Three surprising ways AI benefits your business – and the long-term cost if you’re NOT utilising it

According to a recent survey as part of the Elite Franchise Top 100, over 20% of franchisors1 don’t already utilise AI – or even plan on utilising AI in the next 12 months. Interestingly, 60% of those who hadn’t used AI were businesses with 26-1,000 employees, yet every micro-business respondent was already or considering utilising AI. But why is this? And what can be done to increase understanding, and perhaps transparency, surrounding the benefits of AI implementation for business owners and franchisees alike?

Whether we like it or not, AI is set to completely change the way the world works in the coming years. Some sectors, such as healthcare, are expected to benefit greatly from this; however, others have concerns about what this means for human workers in general. It’s a common misconception that AI will damage the employment market. In fact, AI is expected to create 12 million more jobs than it replaces, with a demand for 97 million AI-related specialists by 20252. This growth will span roles in data science, machine learning, AI ethics and more, highlighting the need for upskilling and education to meet the demands of the evolving AI landscape.

It’s too risky – what if I become reliant on AI and something goes wrong?

It’s completely understandable that business owners may be nervous about implementing AI, as they fear not understanding the guidelines fully, causing miscommunication and disruption with employees. However, implementing AI doesn’t have to be challenging – it’s there to support you and has many surprising benefits you may not be aware of!

Just like with utilising any new technology, ethics must be heavily considered. By setting out clear guidelines so everyone that falls under your brand’s umbrella is operating ethically, you can easily increase transparency and, in turn, make your AI use even more efficient! Guidelines are simple to construct – just remember to use clear and concise language, define the purpose of your guidelines (ethical usage of AI), focus on key principles (transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy and inclusivity), regularly update and gather feedback.

Business owners are also concerned that AI may cause them to lose the ‘creative flair’ in their projects and that their output will become generic. However, utilising AI doesn’t mean entirely getting rid of human input. AI can merge diverse ideas and data to create stronger, more refined solutions while reducing human error – this collaboration optimises outcomes by combining human creativity with machine precision.

Yousef Khallili, Global Chief Transformation Officer & CEO MEA at Quant, said, “Even small steps into AI can have huge benefits. Adopt a gradual, scalable approach by launching small-scale pilot projects. These pilots allow the organisation to test AI solutions in low-risk environments and make adjustments before companywide implementation. Automating routine administrative processes is a safe place to begin. Feedback from pilot phases enable companies to refine models and lead to smooth integration without disruption of core operations.”

How much time and money will it really save?

It’s no fabrication that AI can save businesses a lot of time when it comes to completing everyday tasks. A recent survey by Hubspot3 found that AI tools save employees on average over two hours a day on unnecessary repetitive tasks – reclaiming up to 25% of their time through AI automation and liberating them from time-consuming daily administrative tasks. Of course, reduced operational time equals reduced operational costs.

AI is also efficient at saving time and money in other aspects of business, as tools provide deeper insights into customer behaviour and product needs, enabling data-driven decisions, targeted marketing and optimised workflows – leading to personalised campaigns, efficient operations and a competitive business edge.

Andrew Grill, expert AI speaker and author of bestselling book Digitally Curious thinks that AI provides an opportunity to completely reimagine how we run our franchises: “AI will provide us with an opportunity to ‘un-learn’ past, inefficient practices and give us the power to ask better, deeper questions about our business, benefiting our customers and employees.”

“By 2030, AI technologies could boost global GDP by nearly 1.2% annually, potentially adding around $13 trillion to the global economy, according to a McKinsey report4. Companies that fully embrace AI could double cash flow in the next five to seven years. Additionally, a Deloitte survey reveals that 82% of early AI adopters saw a positive financial return on their investments,” added Yousef.

Will using AI demotivate my employees?

Surprisingly, AI has proven to have the completely opposite effect. Tedious tasks, such as customer service, can often be tackled by AI agents that can provide customers with 24-7 instant support without taking up time from human employees. However, if a handoff is necessary, AI agents can guide the live human agent with insights and suggested actions, which leads to faster resolution times.

As a result, your business is providing better and more efficient customer service while reducing the workload for customer service teams – enhancing the productivity of human workers who can instead be working on more challenging and thought-provoking tasks.

“I personally find AI most useful in my business to get over those ‘blank page’ moments. When I’m in need of a boost to start a project, policy or documentation,” said founder of Alchemy Virtual Assistance, Suzy Sanders.

“I don’t ever use AI to simply pump out content or documents for me. This, in my view, is an unethical approach that risks integrity, authenticity and uniqueness. However, there’s no denying that AI is a valuable tool to aide both time efficiencies and the creative processes that all good businesses need!”

If you’re not implementing AI into your business model, not only could you be wasting time and money, but your business may be missing out on new and creative ideas, greater business insight, improved human productivity and better customer support.

For more information about the EF100 and to view the current rankings, please visit https://elitefranchisemagazine.co.uk/ef100