General Advice
Getting Started with AI: Practical Tools for SMEs
Startups. A buzzword that we frequently hear. And one which falls short in describing the cut-throat nature of business in the 21st Century. With an eye toward fixing present and upcoming problems, some extraordinary people tend to rise above others and create new enterprises and organisations. Startups; Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), are built upon these concepts. Although SMEs are the backbone of the global economy, they tend to struggle when it comes to competing with larger companies. They (you) need all the help they can get, building efficiency into the foundations of the business right from the start. AI isn’t a new concept, but the amount of software being developed utilising it to help improve the quality and efficiency of data manipulation and task management has exploded over the past year. But with all the offerings out there, and so many new ideas coming to market, what exactly can your business actually use right now that will help? Well, to give you some guidance, here are some tools you can use as an SME to get a leg up against the big boys.
ChatGPT, a powerful AI-based language model, has gained attention in the commercial world recently. But how can ChatGPT benefit SMEs?
SMEs frequently have limited resources, including financial and human resources, which can make it challenging for them to compete fairly with larger companies. ChatGPT is an exceptional tool for SMEs for “Idea Generation”. If you are a content creator or if you are going to enter the field of content creation, ChatGPT can help you generate ideas for your business. As an SME, if you are a YouTuber, a blogger, or a writer, and you want to create a script or let’s say that you don’t have an idea to start the next chapter of your book, blog, or proposal, you can type your idea in the textbox, and ChatGPT will generate a ton of ideas that you can choose and customise according to your business needs.
Another impressive feature of ChatGPT is its ability to use natural language processing to create personalised and authentic content. By using this feature, SMEs can create outstanding advertisements that cater to their target audience. Let’s say that you want to sell a product or service that targets a specific set of people, ChatGPT can help you create content that will resonate with that audience.
When it comes to the programming industry, ChatGPT has emerged as a true game-changer. SMEs may not have the budget to hire multiple programmers with expertise in different programming languages. With ChatGPT, SMEs can easily convert their code from one language to another in a matter of minutes, without the need to hire a new programmer. SMEs can also use ChatGPT to create a smart chatbot for their website that can answer customer queries about their products or services, providing a personalised experience to the customer.
OpenAI has created another amazing AI tool called DALL-E 2 that can help SMEs with their creative needs. DALL-E 2 can create realistic images and art by using a natural language description. For SMEs, this tool can be a game-changer when it comes to creating visual content.
SMEs can save a ton of time by using DALL-E 2 to create images for their videos or blogs. If you are not familiar with tools like Photoshop, you don’t need to worry about learning anything new. You only need to suggest the idea, and you’ll have a masterpiece in less than a minute.
DALL-E 2 can also be useful for developers who are not good at User Interface design. SMEs can give instructions for their interface, and DALL-E 2 will create great UI designs for their newest website.
For SMEs who are into NFTs or need a good flyer for their next campaign, DALL-E 2 can be their best solution. This AI tool can create the most appropriate and eye-catching post for their latest product, helping SMEs expand their visibility on social media platforms.
In addition, DALL-E 2 can create the best logo for SMEs’ businesses, which can be created using their own thoughts. This can help SMEs establish their brand identity and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Broadcast is another great AI tool created by NVIDIA. Marketing can be a key factor when it comes to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The cost of things like microphones, better cameras, editing software, and resourceful people can become a huge burden and stop SMEs from going into something big like this. NVIDIA Broadcast is the best answer to these problems. This tool has several massive features that have amazed many people over the last couple of years.
It includes
- A great noise and echo removal tool that performs incredibly.
- A fantastic background removal tool.
- A feature that can dynamically track your movements in real time.
- An amazing video noise-removal feature.
- An AI tool to make your eyes appear as if they are directly looking at the camera.
Imagine if you are a streamer who is trying to build your image to gain more viewers. Instead of upgrading your hardware, you can have a huge impact on your video by using this simple app. If you are taking a lot of Zoom calls, this can be a game-changer. These tools create the best experience for you and your potential clients as well.
No matter if you are an SME or a large company, you will always need to take online meetings and discussions. This AI tool can help you to be more productive when it comes to online meetings. It can automatically record and transcribe meetings, capturing either video or audio and generating transcripts in minutes. This will help you keep track of meetings in a really good way. Additionally, it can find anything through an AI-powered search.
Not only that, but this tool can also help you collaborate with your co-workers. It can effortlessly share memorable events and notes between certain well-known platforms like “Notion” and “Slack.” It can add comments, pins, and reactions to particular parts, generate sound bites, and write comments.
If you think that’s all, there’s more. It can use conversation intelligence to analyse meetings. You can track speaker talk time, monologues, identify objections, competitors, and other topic trackers, and also measure performance and improve sales.
05. Synthesia
Synthesia is an AI-powered video-generation tool that uses virtual characters resembling real human beings. With Synthesia, you can input text into the tool, and the virtual characters will speak the text as if they were real people. This tool can be really useful in creating advertisements, training videos, how-to videos, and even marketing videos.
