Business, almost one in four small businesses   on various AI platforms, including ChatGPT for
             have adopted AI, citing improved performance in   marketing, social media, and content development,
             marketing and communications.                     and Shopify for inventory management and
                                                               昀椀nancial operations. Even the business’s co-
             AI systems can not only enhance ef昀椀ciency, save   manufacturer uses AI to measure and scale
             time, and improve decision-making across business   ingredients accordingly to enhance resource
             operations, but they can also optimize resources,   ef昀椀ciency and eliminate waste.
             personalize customer experiences, and provide
             valuable insights on market trends.               AI has also been a valuable asset for customer
                                                               service management since Cook and her daughters
             Here’s a look at some real-world success stories of   have been able to provide prerecorded videos
             small businesses utilizing—and bene昀椀ting from—AI.   to answer speci昀椀c questions they receive from
                                                               customers on their website.
             AI Assisting with Customer Acquisition and Retention
             Hrag Kalebjian is incredibly grateful for the myriad   Overall, Cook was quick to acknowledge the
             of bene昀椀ts AI brings to his business, Henry’s House   signi昀椀cant role AI plays in the business’s ability to
             of Coffee – a family-owned coffee roaster. When   remain competitive by expanding its reach and
             it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), AI   shipping capabilities.
             tools have been indispensable in developing product
             descriptions that not only meet a speci昀椀c set of   Analyzing Data and Research with AI
             criteria determined by Kalebjian but also perform   Austin Milliken, founder of Aureate Capital—an
             well on search.                                   independent investment bank that serves clients
                                                               across multiple industries and sectors—says AI
             As an e-commerce brand, Kalebjian is also         technologies allow small businesses to be more
             thoroughly invested in understanding the lifetime   nimble. To him, AI serves an integral function in his
             value of his customers—how much it costs to       company’s ability to analyze research and data,
             acquire a customer, how much they are worth, and   develop marketing strategies and pitch materials,
             what type of discount should a speci昀椀c cohort of the   and share and request information from internal
             customer base receive.                            and external partners through tools such as
                                                               DocuSign and Dropbox.
             AI tools serve as the “analytical brain” behind these
             data-driven insights and help Kalebjian determine   AI’s ability to present a wealth of knowledge—at a
             appropriate marketing and customer service        rapid speed—is perhaps equally consequential to
             strategies to implement. By customizing chatbots to   those operational ef昀椀ciency gains. Even for many
             respond in a certain way, Kalebjian can view these   of Aureate Capital’s clients who may have limited
             and other insights through speci昀椀c perspectives,   resources to make stock or investment portfolio
             such as that of a marketing expert, venture       decisions, AI tools and integrations can assist in the
             capitalist, or scientist.                         decision-making process or at least help validate
                                                               their thinking.
             By enhancing operational ef昀椀ciency and customer
             insights, AI enables Henry’s House of Coffee to   It is, therefore, vital for companies to start
             compete faster and smarter—a huge bene昀椀t for a   embracing AI, according to Milliken, if they want to
             small business.                                   reap these types of bene昀椀ts for their business and
                                                               remain competitive.
             Using ChatGPT and Other Tools for Marketing
             For Kim Cook and her three daughters, starting and   While applications for AI continue to expand
             operating Something Sweet COOKie Dough, has       and evolve, one thing is abundantly clear: small
             been a labor of love. The family-owned, premium   businesses that use AI are seeing increased
             frozen cookie dough business continues to grow and   growth and pro昀椀tability and are better equipped to
             evolve thanks in no small part to AI.             compete in a dynamic marketplace.



                                                                                          SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL    12
   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20