The one thing you can no longer ignore !

Author

Matt Jonns
November 05, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

AI is no longer avoidable. It had its hype moment which I think excited, scared, bored and frustrated a lot of people but now things have settled down it can’t be ignored. 

I think for non/less-technical founders people it can be tough to know how to start or the actual real-world benefits. I also think many founders think implementing AI means building a brand new AI tool or making the business solely AI. 

Really, a lot of the benefits are far more practical than most people think. 

As a non-technical founder I’ve been grappling with AI for the past year or so. Within Founder + Lightning we’ve been implementing AI in a number of businesses.

Here are a few of my thoughts on which businesses I think could benefit the most and what I see as the future of AI for more traditional lower-tech businesses. .

BORING BUSINESS
Traditional Businesses + AI

You probably won’t be surprised to see me talking about traditional businesses here. 

As with many other tech advancements, a lot of traditional businesses may think AI isn’t for them. This absolutely isn’t the case. Logistics, Construction, Agencies, for example, are all lagging behind and can all benefit from automation, data insights, predictive analysis and a whole host of other AI benefits. 

Just as there was a huge shift in the marketplace in 2007-8 with the iPhone and apps, this is now becoming ubiquitous with AI. It’s a huge opportunity. 

Especially with traditional businesses that tend to be more offline, the shift from offline to online with tech and AI can boost efficiency across the business in a big way. 

This could look like automating mundane admin tasks, inputting AI chatbots for customer service, using AI for customer insights, project planning and scheduling. 

It's never been easier to start. 

The key is to start small, see what quick changes can initially be made and work up from there, rather than taking on a huge task to implement a custom-AI tool. 

It’s easy for these businesses to think “we’ve always done it this way and it’s worked so far” but there is a vast amount of untapped potential in embracing AI. 

THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS
Roll up. Roll up. 

Over the past year, there’s been a big spike in agencies rolling up.

People-heavy businesses are tough to scale and they’re often being outcompeted by freelancers and smaller teams.

That’s why, rather than letting AI take over, agencies need to also embrace AI. People-heavy and manual businesses can cut time, people costs and improve their offering with AI. 

Even digitisation in general is important for agencies. If they offer a service, they can find a way to productise that service.

For example, a content marketing agency could build an in-house scheduling/analytics dashboard, to show clients how their campaign is doing, to make their offering more robust and ultimately charge more ! 

FOUNDERS AND CEOS
The Pressure

Over the past year, I’ve also seen a huge amount of pressure mounting on CEOs and founders in regards to their adoption of AI. 

In the boardroom, they’re being asked by executives what they’re doing about it, how they’re going to generate a better rate of return and also not get left behind. 

They often also struggle to get buy-in and this is often by board members or investors who don’t know much about AI– it’s a really tricky balance. 

As mentioned earlier it’s never been easier to start but it’s all about getting going in a risk free way. The longer you leave it the further you’ll be behind. 

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN
Catch up on our latest AI webinar !

Speaking of AI (a great segue…) we ran a webinar on Tuesday helping attendees demystify AI for their businesses.

For people without a technical background it’s tough to know where to start with AI.

Our CTO, Pawel and AI Engineer, Dmitry covered how to:

  • Unlock unlimited new growth potential in your business with an easy-for-anyone adoption of AI

  • Understand how to think like a tech business without losing your unique culture

  • Delight your customers with incredible new experiences, available at your fingertips

As always, thank you for signing up to my newsletter ! I’ll be sending it out every month.

Always open to feedback, content suggestions or collaborations. Tell me your thoughts.

All the best,

Matt Jonns