How Small Businesses Use AI Tools
What AI tools does SMB use? ChatGpt is popular with consumers, and its functionality is easy for SMB to adopt, suggests Gualtieri.
“AI is also getting smarter while people are learning, so you don't need to be an expert to enter the prompts, as you do now,” explains Gualtieri. In an ideal situation, the AI model does not need to be run by AI experts, only good software developers.
Safe bets include suites such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace, with built-in AI capabilities. AI tools are automatically included in cloud and software subscriptions, Gualtieri points out.
“This is really just an extension of the software features that every vendor is trying to add to provide more value,” Gualtieri says. “If you're already using Adobe, if you're already using Google apps for your business, you're already in those worlds.”
With McCabe, there is an additional simplicity when AI is built into everyday workforce tools used by SMB, such as customer relationship management software.
“For most SMBs, the easiest and perhaps the safest and most productive way to use AI is a seamless experience, as it is part of the applications they use every day,” she says.
learn more: Adopt a winning AI strategy for your business.
According to experts, some of the best tools SMBS can use are:
- AWS AI/Machine Learning Tools: Amazon Web Services offers tools like Amazon Sagemaker for building, training and deploying ML models. AWS also offers AI services, including image recognition and natural language processing (NLP).
- Cisco WebEx AI: Cisco's web conferencing tool now offers AI-assisted summary, real-time transcription, and noise cancellation. Additionally, AI agents provide human-like interactions that customer service representatives can use.
- Google Workspace AI: Google's Cloud Productivity Suite includes Gemini, which acts as a research analyst, sales associate, productivity partner, creative assistant and note taker. Other AI features include automated email drafting, advanced search in Gmail, and data insights in the sheet.
- IBM WATSONX: IBM Watsonx uses power chatbots, virtual assistants and data insights to use AI to enhance customer engagement. It's an easy way for SMB to build custom solutions for tasks such as customer support. “The idea of chatbots has been around for a long time, but what's new is how good it is now with generator AI,” says Gualtieri.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot: Microsoft's AI tools are integrated into 365 apps, including Word, Excel, and Teams. Copilot allows you to automate recurring tasks, generate content, and SMBs can analyze trends and reduce manual work.
- Proofpoint AI: Proofpoint uses behavioral AI to detect phishing and other email threats. Analyze email data points using deep learning, large language models, and NLP. “The great thing about AI and security is its scale and speed. These AI tools can see what's going on with systems and flag issues, so they can help with everything from threat detection to strengthening security attitudes,” says McCabe.
- Security and Observability with Splunk AI: Splunk uses AI to analyze aggressive threat detection and performance monitoring with logs, metrics, and traces. It also strengthens organizational cybersecurity measures. “All kinds of products like Splunk essentially consume a lot of data, such as log data and event data, but there are algorithms that are already looking for problems,” explains Gualtieri. “And while these issues could be security issues, they could also be infrastructure issues.”
- VMware's Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA: VMware by Broadcom has an NIM Agent Blueprint built into it. This includes digital human workflows for customer service and tools for building customized AI applications.
Dive deeper: Data governance strategies can help promote responsible AI use.
How SMEs Can Go Be Beyond the Curve to Compete in AI
Note that after the SMBS master text, images and video of the generated AI model, the next phase is Agent AI and Gualtieri. Some SMBs may already use Agent AI, but most people will look to partners like CDW ServiceNow Managed Services and Salesforce to implement them.
“As the models get better, the way they use those models will change. So people need to speed up what those changes are and how they do them,” says Gualtieri. He says that some companies will simplify adoption of AI because of the way they keep their products up to date. Microsoft Office 365 is an example.
“I don't think small and medium sized businesses are struggling to keep up with something new, but they may struggle to keep up with implementing it or making decisions that correspond to that build,” Gualtieri said.
Small manufacturers with between 300 and 500 employees may already have custom manufacturing systems, he explains. “So, a good rule for businesses to think of is that if you have custom software now that I've developed, you'll likely need to incorporate AI into it,” Gualtieri says.
Therefore, experts recommend building a set of use cases on how IT leaders use AI.
“Companies need to understand the AI roadmap for every vendor because it helps them decide whether to continue with the vendor themselves. “And they also help them understand what expectations they should set for their employees in terms of using these products.”
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