A guide to using AI tools for small and medium-sized businesses

Top AI tools for business will not solve all entrepreneurial problems, but they can save money for startups, increase productivity and efficiency, and significantly improve customer experience.

Entrepreneurs at the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub can use AI to help themselves and their customers and show others how to do the same.

Some tasks need to be performed, even if they are not particularly enjoyable and have little expertise. Think about jobs like sorting emails, taking notes during major meetings, or sending calendar invitations. These tasks are key candidates for automation using AI.

By leveraging AI's ability to perform regular, mindless tasks, people can spend more time focusing on what's important. Implementing AI tools can be more efficient and gives back the time previously spent on challenges that have little value.

ZAPIER: Consider this AI tool to automate some of your small business's project workflows. Zapier allows you to connect the programs you use, so the activity in one app triggers the response of another app without manual actions.

Tidio: This AI device is aimed at small business owners looking for an easy-to-use chatbot. Using it, the company will help respond to customer requests immediately, with Tidio claiming that 76% of users will not request transfers to human agents.

Cybersecurity risks are the real challenges faced by SMEs today. Fortunately, AI can help protect entrepreneurs from sophisticated schemes that are about to be exploited.

By constantly scanning for extraordinary activities and leveraging AI tools that alert you when problems arise, you will continue to be more aware of potential cybersecurity challenges that can be harmful to your small business.

Sentinel loan: Use this cybersecurity tool to protect your startup from malware, phishing attempts and loss of sensitive data. Sentinelone provides certain threat detection and provides automatic responses to cybersecurity threats.

As an entrepreneur, the best business strategy guidance to receive first comes from humans. Before diving into the world of AI, we recommend joining a startup accelerator program like UC Venture Lab.

Digital, print, and social content takes both time and money to produce, and entrepreneurs rarely have one of the rich. Key AI tools for small and medium-sized businesses allow founders to quickly create useful stories, edit photos and videos, and write engaging social posts.

AI is a great resource, but you need to always have fact-checked before publishing. Otherwise, it can accidentally create weak content or even say something untrue about your business. I use AI, but please check the work every time.

grammar: This tool is especially useful for revising online copies. Keep an eye on grammar to check for spelling errors, grammatical problems, inappropriate tones and opportunities for brevity.

Sprout Social: Try this AI tool and improve your small business' social media pages and campaigns. You need to create a caption for your social post, prioritize the comments you respond to first, and analyze customer sentiment for key parts of your social campaign.

• Maintain trust: All campaigns and materials created by AI should be reviewed thoroughly to ensure that the content is accurate and does not damage the trust of the customer. “Hazardization,” the moment when AI presents false outputs as true, happens.
• Company Privacy: Data shared with AI tools is no longer just your hands, so it can reach people who have no access to their own or company-sensitive information. What is entered into AI can become one of its knowledge sources and may publicly share the company's most sensitive details.
• Intellectual Property Issues: Imitation learning is a technique that discovers how to answer prompts by replicating what has been done previously, and is one of the key components of AI. Unfortunately, AI is known to mimic the creative work of others without crediting the source. This puts unsuspecting SME owners at risk of violating intellectual property laws if they do not carefully consider the quick output.

There are many benefits to incorporating AI as a small business, but always be careful. The corporate partners and startups at UC's 1819 Innovation Hub are committed to using AI alone in a responsible, effective and beneficial way to the client.

A similar approach should be followed. There are several risks to AI, but there are even bigger promises not only for large companies, but especially for small businesses like you.

Featured image at the top: Small business transactions are being made. Photo/Adobe Stock