AI tools can help even the smallest business is in sales and marketing. Most businesses put up a website. Marketing on social media is common for many, and can be a game-changer for a small startup. However, a lot of marketing on social media and through your website can involve tedious, time-consuming tasks. Marketing tools that use AI can help with drip email campaigns, visitor tracking, and insights as to where a prospect is in the sales funnel at any given moment. There are other digital tools that increase customer engagement and drive sales. Web-builder tools and services as well as vendors offer tools you could put to use. By implementing these, you will be able to focus your limited sales resources and time on other, more critical tasks such as closing a sale with a serious customer. These AI tools are readily available and your MSP can guide you in the adoption and use of them.
AI and that data you collect
An MSP is also a resource for data protection laws and compliance. As you begin using such tools, you quickly amass enormous amounts of data on prospects and customers. How you hold, use, transmit and store this data is very likely subject to data regulations; potentially by your state, a federal agency, or even the European Union. Regulation is growing because so much personal data is being collected on each of us raising concerns about misuse of that data. Protecting it from bad actors and assuring privacy rights has become significant concerns. Even if you are physically located in a state with no data privacy regulations, if you conduct business in a state or country that regulates data privacy, your use of and access to data on entities in those protected regions are subject to the rules of those regions. An MSP is an important resource to determine where you are subject to those laws. More importantly, if you are subject to those laws, (e.g. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), The FTC Safeguards Rule, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) you may also be required to prove that you have developed protocols for the protection of data as defined under those regulations. It isn’t enough to say “everything is safe.” You may have to provide evidence you have established specific data protection protocols required under each regulation that impacts your dealings with entities in those regulated areas. If a breach is ever traced back to your business, you will benefit by having these ducks in a row.
In short, AI can be a helpful tool to grow your business, but it comes with responsibilities and concerns that you may not have needed to think about before. An MSP is an important resource as you wade into the world of marketing, sales, and other operational areas using AI.
