SBA Provides AI Insights & Resources for Small Businesses in Honor of National Small Business Week
Blog
May 29, 2025
by
Laurel Sykes
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) celebrated National Small Business Week (NSBW), which acknowledges the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, May 4-10. As part of this year’s activities, SBA and SCORE co-hosted a two-day NSBW Virtual Summit. Not surprisingly, many of the virtual conference topics centered around how businesses can leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform their operations. Other sessions covered safeguarding networks, seasonal hiring, creating sound business plans, and mentoring services.
Artificial Intelligence
While several sessions highlighted the use of AI to provide a myriad of benefits particularly advantageous for small businesses, alongside these benefits, there are potential downsides that must be navigated carefully. Here, we explore the balance between the advantages and challenges of AI in social media, marketing, customer service, and expense and inventory management.
In one session on Making AI Work for You, the facilitator provided specific AI prompts to use in key operational areas in order to realize the benefits of using AI in social media, customer service, and expense and inventory management. Before you rush to implement, consider some of the potential risks to overreliance on AI tools.
One of the recommendations was to leverage a Large Language Model (LLM) to create a 30-day content calendar, including posts, images, and a posting schedule. While there are several benefits, you should take steps to ensure that the content is consistent with your brand and that they continue to perform as you intended.
Benefits¶
- Enhanced Engagement: AI can analyze data to optimize content, post timing, and engagement strategies, resulting in higher interaction rates and better audience targeting.
- Response Management: AI can be used to provide real-time responses to subscribers.
- Data Analytics: AI tools can monitor and analyze social media trends, helping businesses understand their audience better and tailor their strategies accordingly.
Potential Downsides¶
- Authenticity Risk: Over-reliance on automated content and responses can make interactions feel less genuine, potentially alienating some customers.
- Privacy Concerns: The data collection necessary for AI analysis may raise privacy issues, requiring businesses to ensure compliance with relevant regulations.
- Algorithm Dependence: AI-based strategies may become too dependent on algorithms, which can change unexpectedly and affect engagement negatively.
Marketing¶
In this session, the facilitator demonstrated how AI can be used to create ad campaigns or build websites without having to spend the money associated with hiring creative professionals, such as models or graphic design firms. The flip side is potential ethical concerns and intellectual property issues.
Benefits¶
- Personalized Campaigns: AI enables hyper-targeted marketing efforts by analyzing consumer data and predicting behavior, leading to higher conversion rates.
- Efficiency: AI can save time and money by assisting in creating ads, developing photos, and generating sophisticated graphics and designs. High-quality visual content can be developed quickly, reducing the time and cost associated with more traditional methods.
- Performance Tracking: AI can provide real-time analytics on campaign performance, allowing businesses to make timely adjustments and optimize outcomes.
Potential Downsides¶
- Over-Saturation: Highly targeted ads may appear excessively frequent to consumers, leading to ad fatigue and reduced effectiveness.
- Intellectual Property Issues: There are potential infringement and rights of use issues implementing AI-driven marketing as content as licensed content may be used to train data. This raises questions about whether users should be able to prompt these tools with direct reference to other creators’ copyrighted and trademarked works by name without their permission.
- Ethical Concerns: The use of AI in marketing raises questions about the ethical implications of potentially taking away business from creative professionals who traditionally provide these services.
Customer Service¶
One of the scenarios discussed was the use of AI, such as chatbots, for customer service purposes. Several local companies, such as Rusty’s Pizza, are implementing AI in areas such as phone orders or online customer service; however, there are risks to consider prior to implementing such solutions.
Benefits¶
- 24/7 Availability and appointment scheduling: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide round-the-clock customer support, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty.
- Speed and Efficiency: AI can quickly resolve common issues with customers, including online review management and email automation, reducing response times and improving service efficiency.
- Personalization: AI can tailor interactions based on customer history and preferences, resulting in more personalized and effective service.
Potential Downsides¶
- Lack of Human Touch: Automated systems may lack the empathy and nuanced understanding of human agents, which can be crucial in handling complex or sensitive issues.
- Miscommunication: AI may misinterpret certain queries or fail to understand the context, leading to incorrect responses and customer frustration. This can be particularly problematic in customer service scenarios where accurate understanding is imperative.
- Implementation Costs: Setting up and maintaining sophisticated AI systems can be expensive, posing a significant investment for small businesses.
Expense and Inventory Management¶
Finally, the session addresses leveraging AI in areas such as expense and inventory management as many local Central Coast businesses have done. For example, local real estate software company, AppFolio, has rolled out Realm-X, which uses generative AI to streamline leasing, maintenance, and accounting workflows.
Benefits¶
- Accuracy: AI can enhance accuracy in tracking expenses and managing inventory, reducing errors and ensuring better resource allocation.
- Forecasting: AI can predict demand trends and optimize inventory levels, helping businesses avoid stockouts and overstocking.
- Automation: Routine tasks such as invoice processing and inventory updates can be automated, freeing up time for strategic activities.
Potential Downsides¶
- Data Dependency: AI systems require large amounts of data to function effectively, and inaccuracies in data can lead to flawed insights.
- Security Risks: The integration of AI in financial and inventory systems can increase the vulnerability to cyber threats, requiring robust security measures. When implementing AI tools, consider leveraging seasoned managed services provider such as Cox Communications to leverage solutions such as Copilot that can be set up within a secure network environment to protect confidential data. Ensure that out-of-the-box functionality is properly configured so that the data cannot be used for training or other purposes.
- Initial Costs: Implementing AI solutions can involve high upfront costs, which may be difficult for small businesses to manage.
AI presents both exciting opportunities and significant challenges for small businesses. By carefully weighing these benefits and potential downsides, businesses can strategically leverage AI to enhance their operations while minimizing risks. The key lies in maintaining a balance between automation and human touch, ensuring ethical practices, and investing wisely in AI technologies.
As we close out National Small Business Month, we also encourage you to check resources from American Riviera Bank on other topics covered during the virtual conference.
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