The social media company’s apps have 3.43 billion unique active users globally and its AI-driven tools help create personalised ad variations, image backgrounds and automated adjustments to video ads, making it lucrative for advertisers.

A brand could provide a product image and a budget, and Meta’s AI would generate the ad, including image, video and text, and then determine user targeting on Instagram and Facebook with budget suggestions, the report said.

Meta also plans to let advertisers personalise ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors such as geolocation, according to the report.

The owner of Facebook and Instagram, whose majority of revenue comes from ad sales, referred to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s public remarks about AI-driven ads, when contacted by Reuters.

Zuckerberg last week stressed that advertisers needed AI products that delivered “measurable results at scale” in the not-so-distant future. He added that the company aimed to build an AI one-stop shop where businesses can set goals, allocate budgets and let the platform handle the logistics.

Social media firms such as Snap, Pinterest and Reddit are increasingly investing in AI and machine learning tools to attract advertisers in an intensely competitive ad market.

Meta’s shares were up nearly 1 per cent in morning trading, while stocks of ad giant Interpublic Group and Omnicom Group fell 1.9 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

Shares of France’s Publicis Groupe SA slid 3.8 per cent. US-listed shares of WPP, the owner of agencies GroupM, Ogilvy and VM, were down 2.2 per cent.

Technology firms such as Google and OpenAI have also launched video and image-generation AI tools, but their widespread adoption in advertising remains in doubt as marketers weigh concerns over brand safety, creative control and quality.

• Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, of Reuters.

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But the new Shop with AI feature is already causing a lot of buzz among experts and businesses – and many think it’s part of a new age of automated shopping.

New innovations by OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google all essentially give shoppers their own personal assistant. Through conversation-style interactions, they learn – and store – a customer’s context, body shape, history, age, location and much more, and use this data to make hyper-individualised product decisions.

Not only that, but Google’s new shopping agents can purchase items for a customer. If a shopper wants to buy an item while it’s on sale, gone are the days when they would have to check in periodically – Google agents can now notify them when a discount is available. It can also repurchase products and services that a customer buys frequently, like toilet paper or lash appointments.

Retail expert Kelly Slessor thinks the adoption of these technologies by big players like Google signals the beginning of a new era.

“Agentic automation is going to disrupt everything in the next 24 months,” she told ISB. “This ability to automate processes, to remove the pain we go through whenever we’re looking for something, is going to change not only [the retail] industry, but every industry.”

How does agentic AI – like Google’s Shop with AI – affect buyer behaviour?

People are already outsourcing their research and decision making to AI – so it stands to reason that the same will happen with their purchases.

Marketer Matthew Forzan is already seeing a paradigm shift in the way customers are searching; they want to have a natural conversation with a search tool, not input keywords by themselves. 

“Now, customers are saying ‘I have a budget of x, I like x brand, what do you have for me?” he told ISB.

And AI isn’t just acting like a personal shopper; it’s also doing the research for your customers. Both Forzan and Slessor think this could push customers towards price-based purchasing decisions.

“If you ask your AI agent to buy you headphones and you don’t care where they’re from then a lot of the time price, delivery and bundles will inform it – I definitely think there’s risk there,” said Forzan. “We know there’s cohorts of people who definitely want to support small businesses, but if you’re looking at a user who’s never purchased before, that could be more the case.”

Slessor is concerned that AI Agents could make shopping a price game, removing emotional connection or brand loyalty from the equation.

“I can be on Instagram, see a pair of Converse, stick in to my [AI] agent and say, ‘When you find those same Converse on sale at this price, let me know, and I’ll buy them,’” she explained. “There’s no emotional connection, no urgency – I’m just literally waiting on price.”

Slessor added that negative reviews – and returns – could also be more common if customers can outsource these to AI. Customers who might previously not have been bothered to return an item, request a refund, or leave a negative review might now be more empowered to do so.

Will Google’s Shop with AI hurt or help small businesses?

It depends on who you ask – and on the business involved.

