UK government trials chatbots in bid to bolster small business support

AI plays a big part in streamlining operational processes for businesses. Companies use AI-powered tools to track inventory levels, automate data entry, handle scheduling, gauge product demand trends, and more. 7 million of us have employees and have been around the block for a while. We know not to trust anything new from Silicon Valley until there’s been enough time for testing.

However, there are a few key steps IT leaders must follow to smoothly integrate AI into their CRM systems if they wish to see quick benefits. Many small businesses around the world have pain points consumers hardly think about, such as streamlining inventory tracking and financial analysis and forecasting. These businesses generate large amounts of data they should be using for competitive advantage. While AI could help them use their data in new and powerful ways, these technologies also create risks and requirements, such as protecting against cyber threats. However, conversations about AI tend to focus on technology-driven companies and rarely connect to small businesses.

Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to prepare for Small Business Saturday can provide the shortcut you need to get more eyes on your business. Below are some AI prompts to help create campaigns, offerings, and experiences that will get your small business noticed. Following a positive initial trial, which saw nearly 70% of users report helpful responses, the AI chatbot has been updated with robust guardrails and input from the AI Safety Institute. These safety features prevent the chatbot from providing guidance on sensitive financial or political issues, ensuring it remains focused on practical business support. AI has the potential to drive growth by allowing stretched workforces to address complex more capably than with purely human know-how.

They help businesses automate tasks such as customer support, marketing and even sales. With so many options on the market with differing price points and features, it can be difficult to choose the right one. To make the process easier, Forbes Advisor analyzed the top providers to find the best chatbots for a variety of business applications. Modern collaboration isn’t just about instant messaging and videoconferencing anymore. It means having a full-time generative artificial intelligence co-pilot that can automate tasks, provide personalized customer interactions and generate valuable insights from data.

How Small Businesses Are Using AI

But AI’s potential is more user-friendly and accessible than ever before. But how can a small business owner with limited resources get started with the best AI tools for their needs? What are the expectations for cost, and how much learning is required along the way? Artificial intelligence for small businesses is increasingly becoming the norm for operations and automation. And if your small business isn’t looking into AI tools for tasks such as finance and accounting, marketing, customer service, and more, you could get left behind. Small and large business alike see AI producing numerous benefits, such as efficiency and productivity gains, improved customer service and better decision-making, experts said.

Anyone looking to use AI should consider what their needs are first before picking an AI service to use. “Not having any awareness of the usefulness or the various tools that leverage AI is leaning into ignorance,” Herrington said. “A tool like Chat-GPT pays attention to what we put into it, and human beings don’t always put the best things into it,” she said. Shopify has now partnered with Google, Meta, Instagram, TikTok and Snap to facilitate commerce directly through those platforms now too. In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service.

• Does the chatbot integrate with the tools and platforms you already use?
• If you use AI correctly, such as programming it to ignore demographic information, you can take steps to eliminate hiring bias.
• If you’re new to the world of business AI tools, here’s how you can choose the right ones for the right tasks and take your business to new heights.
• More than 100 AWS trainings on AI/ML are available to everyone, with all levels of experience.
• When Mastercard created the Center for Inclusive Growth in 2014, we understood that the digital economy—the world’s economy—would only work when the smallest of businesses could access the tools and services that supported their success.
• But data collection, organization, and analysis are often difficult for small businesses.

Small businesses owned by baby boomers and older (27%) are less likely to say they have tried out different AI tools compared to those owned by Gen Z-ers and millennials (45%) or those owned by Gen Xers (42%). We’ve had multiple AI consulting conversations about the best ways to implement it in our business. Outside of augmenting media content, we haven’t found much use for AI outside of small tasks.

Enhanced Guardrails for Safe Interactions

It is about jointly recognizing that the policy choices—or missteps—we make now will determine whether the U.S. can continue our long and proud history of fostering innovation and seeing startups, small businesses, and entrepreneurs succeed. After all, we both know a thing or two about the little guy working to achieve greatness from their garage. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Leadership Summit, where industry leaders explored the various applications and benefits of AI across sectors, and emphasized the importance of continued investment and innovation in this rapidly evolving field. Leveraging AI for all of the above processes can free up your time to be more strategic and better capitalize on opportunities. AI allows you to optimize strategy by processing and analyzing data quickly and accurately. The best part is because you are better informed, you are also more likely to mitigate risk as well and identify new business opportunities you might not have considered.