Let’s say you have created a website for your product, and you have to make a video on how to use the platform. Or, if you have created a product or a course and you want to make a video on how to use that product, but you have no assets to create such a video as you are a small business. In that context, this tool would come in really handy to save your day.
Synthesia is an exceptional tool that can help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) create high-quality videos without the need for expensive resources or software. By leveraging its powerful features like text-to-speech conversion, SMEs can create engaging and informative videos to promote their products, services, or courses, and improve their brand image in the market.
06. Looka
Looka is an AI-powered logo creation tool that can benefit startups, small businesses, and medium-sized enterprises. When it comes to spreading a business among people as much as possible, the key to success is effective marketing, and a company’s name and logo are crucial in this regard.
Think about Netflix, for example. The red-coloured “N” on a black background immediately comes to mind, demonstrating the power of a perfect logo.
Therefore, having a great logo is key to a business’s success, and Looks can provide just that. Once you enter your brand name, Looka generates a beautiful set of logos for you to choose from. It then quickly generates hundreds of pieces of branded marketing collateral using your logo, colours, and fonts. You can then select a template tailored to your brand and sector and use the Brand Kit’s user-friendly editor to change the look of your brand’s business cards, social media pages, email signatures, and more.
For SMEs, Looka is a necessary tool that can help them create a professional-looking logo and market their brand effectively without the need for expensive design resources or software.
07. Notion AI
Notion is a well-known platform for productivity enthusiasts and those who like to stay organised. Notion AI comes in handy by automating many tasks, making work even easier. It can help create brainstorming ideas, blog posts, social media posts, creative stories, and summaries.
Having transcripts of meetings is not enough for companies. It’s important to have better summaries of the transcripts for the next meeting to increase productivity. Notion AI can help with this by summarising the information.
Another great feature of Notion AI is its ability to help readers and note-takers create entire blog posts, articles, or essays using their summarised ideas, notes, and other information. This not only boosts productivity but also creates an added benefit for those who enjoy reading.
08. Compose AI
Compared to other AIs, Compose AI is unique in that it is a browser extension, which means you don’t have to visit a separate website to use it. Instead, it works directly within your browser. Compose AI is an excellent tool for writing emails, particularly for businesses that receive thousands of emails each day.
This AI tool can help you create perfect emails by reading your messages and suggesting what type of answer you should write. Additionally, by clicking the small logo button provided under the email, you can quickly generate a perfect email based on the idea you need to convey. Compose AI can even master your writing style and create emails that sound just like you.
09. Rewind
Rewind is a type of memory aid tool. This AI records everything you do on your computer. It can be helpful in cases where you may attend meetings, browse important information, or do something noteworthy and forget about it. This tool records and stores everything locally on your computer. It can also generate transcripts of your meetings or other events.
Another handy feature is the ability to chat with the AI and ask, “What did I do yesterday?” It will provide a report or transcript of your computer activity from the previous day.
10. Tome
Presentations are a must-have when it comes to business or enterprise. What if you are in a rush to create a presentation and need it ASAP? Creating a presentation by yourself can take up a lot of time.
What if I told you there is an AI built specifically for this purpose? Tome AI is created using DALL-E and ChatGPT. Once you enter the domain or idea that you need to create the presentation on, this AI will generate an outstanding presentation based on AI-generated images and text. These ideas are completely new and generated by AI, not copied from elsewhere. Use this tool to take your productivity to the next level.
11. GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot is currently making waves in the programming field. While the idea of AI writing code may sound daunting to some programmers, GitHub Copilot has been designed to enhance rather than replace the work of programmers. Simply comment on the code snippet you need to create and the AI will complete it for you. This can be extremely useful for programmers who are new to a particular programming language or framework.
One of the most impressive features of GitHub Copilot is its ability to learn from the code it assists with. As more people use it, AI will become more accurate and provide more helpful suggestions.
12. Calendar
Looking for scheduling software that goes beyond the usual features? Look no further than Calendar. It not only offers typical scheduling capabilities like finding open time slots and sharing a booking link but also has an integrated machine learning algorithm that learns your scheduling behaviour to enhance your overall experience.
The best part? Calendar brings all your calendars together, whether they’re for work or personal use. Additionally, it generates analytics to provide insights into how you’re spending your time.
For teams, Calendar has collaborative features that allow linking team calendars and scheduling meetings while seeing team member availability. In short, Calendar is an all-in-one solution that maximises efficiency and streamlines scheduling.
Conclusion
These AI tools have the potential to revolutionise the way SMEs operate and compete in their respective industries. By leveraging these powerful technologies, businesses can streamline their operations, automate time-consuming tasks, and ultimately become more productive and efficient. However, it’s important to remember that AI is not a magic solution; it’s a tool that needs to be used correctly and in conjunction with human creativity and expertise. With the right approach, SMEs can unlock the full potential of these AI tools and achieve greater success than ever before.
