For readers in a hurry:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enormous opportunities to increase efficiency, automate processes and optimize business strategies.
• Many SMEs are reluctant to use AI because they often lack knowledge about the technologies, even though applications can offer considerable benefits.
• Practical examples show how AI can be used in logistics for automated order entry and efficient data processing.
• Although there are challenges such as investment costs and data protection concerns, the implementation of AI can provide companies with long-term competitive advantages and innovation potential.

Artificial intelligence (AI) opens up a wide range of opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Not only does it offer enormous potential for reducing costs and increasing efficiency, it also helps to improve product quality and develop innovative products, services and business models. By using AI, SMEs can optimize their processes, identify errors more quickly and offer their customers tangible added value. In this blog post, we take a look at current trends and potential through the use of AI and examine the opportunities that arise for SMEs.

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence describes the ability of machines to perform human-like tasks, including problem solving, language understanding, pattern recognition and decision making. A distinction is often made between "weak" and "strong" AI: weak AI, which is used in many areas today, focuses on performing specific tasks (such as voice assistants or automated customer services). Strong AI, on the other hand, refers to machines that would be able to achieve complex, general intelligence on a par with humans - a scenario that is still a long way off.

The applications of weak AI are already ubiquitous today. Chatbots, recommendation systems and voice assistants are just a few examples of technologies that are used in everyday life and can also bring immense benefits for SMEs.

Use of AI in companies

In order to remain competitive on the market in the long term, it is crucial to get to grips with the diverse possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) at an early stage. By understanding and using AI applications, companies can significantly increase not only their efficiency but also their ability to innovate in order to continue to play a leading role in the digital economy in the long term.

According to a Destatis press release from November 2023, only 10% of small companies with 10 to 49 employees and 16% of medium-sized companies with 50 to 249 employees use artificial intelligence (AI). The most common reason for the lack of use of AI in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a lack of knowledge about the opportunities and benefits that these technologies can offer.

The importance of artificial intelligence for SMEs

Why should a small or medium-sized company consider using AI? The answer lies in the many advantages that AI brings:

Increasing efficiency and automating processes

AI enables the automation of numerous business processes that would normally require manual intervention. Whether it is the automation of accounting processes, the processing of customer service requests or the optimization of supply chains - AI can help to make repeatable tasks more efficient and cost-effective.

Personalization and improvement of the customer experience

Personalized customer experiences are the key to long-term success. By using AI-supported analysis tools, SMEs can better understand their customers' behavior and offer tailored offers or services. This not only leads to greater customer satisfaction, but also to increased sales.

Optimization of decision-making processes and business strategies

Data is the gold of the 21st century, but without the right tools to analyze this data, it remains useless. AI can process large amounts of data in real time and provide valuable insights to decision makers. This helps SMEs make informed business decisions and better adapt to market changes.

Practical examples: AI in SMEs

Automated data processing

Revolutionize the processing of incoming orders, invoices and delivery bills by using our AI application to automatically evaluate them and transfer them directly to ERP, TMS or ERP systems. This reduces manual effort, cuts costs and significantly improves data quality. Thanks to fully automated comparisons with master data systems such as CRM or financial accounting, various business transactions are processed without human intervention. Information from different documents - such as incoming invoices and delivery bills - can be reliably reconciled. Understanding heterogeneously structured data in all formats ensures error-free processing and thus optimizes your business processes.

Automated order entry (example logistics):

In logistics and order processing, the precise recording and processing of order quantities is crucial. Dealing with different units of measure such as pieces, packages or pallets is often a challenge. With the help of AI, the AI application developed by Business Automatica can handle the exact conversion of different units of measure, adapt to customer-specific units and take exceptions and special cases into account. Find out more in our article: Units of measure in automated order entry

Convert audio to text

Transcribing interviews, podcasts, lectures or meetings often takes a lot of time and energy. With automatic transcription, this process can be significantly simplified. Our online converter makes it easy for you to convert audio files into text. But that's just the beginning: once the file has been transcribed and summarized, you can ask questions about the text and receive the answers promptly. In this article, we will show you how our tool works and what advantages it has in store for you.

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Advantages and challenges of AI for SMEs

Advantages

The implementation of AI brings numerous benefits, including:

• Cost reductionAutomated processes require less human intervention, which reduces operating costs.
• Improved customer servicePersonalized approaches allow customers to be served more individually and quickly.
• Increased efficiencyBy automating routine tasks, employees can concentrate on more important, strategic tasks.

Challenges

However, there are also challenges that SMEs should consider:

• Financial resourcesThe introduction of AI applications can be costly, depending on the specific use case. However, considerable results can often be achieved with basic and low-cost applications. Funding programs such as "Mittelstand-Digital" offer financial support and knowledge transfer to facilitate access to AI for SMEs.
• Technical expertiseThe use of AI requires technical expertise that many SMEs may not have in-house. In this case, cooperation with external and experienced consultants or service providers makes sense.
• Security and data protection concernsSecurity and data protection concerns: The use of AI also brings with it challenges in the area of data security and data protection.

SMEs should start with small pilot projects to test the benefits of AI before investing in large-scale implementations. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Future trends in artificial intelligence for SMEs

The future of AI offers many exciting opportunities for SMEs. The most important trends include:

• Fully automated business processesMany business processes could be fully automated by AI in the coming years.
• Hyperpersonalization in marketingAI is increasingly being used to develop individually tailored marketing strategies.
• AI in cyber security: By using AI, companies can proactively detect and ward off security threats.
• AI-supported innovationCompanies can use AI to develop new products and services and thus secure a competitive advantage.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence offers SMEs immense opportunities to optimize their business processes, make better decisions and serve their customers better. However, implementing AI requires careful planning and investment. While there are challenges, the potential benefits for SMEs that successfully integrate AI are significant. SMEs that jump on the AI bandwagon early have the opportunity to gain a significant competitive advantage.

About Business Automatica GmbH:

Business Automatica reduces process costs by automating manual activities, increases the quality of data exchange in complex system architectures and connects on-premise systems with modern cloud and SaaS architectures. Applied artificial intelligence in the company is an integral part of this. Business Automatica also offers automation solutions from the cloud that are geared towards cyber security.