Getting started with AI for your small business

Key takeaways

• AI may feel overwhelming, but there are several simple ways you can start using these tools in your small business right now.
• Free AI tools can help with everything from creating marketing materials to managing inventory, tracking expenses, personalising emails and more.
• Start small and choose tools and projects that target your own business’ pain points.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology that has the capacity to reshape how we do business, whether you’re a multinational corporation or the owner of the local corner store. Yet with hundreds of available models and even more use cases, it can be hard to know where to start and what exactly might be helpful to you as a small business owner.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, let us guide you through the basics of AI and provide tips and tools to help you and your business make the most of the latest tech revolution.

Why is AI important for small businesses?

These days when we talk about AI, we’re usually talking about large language models (LLMs), a type of program that trains itself on vast amounts of data from the internet and uses what it learns from that data to respond to user requests. So, if you ask an LLM for what you might need to include in a small business plan, it will look at everything it has read about small business plans and use that to create an answer for you.

This simple concept unleashes a lot of powerful applications. Look at enough photographs and an LLM can create a photorealistic image of just about anything. Take in enough advertising material and an LLM can create custom ad assets in any format. Read through enough spreadsheets and an LLM can help manage inventory levels.

For small businesses, AI has a capacity to take jobs that once took days or weeks and perform them in minutes. The technology is still in its infancy, and you have to be careful with the output (more on that in the 'risks' section below), but even now there are opportunities to streamline processes, automate repetitive work and save your business both time and money.

AI use cases for small business

While every business will find different ways that they can make AI work, here are a few simple ways people are using AI for their small business: 

• Writing customer emails: whether you’re replying to a customer or sending an email to your whole database, AI can help you write a draft, hit the right tone and provide advice on spelling and grammar.
  • Best app: Claude or ChatGPT
• Generating content ideas: tell AI a bit about your business and who your customers are and then ask it for some ideas for blog content or social media posts.
  • Best app: ChatGPT
• Transcribing meetings: turn on AI transcription and get an instant summary of your meeting with important themes and action points.
  • Google NotebookLM
• Designing social media tiles: upload an image or create one using AI and tell the LLM what information you want to include in the tile.
  • Best app: Canva
• Provide quotes: upload your cost sheet and then simply tell the AI what the job involves to generate an instant quote.
  • Best app: Zoho CRM
• Responding to customer queries: add an AI chatbot to your website to answer common customer questions or direct them to further assistance.
  • Best app: Tidio

What AI tools should I use to get started?

While there are hundreds of AI apps out there for you to explore, here are a few free (or free to try) tools you can use as a starting point.

• ChatGPT: text generation platform that can produce everything from product descriptions to emails, blog posts and marketing plans.
• Canva: easy-to-use design app that offers AI tools to help with social media asset layout and creation.
• NotebookLM: transcribe meetings, create presentations, analyse research and synthesise insights – all from your own data.
• Zoho CRM: app for managing customer relationships with an AI agent that offers sales predictions and email campaign suggestions.
• Tidio: AI chatbot service with straightforward instructions on how to install and customise one for your website.
• Surfer SEO: make sure your posts are hitting the mark for search engine optimisation (SEO) with real-time suggestions. Integrates with Google Docs.
• Accounting software providers like MYOB, Xero or QuickBooks: stay on top of your finances with smart expense categorisation, cash flow forecasting and automated reports.

Useful ANZ resource:

• Why accounting software providers (Xero and MYOB) make tax time easier

Tips for AI business success

The biggest stumbling block for most people when they start using AI is going too big, too fast. If you open ChatGPT and immediately ask it to write you a 1000-word blog post, you’re likely to be disappointed by the output. 

But if you instead explain to ChatGPT what your business does and the kinds of customers you target, and then ask for five suggestions of blog topics that your customers might like to read, you may be amazed by what it comes up with. 

Becoming familiar with new technology can be difficult and time consuming. Take it step by step and give yourself plenty of time to feel comfortable before you start putting AI at the centre of your business processes. You can also seek professional advice from a digital consultant who specialises in AI.

While AI often looks impressive, that doesn’t mean every tool is going to help you run your business more efficiently and effectively. Play around with new tools to make sure they’re right for you before taking the plunge on a paid subscription. Monitor the results from your work and only scale up when it provides demonstrable benefit. 

What risks should I be aware of when using AI for my business?

The most important thing to remember about using AI is that it often makes mistakes. Known as “hallucinations”, these mistakes occur when the AI misrepresents or invents something to make its answer appear coherent. A good rule of thumb is to never ask AI to do anything that you don’t know how to verify and to always take the time to verify what it’s done.

Similarly, while talking to AI can feel like talking to a human (who happens to be an expert at marketing and small business management), you should always keep in mind that it’s still just a computer program. AI doesn’t really understand you or your business – and it certainly doesn’t understand how to be human – so review its suggestions closely and make sure you’re communicating in a way that feels true to your brand.

Finally, make sure you understand an AI platform’s privacy and data usage policies before you input any sensitive customer and commercial information. Once you enter data into the system, you lose control of how it’s handled and AI doesn’t know what is and isn’t confidential. 

Many large AI platforms aren’t covered by Australian privacy law and you may be in breach of your obligations if you share customer information with them. Only enter financial and customer data into secure platforms that have explicit Australian privacy compliance support. If you want to ask for advice from a platform like ChatGPT, anonymise and generalise your prompt before asking your question.

For more on how to use AI responsibly in your business, check out the guide to AI on business.gov.

Start small, think big and grow smarter

AI isn’t just for major corporations – it's a powerful tool that can help small businesses work smarter, not harder. Whether you're looking to save time, cut costs or connect more meaningfully with your customers, there’s an AI solution out there that can support your goals. 

Our advice: start small, stay curious and don’t be afraid to experiment. Just remember to use AI thoughtfully. Verify its outputs, protect your data and be mindful of its limitations. The future of business is being shaped right now – with the right tools, your business can be part of that transformation.

Still not sure how AI may be able to help? Have a look at our Small business tools page and ask AI to help you fill out some of the templates and checklists.