How AI can empower Australian businesses
3-minute read
Discover how Artificial Intelligence is transforming Australian small to medium-sized businesses with help from high-speed nbn connectivity.
Across the nation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to empower businesses.
From big corporations to local enterprises, AI is simplifying processes and saving Australian businesses time and money.
Introducing AI into small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can help improve productivity, heighten creativity, and enrich employee and customer experiences.
Where AI fits in
Today’s versions of AI are designed to work alongside humans like an assistant, creating opportunities to improve processes together and empower decision making.
Data entry, finances, scheduling and digital communications can all be automated or simply made easier with AI.
For example, Microsoft 365 Copilot and applications like Excel can help organise data and analyse trends, making timesheets, customer sales predictions, and a host of other reports easier to visualise and organise.
When drafting emails in Outlook, presentations in PowerPoint and briefs in Word, Copilot can be used to suggest creative avenues, stylistic edits and summaries.
This can kickstart brainstorming sessions, simplify communications between teams, and enhance an SMB’s image with customers, prospects and partners.
AI can be used to filter and reply to simple customer queries on social or via email, escalating trickier requests to employees.
It can manage and predict trends, send out communications to a particular group of customers and generally reduce the administrative workload of a business.
All of this frees up time for the things that matter in helping SMBs drive their organisations forward.
How to get the most from AI
The beauty of AI is in the control it gives SMBs – because you can type and speak to it in natural language, it’s a more accessible technology than most we’ve seen in recent decades.
While these AI systems and programs are abundant in their possibilities, SMBs can also tailor their AI usage to their preferences, giving them greater control over their business.
So, how can you grasp the opportunity AI is offering? Through a lifetime of technical knowledge? An expert in all things IT? Fortunately, no.
While having a technology wiz on the team is a plus, it most certainly isn’t essential for adopting AI.
Designed to simplify processes, drive productivity and save money, if AI was difficult to use, it would quickly be redundant.
There are a range of free short courses any employee or business owner can complete to learn the basics of AI at work.
Start with the AI Skills Navigator from Microsoft and keep an open mind about the exciting possibilities that can be unlocked as you learn.
Powering AI capabilities
With a baseline of skill development underway, it’s important SMBs consider what infrastructure is needed to get the most from AI in a cost-effective way.
High-speed internet connectivity helps here.
AI technologies often require substantial data processing and real-time analytics, which can be efficiently handled with robust internet speeds.
With high-speed connectivity, like that of the nbn® network, SMBs can access cloud-based AI services, which will supercharge task automation, support high-quality customer experiences and ensure people can make data-driven decisions swiftly.
The better the connection, the less lag there will be in processes, updates, recommendations and alerts.
This ensures SMBs can integrate AI tools, like Microsoft Copilot, into existing systems, and can innovate and adapt to market changes without significant disruptions.
Great partners: high-speed internet and AI
High-speed internet empowers SMBs to participate in the digital economy, opening new avenues for growth and competitiveness.
It allows for efficient communication and collaboration, both internally and with external partners, fostering a more agile and responsive business environment.
These days, SMBs can also utilise AI-driven insights to optimise supply chains, personalise marketing strategies, and improve product development processes.
In essence, high-speed internet is a strategic asset that enables Australian SMBs to harness AI's transformative power, driving productivity and fostering sustainable growth in an increasingly digital world.
