What are the general guidelines to SME’s for implementing AI
Dec 29, 2023
If the pundits' predictions come true, PwC’s report suggests, Bot.Me: A revolutionary partnership, 67% of executives believe AI will help people and machines work together to improve operations — by combining artificial and human intelligence. Global GDP will be enhanced by 14% by 2030 due to deployment of AI at work place.
The steps to be followed for implementing AI by SMEs
The challenges of the new age SMEs are finding the right scheme for utilizing technology and human resources to the utmost capacity. The percentage of adoption to Artificial Intelligence varies according to the life cycle : evaluation, preliminary, growth, maturity stages. The SMEs, irrespective of their stages of the evolution graph of AI need to go through these steps either as a precautionary measure or as a standardized routine.
For further understanding on this subject “SMEs role in engaging AI in its business practices”.
- Analysing your business requirements:
Firms, by going through the recent trends are keen in adopting AI in their business practices. Before taking any further step, it is necessary to analyse your business requirements. Just AI alone cannot spur growth, but if implemented after a thorough analysis, AI driven automation can give the firm an edge over its competitors.- First identify which divisions of your firm is conducive for AI eg. Finance & Accounting, Customer relationship, HR etc.
- The types of AI to utilize for the divisions eg, for Customer relationship - Chatbots, Finance & Accounting - Machine Learning & Deep Learning etc.
- The expected outcomes you are likely to witness due to AI at place.
- The foreseen or unforeseen obstacles during the process you experience.
- The level of success achievable and the yardsticks deployed to evaluate them.
- The level of resources for supporting the AI process or additional resources if required.
- The timelines charted for installation, onboarding and training of staff.
- Prioritizing AI in departments adding value to your deliverables:
It is necessary to prioritize the departments within the shortlist. Most common department to implement AI is typically finance & accounting. Here are some of the criteria used.- The process adopted for AI will reduce operating costs
- The possibility to increase productivity
- Will this new process generate customer satisfaction?
- The process selected can easily synchronize with the current business process without disrupting the activities
- It is not just a short term prospect, but a long term solution for betterment.
- Understanding and evaluating the gap between internal and external capabilities.
Before onboarding or starting with AI, we need to ascertain, what is the internal capability of the firm. Once you have the timeline ready, the team implementing it needs to assess these points.- What is the probability of implementing an AI solution using internal resources?
- Are there onshelf products available suitable for our business needs?
- Can we either hire a consultant or collaborate with an AI solution firm?
- Is it possible to outsource the task to a third party for carrying out AI?
- Recruiting talent having domain expertise in Data science and analytics:
For optimising business decision making, the development of AI is an extremely specialised subject. It relies on updated datas and experiences to create algorithms to tutor machines to depict human thinking. The AI industry has surged, widening the skill set gap in the market. As the industry demands for experts in AI domain knowledge and data science. The talent supply is inadequate to meet the requirement.- Firms need teams of crew from technical, operational and non-technical backgrounds to bring together their diverse knowledge during AI development.
- If the firms already have a successful team, then train and retain both the present and new staff.
- If there is a skill gap in the team, it is possible to refresh through outsourcing to gain subject knowledge and vast experience.
- This process helps in avoiding mistakes starting from planning to post production.
- Whatever the choices the firm adopts, a thorough analysis and research is recommended before proceeding.
- Ensuring data availability
It is a well established fact that digital data powers AI. Therefore, firms need to support AI through high quality data. Management embracing this transformation, needs to rise to the challenge through a continuous supply of quality data.- Categorize the types of data required for your model (structured or non structured).
- The sources to gather the data (like videos, documents, PDFs etc) for training and sequencing the machine.
- The quality of the data gathered as unproductive data fed will give inconclusive results.
- Is the internal sources sufficient for the regular supply of data or need to be outsourced.
- Securing the Data:
The management these days is rightly worried about data security. Cybercrime is making headlines and vulnerabilities are exposed both in private and public sectors. From technologically advanced countries to developing countries all have cyber security issues.- Firms need to incur recurring operating expenditure to deal with cyber security, due to advancement made by cyber theft.
- Data of clients profiles are a valuable asset to safeguard, otherwise the long standing reputation of the firm is damaged permanently.
- Regulatory bodies give directives to the firm on restrictions imposed on data usage, what types of data collected, methods of collecting etc.
- AI based decision making, draw conclusions only from the input data, therefore, blind trust is not recommended. Prudence is needed for data security and usage.
- Planning your budget:
Fiscal discipline is mandatory for firms, therefore it takes a high priority to allocate your valuable resources. The decision is reached through a combined discussion between management, finance, IT and AI implementation teams.- AI is deployed in stages - what divisions are deployed during the current financial year.
- The flexibility margin given for the established expenses adjusted for inflation.
- The contingent reserve is set for unprecedented events like, non-availability of goods, additional staff recruited etc.
- The next phase implementation for the next financial year.
- The expected ROI for the incurred expenditure.
- The percentage anticipated and the timeline of achieving the goals.
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