AI for SMEs: dispelling the myths - brought to you by NatWest

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Machine learning and artificial intelligence may seem daunting, but the opportunities can be significant. Here, experts and SME owners address some of the most common myths about this new technology.

Myth 1: Adding AI to my business will be incredibly complex and/or expensive

Be honest: do you have any idea how your accounting software or apps like Trello or Slack operate at a technical level? For most people the answer will be a resounding ‘no’ – proving that we readily use things that we don’t fully understand every day. Take a similar approach to the potentially bewildering world of AI (artificial intelligence) and you’ll be able to quickly dispel one of the main myths about it – that AI is so complex you’ll need a team of expensive IT consultants to be able to implement it.

“No one should be thinking: ‘I’m a small business owner, I need to be building some kind of super-advanced AI system,’” says Phillip Midwinter, co-founder of Leeds-based Third Foundation, a new business that helps companies make the most of today’s AI opportunities. “AI is for companies like Google to be right on the cutting edge of and for everyone else to surf behind the wave. Making the most of AI today for most SMEs simply means using the products that sit behind that wave and taking advantage of them so that they don’t get left behind.”

There are numerous AI-enabled products that are within the grasp of start-ups and SMEs at little or no cost. “Many products are almost free,” says Midwinter. “Using Office 365, Google Docs and so on are not expensive and both have lots of AI features. That's where I’d start,” he says.

Myth 2: I’m not a tech business so AI can’t help me

Tools that use AI can help SMEs of all kinds in many ways. They’re often especially good at helping owners to complete small, repetitive tasks – such as summarising swathes of documents, prioritising CVs or filing paper reports digitally.

With the technology still in its relative infancy and new solutions emerging all the time, the trick, according to Joanna Swash, global CEO at leading outsourced communications company Moneypenny, is to not tie yourself to any one particular product. “We’re working with the big providers like Amazon, but we want to be able to make sure that we can swap them around,” she says. “If we find that Microsoft has a better product that comes out, we want to be able to switch really easily and reap the benefit.”

One example of a non-tech business using AI is Bedfordshire-based Cranfield School of Management, which, like any other commercial enterprise, needs a steady supply of income to keep the wheels turning. A key source of revenue is the post-grad degree student market, which it reaches (among other ways) via emailed campaigns. AI has recently seen their success rates soar.

Working with a company named Cognism, which uses AI to mine data to help marketing and sales teams create more targeted campaigns, the school was able to match its marketing messages much more accurately to the person they were being sent to. Cranfield’s marketing and communications manager, Violeta Da Rold, says: “We were looking to target niche audiences with very refined messages. Sending the same message to 40,000 individuals had been getting us results by sheer statistics, but it wasn’t a smart way of working.”

AI helped Cranfield to develop different messages for different audiences and, further helped by Cognism’s AI-enabled email automation function, they found 1,800 new prospects.

“When thinking about AI, first ask what your mission in business is,” says Midwinter. “What are you trying to achieve? When you think about that, you’ll find bits in the process that either detract from getting to that end goal or are time-consuming and repetitive. AI will probably be able to help on both fronts.”

Myth 3: If I don’t get on board, I’ll be left behind

There’s certainly an element of truth to this, although for most SME owners at present AI is only likely to feature in their business through the tools they use, and will often simply present itself as improved functionality; bespoke AI solutions won’t be necessary in most cases.

It’s larger companies such as Moneypenny – which has around 750 employees – that are more likely to invest in tailored AI technology, especially if they can spot how it can improve the business. The firm's proprietary RITA system, for example, was developed to drive efficiencies and to provide a better service for its customers. “Every day, we capture around 190,000 bits of data,” Swash says, “and with AI we can use this to drive our knowledge base, for instance. During Live Chat, AI helps us to use the data that we have so that we can suggest the best answers for our PAs to give out.”

Swash understands that not every SME owner will feel comfortable around this new tech – though she does suggest that they would do well to remain open-minded about its potential. “Look at your service providers and see how they’re embracing AI to improve what they can offer you,” says Swash. “You need providers who are looking out for your best interests.”

Myth 4: It will send worrying messages to staff

The experts insist that using tools which make the most of AI doesn’t mean you’re handing over the running of your company to a computer. Nor, says Swash, should a newfound interest in AI send signals to staff that they’re about to be replaced by a laptop.

“So much that we have looked at so far in terms of AI has required humans to drive it,” she says. “The world changes all the time, and I think we all have to be agile and ask how we’re going to use this new technology to make us smarter and keep us growing.”

Five steps to introduce AI to your SME

1. Work out what AI will do for your business. “For us, we want to be known for our real-time tax calculations,” says James Poyser, co-founder of online accountancy business inniAccounts, “so AI has to be about enhancing that reputation further.”

2. Think about how it can free up time. “We’re using AI to help spot potential mistakes in a client’s accounts earlier and steer them in the right direction automatically,” Poyser says.

3. Don’t let AI introduce new risks. As Poyser points out, if a human can do a job better or more safely, a more traditional approach may still make sense.

4. Involve the team. “We did this as we didn’t want people to see AI as a threat to their jobs,” he says.

5. Be open to change. Consider how your team’s skills and capacity will need to adapt in the long and short term, says Poyser.