The best artificial intelligence applications for every team

Three female colleagues at work are having a discussion. One of them is sitting at a desk. — **Most business owners want to leverage AI in their business, but don't know how. These apps can enhance your company's accounting, customer service, and marketing processes.** — Getty Images/MoMo Productions

Many popular software solutions use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to process data. Your office may already have some AI-powered tools. However, several studies have revealed that small business owners are unsure of how to implement and benefit from AI. However, in the Microsoft survey, nearly four in five small and medium-sized business respondents said they wanted to learn more about how AI could be used in their business.

We looked at dozens of AI applications built for small and medium-sized businesses. These tools can streamline workflows for every department, from finance to marketing. Additionally, AI-based features reduce errors, improve customer experience, and support business growth. Consider starting with one of the following AI platforms:

AI applications across the business

AI powers many systems and services designed for all employees. The benefits of these solutions extend across departments and allow small businesses to increase their overall productivity. Most AI applications across your business include desktop, web, and mobile apps, so your staff can access these apps from any internet-connected device.

Consider AI-powered software from the following categories:

Video communication: An AI assistant summarizes meetings and assigns tasks, allowing staff to stay focused in the moment. RingCentral and Zoom have AI-enabled video conferencing tools suitable for teams in any department.
project management: Organize your projects and workloads with the automation and predictive power of if-then AI. Top project management systems with AI include Jira and Trello.
edit: Use an AI-enabled editing tool like Grammarly to ensure all team members are sending grammatically correct emails, texts, and sales sheets.

finance team

Cloud accounting software uses AI to extract financial data from invoices and receipts and automatically detect duplicate bookkeeping entries. This reduces manual data entry, which is often error-prone. Advanced AI tools detect fraud, update tax and compliance engines, and assist with financial forecasting.

These platforms help accounting teams use AI to simplify tasks for small businesses.

Quickbooks: Use QuickBooks to email receipts and automatically match payments to invoices. Automate tasks using basic and advanced AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms.
zero: Avoid lengthy bank reconciliation processes with Xero's ML-powered transaction classification system and automatic invoice sales tax configuration.
zoho books: Zoho Books allows you to easily calculate your tax liability and gain insights. Its AI tools support end-to-end accounting needs.

An American Express survey of small business owners found that more than half of small business owners are using AI to run their companies, “especially when it comes to customer service.”

Customer success department

AI helps customer success teams respond to clients faster, personalize messages, and analyze data. An American Express survey of small business owners found that more than half of small business owners are using AI to run their companies, “especially when it comes to customer service.” There are many tools for customer success, from conversational chatbots to advanced omnichannel helpdesk software. Simply put, whether you have 20 customers or thousands, there is an AI solution for you.

AI-powered customer success solutions include:

Zendesk: Give your clients better self-service tools and give your agents more context about the Zendesk Support Suite. The company's AI models are trained on 18 billion customer service tickets for advanced functionality.
Zoho desk: Customers can ask Zia, Zoho's AI-powered assistant, questions. Zoho Desk bot also identifies the sentiment of help tickets, allowing agents to prioritize clients according to their urgency.
Intercom: This AI help desk solution includes an AI-powered inbox and a chatbot trained on your support content. Intercom also collects behavioral data to generate actionable insights.
Click desk: Measure your customer experience and agent performance in ClickDesk with advanced reporting tools. Our AI-powered help desk, live chat, and video tools are perfectly priced for small teams.

website design

Our no-code AI website builder quickly designs your site. Rather than starting from scratch, the software sets up one or more customizable page templates. Apart from site building tools, vendors often offer AI content and logo generators.

Check out these small business website builders:

Wicks: When you complete a survey, Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) creates design elements for your website based on your input.
Square space: To answer your question, Squarespace Blueprint offers a variety of templates to build your website.
Shopify: Create product descriptions and personalized FAQ pages using Shopify Magic.
Go Daddy: Build your website using AI-generated templates and choose from GoDaddy's suite of AI tools.
Divi AI: Create a new site or update an existing one using Divi AI. Improves readability and generates content on demand.

Marketing and advertising team

AI marketing solutions are one of the most well-known AI technology options. Almost every service uses some form of AI. In fact, a recent Constant Contact survey reported that “70% of small businesses would pay more for a marketing platform that gave them access to AI or automation tools.”

Check out innovative solutions like:

Hubspot: Manage your campaigns and contacts in one place with HubSpot's marketing software. We also offer a free AI content assistant to create search engine-optimized articles and summaries.
Fresh Works: Choose Freshsales or Freshmarketer for a personalized multichannel approach. Freshworks uses AI to segment leads and generate insights so your team can prioritize sales and marketing efforts.
Predis.ai: Grow your social media presence with Predis.ai's suite of AI tools. Generate social media captions, hashtags, and images. Additionally, you can create memes and post them on your social channels.

[Read more: How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Is Changing How Marketers Sell Everything From Food to Fashion]

Business intelligence and analysis tools

AI gives small businesses access to data insights. Collect and analyze information quickly to help leaders spot trends. In an American Express survey, about two in five respondents said their business is currently prioritizing artificial intelligence to support business decisions.

Visualize your data using tools such as:

Tableau: This visual analytics platform (owned by Salesforce) provides what-if scenario planning and AI-powered predictions. Tableau allows small business owners to predict results with drag and drop.
Seek table: If you understand the basic concepts of pivot tables, SeekTable's self-service business intelligence tool is a great choice. AI technology retrieves data from multiple sources, including SQL databases.
Zoho Analytics: Clean, enrich, and transform your data with Zoho Analytics. You can talk to your smart AI assistant, conduct what-if analysis, and predict future trends.

cyber security

Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI to conduct sophisticated phishing and malware attacks. An incident can take your network offline, expose sensitive data, and cost you thousands of dollars. Fortunately, you can stay one step ahead by using sybersecurity software that monitors your network for abnormal behavior.

Protect your business from hacking by investing in AI-powered applications such as:

Crowdstrike: Get actionable threat intelligence and real-time risk assessment using the Crowdstrike Falcon platform. The company offers Charlotte AI, which helps junior IT and security professionals harden weak points in enterprise systems.
Checkpoint: Protect your devices, Wi-Fi, and office networks with Check Point's ThreatCloud AI. Identify and block threats using over 40 AI and ML technologies.
Dark trace: The Darktrace Cyber AI loop learns from continuous feedback about your business's capabilities, including user, device, and network behavior.

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