If customers aren’t shopping around themselves – that is, browsing online websites or search results – it could certainly stop them from discovering alternative options. Let’s say you sell a common item like toilet paper: Plenty of toilet paper brands offer comfort or sustainability, but unless you occupy a unique corner of the market (Forzan points to the purpose-led Who Gives a Crap as an example) agentic AI could reduce your product to a price point.

Slessor and Forzan both think that businesses with unique products – or unique angles – might have a better chance of discovery under these conditions.

On the other hand, because this is an emerging technology, there is a chance for small-business owners to jump on AI optimisation now before its widespread adoption. 

“There is, I think, a lower barrier to entry now,” said Forzan. “Because there is more opportunity to show up for these terms. It’s so conversational, so there’s an opportunity for small businesses to create content that competitors potentially don’t have…”

Small-business owner Gabi Saper is already taking action to optimise for AI. We previously spoke to Saper in an article about AI shopping overviews, where she mentioned setting up her website to target conversational queries. Now, she’s doubling down on her efforts to become an online leader in her product niche.

“We’re creating solid content, answering questions, and becoming that reliable source,” she told ISB. “…Whenever we make a video on a topic, we also make a blog on that same topic, and then we make an email, and then we put it on Facebook and YouTube.”

What can you do next?

Make sure your SEO is up to scratch: Good SEO will work on AI search tools as well as traditional search tools.

Use conversational language: AI tools are trying to interact in a humanlike way, said Slessor, and will prioritise content written in a conversational style.

Answer questions pre-emptively: For instance, use headings on your website pages that work as answers to common questions. Follow these up with a short, simple clarifying paragraph below. Then, don’t just answer the most common questions, but think about what someone would ask next. This pairing of pre-emptive questioning, clarifying paragraphs and supplementary questions is netting great results for Forzan’s small-business clients.

Don’t just rely on search as a funnel in: Diversify across platforms – the more you’re across, the more trust signals the agent can pick up on.

Get to know your customer avatars: AI agents will know everything about your customers, so you should too. Saper said that every quarter, she uploads customer reviews to build and adjust her three customer avatars. Every marketing move then speaks to at least one of these avatars. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment: Saper thinks that agentic AI will be like all the big tech shifts that came before it – kind to experimenters and first-adopters, less so to those who drag their feet.

“People have to be really open to leaning in, giving it a go, and not being afraid,” she said. “The most exciting thing is that we’re all learning at the exact same pace, this is new to all of us – and the ones that are going to succeed are the ones that aren’t afraid to step in and learn.”

The post Google’s new Shop with AI will “disrupt everything”. Here’s what means for small business appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Generative AI refers to programs that produce high-quality text, images, ideas and even complex software code in response to prompts (questions or instructions) from a user. Applications powered by data-driven algorithms enable users to quickly create high-quality content, redefining traditional measures of success.

A small café can generate aesthetically pleasing menus in a few clicks through apps like Jasper.AI. Online retailers can use generative AI chatbots such as botco.ai to provide 24/7 support, answering queries and offering advice.

Businesses with an online presence can use generative AI to analyse social media posts in order to understand customer sentiment. AI empowers businesses by automating tasks like writing marketing copy, crafting social media posts and generating blog articles. Additionally, AI can handle routine customer inquiries, data entry and scheduling, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives.

Platforms such as GPT-4, GeminiAI and Co-Pilot are either free or affordable, making it easier for even small firms to benefit from high-end capabilities once reserved only for bigger firms with bigger budgets.

Generative AI tools can produce content in close to real time, and deliver results without forcing firms to compromise on quality. In fact, the AI tools get better at what they do as they’re exposed to more data.

Businesses operating a family of models known as “as a service” models, can make particular use of generative AI. In one of these, known as content-as-a-service (CAAS), firms provide other organisations with quick access to quality written content and visuals. Once exclusively the domain of humans, these tasks can now be done by AI. Firms operating a software-as-a-service (SAAS) model can also leverage AI given that some programs now generate complex computer code.

Old measures of success

Historically, project management and business success was largely defined through a simple formula:

Cost x Time = Quality.

