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SMBs Tentatively Adopting Generative AI to Fuel Business Growth

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A GoDaddy survey found that while the majority of small businesses believe generative AI has great potential, many are hesitant to fully embrace it without support. Some early adopters, however, have started using it to help them accomplish particular tasks easily so they can focus on managing their business.

SMBs Need Generative AI Guidance

The GoDaddy survey was fielded in late April 2023 and polled 1,003 U.S. small businesses. The survey revealed SMBs' need for guidance to get the most from rapidly evolving AI technology. Thirty-eight percent said they had tried generative AI tools – 27% for fun and 11% in support of their business – but the majority (62%) said they had yet to try it. More than half of respondents (57%) said they were eager to learn how to use generative AI to improve their business.

Other highlights from the survey findings include:

  • The majority of small businesses believed generative AI could help them accomplish particular tasks easily so they can focus on managing their business.
  • Among the challenges respondents face in managing their business, they find it most difficult to devote time to attracting new customers, growing revenue, maintaining a work-life balance, marketing their business and creating marketing content for social media and their website or online store.
  • Of respondents who have tried using generative AI for their business, 75% said the tools they used performed very well or excellent and only 4% indicated they did poorly.
  • A full 64% of those using AI tools are experimenting with content generation – everything from marketing help to drafting blogs. Nearly a third (29%) are using AI to help improve customer service, including getting help drafting responses to customers.

GoDaddy Offers Generative AI Prompt Library

To help SMB customers make the most of generative AI, GoDaddy is offering a free Small Business Generative AI Prompt Library with more than 100 ready-made prompts entrepreneurs can use in tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, according to GoDaddy's Gourav Pani, U.S. Independents president.

"Small business entrepreneurs are quickly finding that generative AI is already really well-equipped to assist them with the tasks they find most difficult to tackle, either because they don't have the time or require skills outside their wheelhouse. And the better news is the AI tools are generating more effective results every day," Pani said.

To see the survey results, visit: http://godaddy.com/ventureforward/spring-2023-generative-ai-survey-results/

Sharon Florentine

Sharon manages day-to-day content on ChannelE2E and serves as senior managing editor for CyberRisk Alliance’s Channel Brands. She also covers enterprise-class technology companies, strategic alliances and channel partner strategies. Sharon is a veteran tech journalist and editor with more than 25 years experience in the industry, and has previously held key editorial, content and leadership positions at Techstrong Group, CIO.com, Ziff Davis Enterprise and CRN.