Neil Banerjee
How to ensure effective and seamless communication with customers. That’s the No.1 challenge of SMEs and MSMEs, which are the backbone of an economy as they create jobs, drive innovation, and contribute significantly to economic growth.
Customers today have high expectations when it comes to their interactions with businesses. They want personalised, timely, and relevant interactions, regardless of the channel that they use. Meeting these expectations can be a daunting task for small businesses, especially when they have limited resources.
For this, SMEs are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT to improve their service desk operations. ChatGPT is an AI language model trained by OpenAI that can provide quick and accurate responses to employee enquiries to automate repetitive tasks and much more. According to Saurabh Kumar, CEO of Rezolve.ai, “Rezolve.ai can be customised to fit the specific needs and processes of SMEs.”
Benefits of AI for SMEs
SMEs are increasingly adopting ChatGPT and other AI technologies because they offer numerous benefits that can help these businesses to stay competitive and seamless. AI tools automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, provide 24/7 support, and offer real-time data and analytics. By using AI, SMEs can improve the efficiency of their service desks and focus on the other important areas of their businesses.
“SMEs and MSMEs are starting to find AI technologies such as ChatGPT beneficial as they bring much needed improvements in efficiency through automation and reduction in rework. With a smaller workforce, SMEs or MSMEs see the benefits of AI technologies augmenting or even complementing their existing workforce while eliminating onerous and time-consuming tasks. While efficiency may be a driving factor, SMEs and MSMEs are also more flexible and open to new technologies without the unnecessary processes and bureaucracy that large organisations find themselves saddled with,” says Anusha Rammohan, Co-chair, AI Working Group, IET Future Tech Panel.
Improving the operations and functions of SMEs
While many businesses can benefit from using ChatGPT, SMEs and MSMEs in particular stand to gain and improve their processes using not just ChatGPT but other similar large language models for a variety of use cases.
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According to Aarul Malviya, Founder of Zamit, “Some of the cases that ChatGPT has previously helped in, or can help in are process automation, particularly for processes dealing with communication, documentation and parts of software code development, better knowledge management allowing smaller businesses to create, retain and disseminate critical know-how within the organisation, customer service specifically related to handling customer requests and queries, providing relevant product information or providing basic technical support and acceleration of market and customer research by having ChatGPT find the right information customised for specific business areas, specific customers or specific products. For small businesses, this can often be an onerous task for their marketing and sales teams which ChatGPT can help to ease.”
Customisable service desk solution for SMEs
Companies can customise their platforms with ChatGPT to offer a range of options. These might also include the unique features of the companies that ChatGPT can make more proficient and better to handle day-to-day tasks like Customisable Service Desk Solutions for SMEs and MSMEs.
“Rezolve.ai provides flexible customisation options that allow organisations to tailor the service desk to their specific needs. By customising ChatGPT to fit their processes, organisations can improve their operations and competitiveness by providing quick and accurate answers to employee inquiries, creating smarter tickets that are assigned to the right queue and department, and providing prescriptive technician support. This helps organisations to resolve issues faster, improve the efficiency of their service desks, and free up their employees to focus on more strategic tasks,” Kumar points out.
Impact on the workforce
The impact of ChatGPT on the workforce depends on how it is integrated into an organisation’s operations and the level of involvement and support provided to its employees throughout the implementation process. While ChatGPT can help businesses to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, there is also the potential for it to replace some human roles, particularly in the support and customer service functions.
According to Kumar, “It is important for organisations to involve their employees in the implementation process and provide them with the necessary training and support to ensure that they understand how to work alongside ChatGPT and make the most of its capabilities.” ChatGPT can free up employees to focus on more high-level work, but it is crucial that the employees understand their roles in the new system and learn to work with ChatGPT to achieve optimal results.
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“ChatGPT does have the potential to disrupt the definition of the traditional workforce but hopefully in a positive way. The functions that ChatGPT can replace are usually repetitive tasks that require a basic understanding of language, communication and context. Tasks that require human creativity, ingenuity and general intelligence will be still need a human workforce. When the dust settles, the workforce model that is likely to emerge in the future is one where AI models such as ChatGPT and humans work collaboratively and complement each other to accomplish organisational goals,” Malviya elaborates.
Future of AI in SMEs
As ChatGPT and other AI tools continue to improve, they will become even more integrated into the operations of SMEs.
Sharmin Ali, Founder & CEO, Instoried, remarks, “We have seen a few instances where SMEs are using ChatGPT to enhance their customer support and internal employee support processes.” ChatGPT can be integrated within a service desk to provide employees with 24/7 support and to answer frequently asked questions. By automating these processes, organisations can save time and resources, allowing them to focus on the other important areas of their businesses.
“On one hand, AI-powered tools can automate certain tasks and make certain jobs more efficient. This can result in increased productivity and cost savings for companies. But it can also lead to job losses for those workers whose jobs have been automated,” says Peeush Bajpai, CEO and Founder, SpringPeople.
“AI-powered tools can also create new job opportunities in fields such as AI development and maintenance, data analysis, and customer service. Additionally, some jobs may require new or additional skills as AI becomes more integrated into the workplace,” Bajpai adds.
“Overall, it’s important to understand that AI-powered tools will likely lead to both job loss and job creation. The net effect on employment will depend on a variety of factors, including the speed at which AI technologies are adopted, the types of jobs that are impacted, and the ability of the workers to acquire new skills. As long as we don’t build the Matrix or Skynet, I think these AI tools may be a good start within the technology space,” he further says.
AI chatbots like ChatGPT offer SMEs a customisable and efficient solution to improve their service desk operations. The benefits of AI are clear, but it is important for organisations to involve their employees in the implementation process and provide them with the necessary training and support to ensure that they understand how to work alongside ChatGPT. As AI technology continues to evolve, SMEs will have even more opportunities to improve their operations and stay competitive in their respective industries.