Additionally, many tech firms offer free or low-cost resources, which serve as stepping-stones for small businesses eager to embark on their digital journey. Prioritizing tasks effectively can be challenging, especially for small business owners juggling several projects at once. AI-enhanced project management tools such as Asana, Trello, and Monday.com use machine learning to analyze past data and project statuses to recommend the best order for completing tasks.

Small businesses will be better equipped to compete with bigger industry players

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. The report was based on data from a survey conducted between June 21 and July 16, 2024, among 1,100 people at US small businesses (those with fewer than 250 employees). Today, I have no doubt the rapidly advancing capabilities of AI will help millions more small businesses and the communities that depend on them. With the right partners, we can deploy AI technologies so the benefits of a growing digital economy extend to every small business. Sixty-one percent of small businesses were victims of a cyber attack in 2023, and AI is driving an increase in the volume and power of these attacks. In Indonesia, the Center worked with the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) to translate a Cybersecurity Toolkit to Bahasa, the nation’s official language, to help Indonesian small businesses deal with cybersecurity threats.

AI is rapidly changing how we live and work, offering opportunities for businesses of all sizes. For small businesses and entrepreneurs, AI can help level the playing field. That’s why Google is committed to making AI accessible and beneficial for small businesses nationwide.

• AI can even analyze purchasing behaviors and study customer feedback from previous years to help improve your strategy.
• Ahead of Small Business Saturday, you’ll want to get your audience’s attention by standing out among other businesses’ promotions and limited-time deals.
• This intelligent prioritization takes the guesswork out of what to do next and reduces the mental fatigue of running your business.
• Customer relationship management (CRM) is important for business growth, but keeping track of customer interactions and feedback can be overwhelming.
• AI is revolutionizing the way small businesses approach marketing, providing tools that offer powerful capabilities on a budget.
• It could be that small business owners are too set in their ways and will resist the new technology driven solutions.

AI tools can speed up the process of competitor analysis and give you more helpful, detailed information, faster than you could find it on your own. Ken Frantz, a managing director at assurance and advisory firm BPM, said he sees small businesses using AI in multiple areas. And, like Crenshaw, Frantz sees these businesses getting big boosts from it. The Small Business Index shows that Gen-Z and millennials are much more familiar with AI than Gen X-owned or baby boomer-owned small businesses. This year has seen a significant jump in layoffs from last year, with anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 job cuts across the workforce. Tesla, for instance, laid off more than 10% of its workforce but has begun processes to hire 800 employees with an emphasis on AI and robotics.

Emerging trends and advancements in AI tools hold many promising applications for small businesses. The ability to increasingly personalize customer experiences by capitalizing on historical data, for instance, can offer small businesses a competitive edge. Many phone chatbot for small business systems use voice-enabled AI to answer questions and direct calls, while tools like voice search can be helpful to customers on the go. As with chatbots, tools like these can extend customer service center hours without having to hire round-the-clock support.

How do chatbots work?

Moreover, the report suggests that many workers will bring AI with them if their employer doesn’t offer it, and this is even more common (80% versus 78%) at SMBs. In addition to practical, everyday uses, AI is a great brainstorming tool that can help your business stay nimble and keep up with the competition. I am learning firsthand that when used effectively, AI can help small businesses achieve new heights.

Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. CRF Insights, the latest technology innovation from CRF, enables A4CB advisers to sit down with small-business owners and, within a minute, compile a snapshot capturing two years of financial performance and health trends. Typically, this process could take up to two weeks and mean manually collecting financial statements, then doing the data entry and the modeling. CRF’s tools use open banking to automate this process, pulling financial data from multiple sources (bank accounts, payments systems, etc.) to present all the information in one easy-to-read dashboard.

Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes. Each plan comes with a customer success manager, strategy reviews, onboarding and chat support. With the HubSpot Chatbot Builder, you can create chatbot windows that are consistent with the aesthetic of your website or product. Create natural chatbot sequences and even personalize the messages using data you pull directly from your customer relationship management (CRM).

