AI in Business
After working with so many businesses on AI, I've come to the conclusion that I don't know how most small businesses stay in business. AI isn't the problem, I want to start with that. AI is just the example that led me down this rabbit hole.
I've read in a couple of places (and I don't know how true it is, but in my anecdotal experience, it's fairly accurate for me) that most business are failing to use AI, or the AI isn't actually improving the business or reducing costs. I didn't get it at first, but after talking to a lot of business owners, and seeing their experiences, I kinda understand why.
Most companies before AI, would go out to the internet to find whatever software they needed. If you're a dentist, you go find one of the 3 main dental softwares, if you're an engineer, you find whatever version of AutoCad most suites your type of engineer, if you're a law firm, you find the law firm software you want to use. The software is setup in a specific way, and you use it the way it was intended, and you run your business. You don't really have to think about things, because the software taught you how to run your business. It makes you think of things you wouldn't have thought of because it's got sections in the software to track it or calculate it, or whatever it is. The inventory management section makes you think about maintaining inventory, the practice management helps you with scheduling, etc.
AI is different. For the first time, we have this software that doesn't tell you how to use it, it just does whatever you ask it (with varying degrees of success). You have to know how your business works, you have to think of all the little things that you want it to do. Even if you ask the AI what it can do, it can't tell you everything it can do. It's designed to learn and do more than it could before. It's designed to be taught. It's more like hiring a dumb employee that will never get angry, never stop working, and never treat your customers poorly. Buy if you're going to implement AI in your business, you need to know what you want it to do before you implement it.
In order to get the most out of your AI, you need to start by knowing what you want it to do. Once you figure that out, then you need to figure out how to make the AI do it with the least amount of cost, because AI costs by usage amount. The more you use it, the more it costs. Most business owners are still stuck waiting for the software to tell them what to do, what to track, and what's important. Maybe AI will be smart enough to do that in the future, but for now, it's up to each individual person how they use it.
Whether we like it or not, AI is the future. The question is, are you going to be someone who uses it to help, or someone who gets road blocked by it.