Demystifying AI: Is your small-medium sized business, AI ready, yet?
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Artificial intelligence or AI is here to stay, and the tricky question for small business owners is not whether to jump on board, but when. Given the inevitability of AI’s applications across sectors, it would seem a good idea for small businesses to jump on the AI bandwagon sooner than later so that they are more competitive and progressive. However the fact of the matter is that it may not be the very good decisions.
See it all melts down to one thing, which is the “perfect-timing” or as they say “trust the timing’. Contrary to what might be hyped on social media, if you remove the hype and try to see beyond the marketing-glitz, in nearly all the application areas of AI, it has turned out to be an expensive and complex solution without evidence of direct ROI (return-on-investments). This is especially relevant for small businesses with limited data, limited resources, and limited data science skills and talent that are quite difficult to hire.
Needless to say, this disruptive technology that we call Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and for small business owners, the tricky question is not whether to get on board, but when to get on. It would seem a smart idea for small businesses to hop on to the AI bandwagon sooner than later, considering the inevitability of AI applications across industries, so that their businesses stay relevant and be more successful.
Maybe not! Al is about timing. Unlike what is being hyped on social media, admittedly AI is a costly and complicated solution without direct ROI proof in almost all implementation areas, yet. For small companies that are constrained on resource such as data, capital and talent, taking the decision to deploy AI without knowing its ROI, is particularly pivotal.
In the recent years we have have seen a re-emergence of interest in Artificial Intelligence among both businesses and academics. Driven by both, technological advances and public interest, AI is considered by some as an unprecedented revolutionary technology with the potential to transform humanity.
