Empowering SMBs with Generative AI: Four Methods.

In an economy that is getting increasingly challenging, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face the daunting task of growing their businesses while maintaining thinning profit margins. SMBs have fewer resources at their disposal compared to large businesses, which makes it harder for them to survive an economic downturn or expand into new markets. This is why companies that provide services to SMBs must offer solutions that make their lives easier and bring tangible value. Since SMBs contribute 44% to the US GDP, it is crucial to address their needs. By adopting these four best practices, companies can invest in the right technology and leverage the latest advances in generative AI to unlock unique services for SMB customers.

1. Crafting SMB-Centric Experiences through Data.

As small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) become more cautious about their spending, the enterprises that serve them must find ways to provide increased personalisation and value. To deliver a seamless customer experience, service providers require technology systems with a centralised customer journey log to track interactions, sentiment and next steps across every touchpoint. However, more than this, isolated qualitative customer information is needed to meet clients' needs. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can analyse high-level customer trends and market forces, as well as specific customer data and historical transactions, to recommend products that meet the particular needs of each SMB. In today's business environment, data-driven personalisation is essential. With 89% of digital businesses investing in personalisation to improve the customer digital experience, those who fail to do so risk falling behind.

2. SMB-Tailored Product Adoption Support for Enterprises.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often need more resources to adopt new products and services. Service providers must have the right tools to help SMBs understand the benefits of new products and assist them with testing and implementation. Generative AI can convert SMB needs into product use cases, while appropriate tech systems can allow SMBs to test products in a safe environment.
Moreover, AI-powered solutions like Code Assistant can fulfil the core technical requirements of businesses. Code Assistant can help companies reduce development efforts by 30% or increase productivity by 30%, enabling them to serve SMBs better.

3. Strategic Pricing Alignment for SMBs.

Enterprises can offer usage-based or fixed time-based pricing models to meet the distinct needs of each SMB. With usage-based pricing, SMBs only pay for what they use.
However, this requires the enterprise to have clean data flows from central sources of truth to track and reflect usage accurately. Data can help enterprises gather, categorise and filter data from multiple sources centrally, reducing the cost of an enterprise's data warehouse by up to 50% through workload optimisation.
Additionally, with data consulting services, enterprises can leverage Data to track usage, generate dashboards, and enable strategic decision-making.
On the other hand, fixed time-based pricing means SMBs pay a predetermined cost based on what they can afford, and they can fully use the product or service within their purchase period.

4. Enhancing Digital Self-Service Experiences for Enterprises.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are lean operations with limited staff, which means they optimise for efficiency. Studies show that less than 15% of SMBs prefer interacting with providers through phone and automated voice systems. To cater to this demographic, enterprises must create seamless digital experiences that cover the entire customer journey from research to post-purchase support.
Self-service platforms can simplify small tasks such as updating billing and contact information, eliminating the need for SMBs to contact a provider representative. Conversational AI solutions can reduce call wait time by up to 30% and provide a three-year ROI of up to 370%. It constantly learns and improves with every interaction, making it an ideal solution for SMBs seeking to enhance their customer experience.

Meeting the needs of SMBs also benefits service providers.

When implemented correctly, these technologies can create value for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and the enterprises that serve them. As an SMB grows, the enterprise can provide cross-selling solutions to meet its ever-changing needs. This enables the SMB to stay with the same trusted enterprise for its operational solutions while allowing the enterprise to maximise the customer lifetime value by providing solutions across all the stages of SMB's growth.
Even if an SMB is not interested in growth, the enterprise that serves it can still offer strategic solutions to help the SMB increase operational efficiency. For instance, generative AI can be used for CRM, quicker sale closure, intelligent replies and self-service options. By providing such robust and capable generative AI solutions, enterprises can meet the specific needs of their SMB clients and help them succeed.