Initially, there were some concerns about résumé bias when using AI technology for recruitment, and nearly half of employed job seekers believe AI tools are more biased than humans. If you use AI correctly, such as programming it to ignore demographic information, you can take steps to eliminate hiring bias. New programs such as Textio, which is designed to eliminate biased language in job posts, are making strides to improve AI-powered recruiting tools.

Azahar is part of a pilot program from Datasketch, a small social technology company that is democratizing data science to combat social inequality. Overall, 87% of small business owners are generally familiar with AI, and 38% say they are very familiar with AI. For example, Michael Canty, president and CEO of Alloy Precision Technologies Inc., has added this emerging technology into his operations. AI is a powerful tool, but the reality for small businesses is more nuanced.

The new data shows that small business owners are optimistic about the future of AI and feel it could save them time and money. Almost half of small business owners surveyed say they have plans to try AI tools in the coming year. The startup ecosystem is shifting due to the rise of artificial intelligence. AI favors larger companies, necessitating a change in mindset for startups from ChatGPT disruption to transformation. While startups will face challenges in accessing sufficient data and computing power, they still have opportunities to innovate by providing AI-driven services directly to consumers. AI tools like Jasper, Canva, and Hootsuite can streamline the marketing process by generating content ideas, designing on-brand visuals, and automating social media posting.

As part of the Sales Hub, users can get started with HubSpot Chatbot Builder for free. It’s a great option for businesses that want to automate tasks, such as booking meetings and qualifying leads. The chatbot builder is easy to use and does not require any coding knowledge.

This helps businesses make more intelligent decisions during the holiday season, promoting the right products to the right audience at the optimal time. Meanwhile, Wix.com introduced an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered website builder that allows users to communicate their website needs through a chatbot. Users describe their requirements and the tool generates a customized website complete with relevant pages and features such as scheduling and eCommerce. As the conversation progresses, the chatbot asks follow-up questions to gather details, creating a unique website with layout, design, text, images and business tools. With the holiday season fast approaching, small businesses are leaning into tech from targeted social media campaigns to eCommerce platforms to level the playing field against big-box retailers and capture consumer spend. Taking advantage of AI resources can also prevent any unconscious bias based on race, gender or age, promoting workplace diversity.

Whether used to bolster an existing business need or provide valuable data for decision making, AI tools can have a major impact on the success of a small business. However, it’s important to consider their use cases thoughtfully and implement them well to capitalize on their benefits and ensure that any drawbacks in terms of privacy, security, accuracy, and bias are fully considered and safeguarded against. Small business owners looking to protect their business and customer data can use AI-powered cybersecurity tools to scan for data irregularities or patterns of unusual activity and receive alert notifications.

However, before making any business decision, you should consult a

professional who can advise you based on your individual situation. Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday celebrates independently owned businesses nationwide by encouraging consumers to “Shop Small” during the holiday season. The event occurs annually, kicking off the holiday season by putting a spotlight on locally owned and small businesses while inspiring consumers to support and spend within their local communities rather than at big-box retailers. Hosted on the last Saturday of November, this year’s Small Business Saturday event will occur on November 30, 2024.

As more SMBs conduct more business online (38% added online/digital operations in the past year), technology investments among SMBs have grown to support that digitalization. Upgrades to internet connection have formed a big portion of those investments, with 66% of respondents upgrading their internet bandwidth. Small businesses are truly the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, accounting 99% of all firms and employing nearly half of the country’s workforce, as the U.S. Yet, despite their immense significance, small businesses face unique challenges, especially in competing against larger corporations and franchisee businesses with extensive resources. In today’s digital age, leveraging AI and digital technologies has become a crucial factor in business success.

Automate Routine Tasks and Streamline Workflows

Caroline Petersen, founder of Gallery Design Studio, a creative agency for business-to-business (B2B) tech brands, told PYMNTS in an interview these tools streamline communication and ensure quick assistance. And it provides an opportunity for lenders to better understand the creditworthiness of their potential customers and provide lower lending costs as a result. The profound emergence of AI in the marketplace has seen heightened interest by small businesses. Chamber of Commerce shows that 70% of small businesses struggle to remain competitive due to slower digital adoption.

