AI in SMEs – potential and opportunities for companies
What are the advantages and potential areas of application for generative AI in SMEs?
In order to benefit from the advantages of artificial intelligence in SMEs, it is important to look at the specific areas of application.
What advantages does AI offer SMEs?
Efficient business processes and cost savings
The use of AI in SMEs can significantly optimize processes. Tasks such as data entry or report generation can be automated, for example. The use of generative AI also promises to reduce error rates, for example in quality control or document checking, which has the potential to increase efficiency and save costs.
Higher productivity among employees and specialist departments
Intelligent systems can significantly increase employee productivity. AI in SMEs promises to take over time-consuming routine tasks and support decision-making. This allows teams to focus on creative solutions, which leads to a significant increase in performance.
Greater customer satisfaction and innovative strength
The use of AI in SMEs can take customer relationships to a new level. AI systems can not only process inquiries faster, but also provide deeper insights into customer needs. This knowledge can pave the way for product innovations and significantly increase competitiveness.
What are the classic challenges faced by SMEs?
Skills shortage
The lack of personnel makes it difficult to meet market requirements. This has an impact on the ability to handle day-to-day business and develop new solutions.
Cost pressure
Rising energy and raw material prices in particular are presenting companies with major challenges and forcing them to find new ways to remain competitive.
Data silos and distributed knowledge
Information is often isolated in different departments, which makes knowledge sharing and collaboration considerably more difficult.
Increasing customer requirements
Rising demands, e.g. for individualized services, higher quality and shorter delivery times, increase the pressure to continuously adapt one's own business models and processes.
Skills shortage
The lack of personnel makes it difficult to meet market requirements. This has an impact on the ability to handle day-to-day business and develop new solutions.
Cost pressure
Rising energy and raw material prices in particular are presenting companies with major challenges and forcing them to find new ways to remain competitive.
Data silos and distributed knowledge
Information is often isolated in different departments, which makes knowledge sharing and collaboration considerably more difficult.
Increasing customer requirements
Rising demands, e.g. for individualized services, higher quality and shorter delivery times, increase the pressure to continuously adapt one's own business models and processes.
What are examples of the use of AI in SMEs?
Automation of business processes
The use of AI in SMEs enables a significant increase in efficiency in business processes by automating routine tasks and optimizing the use of resources. This automation not only results in faster processing, but also leads to more precise and consistent workflows.
Advanced data analysis
Companies benefit from fast analyses that enable well-founded business decisions. By using AI in SMEs, complex patterns and correlations in large volumes of unstructured data can be recognized more easily and made usable for decision-making.
Improved customer service and support
The use of AI in SMEs improves service, e.g. through chatbots that answer inquiries around the clock. At the same time, automated ticket processing can significantly shorten the support process by automatically prioritizing incoming requests and forwarding them to the responsible employees.
Derivation of new product ideas and innovations
AI systems enable the generation of ideas through the creative combination of different concepts and data. The use of AI in SMEs can also contribute to customer centricity by analyzing feedback and behavioral patterns in order to adapt services to the needs of the target group.
Personalization of interactions with customers and partners
The use of artificial intelligence in SMEs enables a higher degree of individual collaboration and support for customers and sales partners. This improved interaction increases the satisfaction of the respective customers and partners on the one hand and strengthens the brand image on the other.
Optimization of supply chains
Modern demand forecasting and optimized stock levels significantly improve supply chains. The use of AI in SMEs can, for example, help to reduce excess stock and avoid supply bottlenecks. In addition, AI-supported analyses can help with supplier evaluation in order to find suitable partners and increase the efficiency of the entire supply chain.
With kamium, you have a secure platform for the use of AI in SMEs
We help you to effectively utilize the benefits of AI in SMEs and increase productivity in your team. We not only offer you the secure use of AI models such as ChatGPT or Claude, we are also happy to assist you with the internal rollout:
Marc Weßling
Start-up Coordinator Westfalen AG
Would you like to use AI in your day-to-day work?
We would be happy to discuss how AI can create added value for you in a non-binding initial meeting. This includes, for example, the technical implementation of a specific use case or a general approach to the introduction of AI in your company.