Often touted as the “iron triangle” from the perspective of operational efficiency, this equation implies that, in order to attain a degree of quality, firms must balance cost with the time spent to achieve that level of quality.

For example, requesting that something be both delivered quickly and at a high quality typically incurs higher costs. Proper planning and scheduling help ensure competitive pricing and reliable quality.

Delivering results faster often translates to investing more resources, such as labour or specialised equipment, adding to overall costs. Conversely, delivering lower cost solutions would often come at the expense of quality.

A related trade off is that of speed versus accuracy. If something needs to be done quickly, accuracy is often compromised.

AI has upended this thinking, as firms can now achieve both speed and accuracy at the same time by leveraging AI. This can enhance productivity and drive innovation without losing out on quality.

Likewise, through generative AI, smaller companies with fewer resources are able to rub shoulders and compete with larger firms using AI-powered tools. They can do this by streamlining operations, creating cost-effective marketing content and delivering personalised customer experiences.

This can make existing businesses more efficient, competitive and creative. It can also lower the barriers to entry into markets for prospective small and medium-sized business owners.

Prospects for survival

Many generative AI tools are cloud-based, reducing the need for significant infrastructure costs. They are also user friendly, requiring no specialised expertise. This means that organisations no longer require specialised talent to drive competitiveness within their organisations.

The UK government’s recent autumn budget included a number of tax rises that will hit businesses, especially some small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that don’t have the financial buffers to weather severe economic challenges.

Companies may either put recruitment budgets on hold, or scale them back. Against the background of such a challenging economic environment, SMEs are using generative AI to transform efficiency and productivity as well as improve accessibility and reduce costs.

Generative AI has reconfigured the Cost x Time = Quality formula and has enabled firms to do things both quickly and accurately without a trade off. For SMEs, it has torn down competitive barriers and the prospects for survival during economic upheaval.

As generative AI continues to develop, companies must be open to embracing change and rethinking how they perceive everything they once held true. Otherwise, they’ll have the wrong horse, for the wrong course.

This article originally appeared in The Conversation.

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AI use will continue to rise, but so too will concerns about responsible use

Next year, concerns about responsible use of AI will accompany its continued rapid adoption, according to tech consulting firm Synechron.

“Responsible adoption, trust-building, and proactive investment in secure, sustainable, and scalable technologies will be essential for organisations to thrive in 2025 and beyond,” said Chief Technology Officer David Sewell.

Most Australian businesses haven’t yet adopted responsible AI practices, according to a report by Fifth Quadrant. And customers are aware that businesses aren’t doing their due diligence: recent research has found that they don’t trust enterprises to use AI properly.

Additionally, the Government is currently working on a set of Mandatory Guardrails for responsible AI usage, though it’s currently unknown if these will apply to small businesses.

Small businesses will take data privacy more seriously

The Government has also recently phased out the small-business exemption from the Privacy Act, which previously applied to businesses with a turnover of less than $3 million. This means that SMEs must report any data breaches that result in serious harm to individuals, or else suffer financial penalties.

“The new amendments introduce greater powers to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to crack down on breaches and the assessment timeframe is tightening from the 30-day period to just 72 hours,” explained Greg Lever, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Iron Mountain APAC. “This means SMEs will need to establish clear protocols for identifying and responding to breaches promptly if they want to avoid hefty fines and legal repercussions.”

IT service provider Logicalis Australia says it expects to see more businesses retaining their data thoughtfully and sparingly, rather than hoarding all generated information.

“Regulatory bodies are increasingly demanding that businesses minimise data collection and storage,” explained Logicalis CEO Anthony Woodward. “Poor data governance can lead to compliance failures, security vulnerabilities, and loss of consumer trust.”

Cybersecurity will continue to be a concern for SMEs

We know that cybersecurity is an issue for SMEs. Last financial year saw a 24 per cent increase in cyber crimes in Australia, according to the Australian Signals Directorate. Despite this, 22 per cent of small businesses and 15 per cent of medium businesses plan to reduce spending on cybersecurity management, according to the latest SME Cyber Security Management report by Business NSW.

