December 19, 2022 : 4 Min

Artificial Intelligence in Small Business – Faster, Cheaper, Better

What do you think of when you hear things like Artificial Intelligence, automation, and robotic processes?

Do massive companies, robot overlords, and rapid job automation come to mind?

There’s a lot of scary information out there, but what you don’t often hear is how these technologies can help save small business owners serious money by streamlining tedious tasks and harnessing your company’s greatest untapped resource: data. Basically, these tools can give you more time, more money, and increased efficiency. In times like these, it’s important to give your business every chance to succeed.

Why it’s Cheaper

A lot of small businesses are paying a great deal for unnecessary labour in their accounting departments where processes could be automated.

Nowadays, automation and artificial intelligence allow us to create systems that perform a wide array of tasks like matching purchase orders, flagging invoices for payments, and managing cash flow with speed and efficiency that was never thought to be possible. The best part: you can implement these services simply and for a very low subscription cost. How much are you paying in payroll costs?

Why it’s Faster

We’ll hook you up with technology that can read invoices and categorize the type of expense or account with speed and precision. Basically, this means your financial information (and business information in general) is immediately updated as soon as you make a purchase or accept a payment.

No more painstaking data entry, receipt collecting, or waiting around to see what the next monthly report says.

As soon as you make a purchase with a company card, the accounting software processes the information and immediately updates your dashboard analytics. Let’s face it. Humans aren’t built for data entry. We’re good at problem-solving and thinking creatively about the future of our companies. Give yourself the time you need to make important decisions.

Why it’s Better

One word: DATA!

Small businesses are finding themselves with more data than ever, but the great majority of owners aren’t using this to their advantage. The great news is that some very powerful tools have been developed to help the biggest companies in the world process data and you can have access to the same technology for a very small cost (or sometimes no cost at all). This data can help you keep track of trends in your company’s history and also collect key information for more cost-effective marketing campaigns.

Most small businesses aren’t using their data at all because trying to interpret it seems overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.

We know which apps are going to help you compile and understand data the way you need to. For a fraction of the cost, or sometimes no cost at all, small businesses can harness and reap benefits from technologies (like AI, Robotics, and Cloud-based software) that are built for huge corporations.

Ok, one more word: CONVENIENCE!

The best part about these new technologies is that they are always at your fingertips and often in sync with each other. We’re always encouraging our clients to embrace the newest tech and it’s already paid off in big ways.

For example, in the fall of 2019, we urged our clients to use Receipt Bank—an optical reader that allows clients to load invoice copies and receipts into the cloud by taking pictures of them with their smartphones. The cloud allows our clients to access these securely-stored files from anywhere. (This happened to be crucial timing because it allowed our businesses to access their financial information while safely working at home during the first wave of COVID-19.) Here’s the best part: the artificial intelligence built into Receipt Bank ‘memorizes’ certain vendors for when a similar invoice reappears in the future. For instance, we know a receipt from McDonald’s relates to meals and entertainment, and the software does too. The great thing about getting small businesses up and running with these apps and software is that so many of them work together. Receipt Bank syncs with Quickbooks so the purchase information from your Big Mac meal is automatically transferred to Quickbooks online.

So many of our clients are amazed that their transactions can be recorded in their financial software even before they hop back in their car.

Why The Corner Office?

At The Corner Office, we’re on the cutting edge of accounting technologies.

We’ll get you up and running with the right apps and software. We’ll also save you a ton of tech headaches and a bunch of money by helping you automate in-house accounting tasks.

We know which apps and technologies are the fastest, cheapest, safest, and easiest to use. We’ve done our homework so you don’t have to. Robots are better at processing huge swaths of data. Humans are better at thinking creatively about a company’s future.

Letting us help you push your small business into the future is an easy decision that gives you the time you need to think about the hard decisions no matter where you are.