The rise of AI and digital tools presents a unique opportunity for small businesses to level the playing field. With advancements in cloud computing, affordable AI platforms, and user-friendly digital tools, small businesses can access innovations once reserved for industry leaders. Whether it’s automating administrative tasks, personalizing customer experiences, or improving marketing strategies, AI and digital technologies provide solutions that can significantly enhance productivity and profitability.

Intercom’s newest iteration of its chatbot is called Resolution Bot and its pricing is custom, except for very small businesses. If your business fits that description, you’ll pay at least $74 per month when billed annually. This gets you customized logos, custom email templates, dynamic audience targeting and integrations. The Big Questionis a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today’s agenda. Using generative AI, Shopify’s own feature is called Shopify Magic, SMEs who may just have a handful of staff can generate text for product descriptions or produce product images to a level way beyond their normal limitations. One key tip Harley did share was resilience – keeping expenditure as low as possible so if you have one bad week, it’s not the end of your business.

This attracts over 11 million users per week and is the best-known digital service in the UK, according to YouGov. “We are going to change this by experimenting with emerging technology to find new ways to save people time and make their lives easier, as we are doing with GOV.UK Chat.” “Outdated and bulky government processes waste people’s time too often, with the average adult in the UK spending the equivalent ChatGPT App of a working week and a half dealing with public sector bureaucracy every year,” Kyle said. “We are going to change this by experimenting with emerging technology to find new ways to save people time and make their lives easier, as we are doing with gov.uk Chat,” stated Kyle. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

Without the means to invest in advanced customer relationship management systems (CRMs), many rely on time-consuming manual processes that can lead to errors. Bringing small businesses around the world into the digital economy can offer a wealth of benefits. To scale these efforts requires collective action and stronger partnership between the public and private sectors. For Mastercard, it means bringing together all our resources and assets to further the cause of helping small businesses realize the promise of AI. With 91% of businesses using AI expecting it to drive future growth, it’s time to consider adding it to your Small Business Saturday strategy to simplify your sales efforts. Technology secretary Peter Kyle said the use of chatbots could markedly improve efficiency and enable the government to provide timely support for small businesses across the country.

Rarely, if ever, has a technological advancement received this much attention among business and IT leaders in such a short period of time. Whether it’s answering client questions, scheduling appointments, or providing preliminary consultations, these chatbots let you maintain a constant, engaging, and personalized presence without your direct involvement. As a bonus, it also frees you up to focus on more strategic aspects of your business. AI expense trackers can simplify financial management, alleviate repetitive tasks, and save you from drowning in paperwork.

At the same time, using AI for such tasks helps them boost sales and, ultimately drive revenue — enabling them to grow their businesses, he explained. And leading-edge small businesses are exploring how they can use AI to create products and services that differentiate them in the market, he added. Mastercard has joined forces with Create Labs and diverse global media partners to develop and pilot a new inclusive AI tool that delivers customized assistance to small-business owners. Coaches then use those insights to help businesses set goals and benchmarks that can be tracked and measured over months and years. The system also responds to data insights, with the option to provide nudges and alerts to the coach.

AI-powered CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce offer intelligent insights into customer behavior, automate follow-ups, and recommend the best times and methods to reach out, so you can nurture relationships more efficiently. These recommendations can drive customer engagement without the need for hours of manual CRM management. AI tools that offer automation or increased efficiency can be especially valuable for solo entrepreneurs with limited time and resources. Generative AI tools can assist with time-consuming or repetitive tasks such as writing captions or product descriptions, while recording technology can take meeting notes and provide call transcriptions.

AI accounting tools can assist those unable to hire a dedicated or full-time bookkeeper. AI tools can also enable predictive analytics, providing valuable insights to decision makers based on current and historical data. This can be particularly powerful in assisting small businesses with applications such as financial forecasting or inventory management. AI-enabled CRM software can help drive sales or identify marketing opportunities based on its learnings from customer behavior and data, such as offering incentives based on order value and frequency.

“Government experts have added ‘guardrails’ that help gov.uk Chat detect which questions it should, and should not, answer,” said the UK government.