Small businesses can’t afford cybersecurity, making this a huge concern for the community. To combat the issue, the Government has recently launched a Small Business Cyber Resilience Service, which promises tailored advice to SMEs to help keep them safe from cyber crime.

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Nope. The phone I’m describing is the LG G7 ThinQ, which made its debut in 2018.

The LG G7 and G8 did not meet manufacturer expectations. Despite having true innovations on board, LG’s market share shrank to 2% and the South Korean electronics powerhouse withdrew from the mobile market altogether in 2021.

Can we call what LG did true innovation, even though it flopped? Is an innovation an innovation because it’s new? Useful? A combination of both?

What is an “innovation”?

According to the father of innovation diffusion research, Everett Rogers, innovations don’t really take hold unless there’s an inflection point somewhere along the line. That is, at some point, there’s a slow trickle of early adopters to an innovation, who hopefully have enough social pull and influence others into making the jump. Then, a tipping point occurs, and mass adoption follows. Sales slow as they reach saturation point and laggards finally get “the picture.”

Unfortunately for LG’s mobile division, the Artificial Intelligence “future” of Generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, was another half-decade away. Though we all knew that social media algorithms and certain web automations were using a form of artificial intelligence, it wasn’t “useful” until we could “speak” to it using natural language and have it answer us in kind.

AI of the kind we see today also had its failures to launch. AI researcher Dr. Emmanuel Maggiori in his incredible book Smart Until its Dumb, wrote that “we” already lived through an AI boom during the late 1950s and through to the 60s before interest waned and investment dried up in the 1980s as AI research failed to deliver anything tangible. He calls this “the AI winter”. AI has been around a long time, but it seems we’re only “now” realising its usefulness. Consider the fax machine, which was invented as an Electric Printing Telegraph in 1846. Though improving along the way, the tech finally reached mass adoption during the 1980s, Rogers’ writing “it took over 100 years for fax machines to become an overnight success.” AI – not exactly new. Possibly useful. So, what does that make it?

Innovative doesn’t mean new

An innovation, according to Rogers, must have a relative advantage to what came before, be compatible with existing values, easy to use and understand, well trialled, and delivers observable results.

So, we have to ask ourselves: how much “innovation” today is just bolting on Generative AI to something that we already have? Or, as Maggiori writes in his book, is it completely made up for the sake of appearing innovative? It seems as if some “innovators” took the advice Homer Simpson gave his half-brother Herb: “take an existing product and put a clock in it or something” instead of developing his truly innovative baby-to-English translator machine. Some companies are riding AI hype to inspire massive growth whether they produce anything practical or not. Some see it as a “remix” of the dot com bubble of the early 2000s.

When it comes to observable results demonstrating a relative advantage, Generative AI does seem to be improving performance in certain tasks, such as speeding up predictive analytics and coding. Though AI seemed to catch on like wildfire in 2023, businesses in 2024 are taking a step back and asking how AI can enhance business outcomes and where the value in AI truly comes from.

In sum, business needs to step back, think strategically, and figure out if the “innovation” being touted will improve anything. We can make the future a bit clearer by looking at “innovations” dead on and asking whether they’re able to – or will – return more than what we invest in them.

The post What LG’s 2018 AI phone failure can teach start-ups about innovation appeared first on Inside Small Business.

In case you’ve never used one, AI-powered search engines process and combine web results into one natural-language answer. They allows users to search the web via conversational queries with their Gen-AI model of choice, be it ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini.

“Getting useful answers on the web can take a lot of effort,” according to OpenAI. “Now, chat can get you to a better answer: Ask a question in a more natural, conversational way, and ChatGPT can choose to respond with information from the web.”

The concept is catching on, leaving many businesses to question what the rise of these tools means for their existing SEO strategies. Should businesses change their advertising methods or content?

Will businesses have to change their SEO strategy?

SEO expert Pulkit Agrawal thinks that it’s still too early to rethink your SEO strategy.

“Search as a whole is going through a tectonic shift and businesses should focus on it, but large scale adoption [of AI-powered search tools] is still not there,” said Agrawal. 

