ChatGPT took the world by storm in early 2023 and with each update it gets more and more sophisticated.
Social media is awash with creative (and often, frankly, mind blowing examples) of ChatGPT at work this week. And this AI technology has become a huge talking point across many industries. There’s a good reason for that. There are literally thousands of possible use cases for ChatGPT when you get smart with the commands. And while there are, of course, limitations, to what this technology can do (and some question marks over factual accuracy in some cases) the fact remains that this is a tool that really could help you create more efficient workflows and improve your productivity.
As of February 2023, there are already 100 million users of this AI tool around the world, which shows just how popular it’s become. Now businesses want to see how they can join this revolution and implement AI into their operations.
So just how can ChatGPT help you in your small business?
We’ll discuss what ChatGPT is as well as some of the potential benefits for your small business.
But the one thing we’d reiterate right throughout here is that any tool is only as good as the commands you put in! So do some research, play with the tool and start working out the ways you can get the best out of it.
What is ChatGPT?
Ok, so let’s go right back to the basics. If you’ve (miraculously) managed to miss the hype, let’s explain what ChatGPT is.
Essentially, this chatbot is a generative text model, which analyses a huge amount of online content and can then produce text-based answers to the requests of a user. This is a free-to-use tool that can streamline your processes for greater efficiency.
How will ChatGPT change businesses?
There’s no simple answer to this one because there are countless possible use cases.
However, what’s most exciting for business owners is the fact that there’s now a very real and accessible means of using AI to automate (or semi automate) certain laborious business tasks potentially.
This allows your staff to focus on more important jobs that can help to drive your business forward, helps to improve efficiency and streamline your work processes.
Some of the tasks ChatGPT could help your business with include:
- Proof reading copy for emails, internal reports or your website
- Translating something into multiple languages quickly
- Improving data accuracy
- Developing unique content for marketing campaigns
- Help brainstorm ideas for your marketing activity
With ChatGPT being able to do so much for your business, it is believed that AI could take up to 20% of all jobs across the next 5 years. Of course that’s not great news for those in the jobs that may be considered most at risk. Though business owners will undoubtedly see the benefit in saving money on wages for staff to do tasks that could be automated and instead investing into people to oversee the processes, check, edit and do the tasks that simple cannot be done accurately by AI.
The benefits of ChatGPT for small and medium businesses
Whilst some tasks like assurance and tax will still need to be done by professional experts, you’ll reap the following rewards for your business when you use ChatGPT:
- Fast results – The AI can analyse large amounts of text online to provide faster results when analysing things like data.
- Productivity – Unlike humans, this tool can work 24/7 to provide results for you at all times.
- Accessibility – This tool is free and can be accessed easily, so long as you have a secure internet connection.
- Handling customer enquiries – Responding to customer enquiries can take a while for staff members. With ChatGPT, however, you can trust it to respond promptly and effectively.
Limitations
Nothing is perfect, not even ChatGPT. There are plenty of examples on social media of AI getting something factually wrong. So these things always need checking.
Don’t get complacent. Make your checks.
And remember that your output is only ever as good as what you put in. So spend some time getting creative with your commands.
