Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2020. Read them in this 12th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Phil Grier,
Commerce Engineer, Yahoo Small Business
Small businesses will integrate AI into their overall business strategy, in turn transforming business practices and modernizing marketing tactics
In 2020,
artificial intelligence (AI) will help to close gaps in merchant capabilities
that many small businesses with limited resources face. With AI, small
businesses can manage their stores seamlessly and efficiently, both by
automating work processes (such as employee management, IT service administration,
or compliance regulation management) and enabling better inventory and delivery
management. AI-based chatbots and virtual assistants further streamline
business transactions and increase operational efficiencies, while also
providing an optimal customer experience.
We also expect
2020 to bring an uptick in new services that make AI app development more
accessible and affordable for small businesses. These services will be similar
to those offered by large public cloud providers, but easier to implement and
manage, more affordable, and scaled to meet a small business's needs. Due to
their smaller and often nimbler nature, small businesses are poised to more
easily and quickly adopt and implement corresponding emerging technologies.
While AI efforts in larger enterprises sometimes become isolated and neglected
by the overall executive team, in small businesses we expect to see a
significant return on investment for AI initiatives as they focus on
business-wide alignment, investment, and integration.
In addition to
transforming business practices, AI will also transform marketing strategies
and tactics. For small businesses that may not have a specialized department or
resources available to dedicate solely to marketing, the use of AI assistants
can help track metrics, detect anomalies, analyze ads, create and publish
content, optimize campaigns, generate reports, and more. Implementation of AI
assistants will also be used as a marketing tactic, streamlining the customer
experience and improving transactions. In addition to integrating AI assistants
into marketing strategies, video; images; and AI assistants will become
increasingly important and relevant to SEO. With this, solutions to help SMBs
in these areas will grow in popularity.
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About the Author
For more than a
decade Phil Grier has worked directly with hundreds of online small business
owners, solving issues and growing revenue by learning about each of their
goals and challenges, and helping them succeed. During the same time, he and
his wife, Chantel, started and grew their own online small business -- giving
them "in the trenches" hands-on experience with the highs and lows of
entrepreneurship.