Agrawal adds that there is not a lot of publicly available information on how AI search results work. This means that even specialists like himself are still working out how best to make sure content ranks in its results.

Mini Cowburn-Cainer of Everyshot Marketing shared a similar sentiment. “Businesses will not have to change their strategies too much if they are already providing unique and thought leading content,” the marketer said.

Although AI-powered search tools might not be widespread now, the experts we spoke to expect them to stay – if not become the search method of the future.

“Just like Google became a source of trustworthy information 20 years ago, generative search will change the way people consume information and make informed purchasing decisions,” said Agrawal.

Building a reputation will be key

Some marketers and specialists are already preparing for the shift toward AI-powered search tools, but are adjusting existing SEO principles. For instance, building trust and reputation around your brand will still be relevant.

“Reviews and other trust signals, like backlinks, will continue to play a very important role,” said Cowburn-Cainer. “If you are a genuine local business and provide unique and useful content, this is only great news and a new avenue to find more business.” 

The marketer and SEO specialist found that a good local reputation caused one of her clients to rank higher on SearchGPT [the prototype for the current ChatGPT search] than they did on traditional search engines. The client was not coming up high in the search rankings due to old legacy tech issues with their website. However, when Cowburn-Cainer searched the client on SearchGPT, they came up in the top recommendations for services in their local area.

AI specialist Sue Ellson echoed this sentiment, “To appear in AI results, you need to have a lot of content about your business out there on multiple high domain authority websites so that the AI can put the pieces of the puzzle together and see that you are a reputable source,” she said.

As search technologies evolve, it seems small businesses should stick to what they do best: offering personalised support and trusted connections with their customers.

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As the founder and leader of both, Karen ensures everything stays on track.

“I keep everybody going,” she explains. “I determine the priorities, the outreach, talk to the law firms, understand their needs, and make sure that’s in our product.”

So, how does she juggle two thriving businesses at once?

Lists and metrics

“We’ve got lists of lists upon lists, and everything’s on a list,” Karen says.

This year, she’s working to consolidate everything into one comprehensive list. For each staff member, she keeps a single page detailing her priorities for them.

Karen also closely monitors business metrics. For example, she tracks how long it takes her team to complete tasks and uses that data to streamline operations.

“By knowing those metrics, I can make sure I’ve got people in place to do all the right things,” she says.

Making the most of technology

Karen describes herself as a “power user” of tech, embracing both well-known tools like Word and Excel and newer innovations. She credits her deep dive into technology as a key to her success.

“I’m the nerd that in the 90s, I was doing a job in town… on the bus on the way in and out, I had an Excel book, which I read cover to cover.”

She also makes it a priority to train her staff on the latest tech.

“When we have a huddle with the whole team, I always try and bring them something new that they can do with technology,” Karen says.

To ease the process of introducing new tech, Karen and her “offsider,” Gemma, test new products first. They document how to use them, then “drip feed” the information to the rest of the team.

“We will introduce [a new technology] to people as it’s relevant, but we also don’t want to overwhelm anyone. Gemma and I have the overall picture of the systems, and we just get other team members involved as it relates to their work.”

Systems and processes

Karen uses project management software called Start Infinity, a tool she and Gemma chose after trying several options. Along with this, she relies on Word, Excel, and QuickBooks to manage her operations.

Crucially, she uses her own software, Wise Owl Legal, in her accounting business for billing and document management.

“We run our accounting practice through Wise Owl Legal. That’s our document management and billing system. It then talks to QuickBooks in the back end.”

This integration allows Karen to effectively manage both businesses at once.

“If there’s something wrong [with Wise Owl], we find it first,” she says. “And, you know, people ring up the support, and they’re getting people who really know the product, which helps because it’s rare that we get a support call we can’t answer off the top of our heads.”

Both of Karen’s businesses are also entirely paperless, thanks to her introduction of PDF-XChange over a decade ago.

“We were already using Wise Owl and saving all our documents, but being able to effectively do all our editing on screen, do all our accounting work papers on screen has just been wonderful.”

When asked if she could have managed both businesses so effectively without her deep embrace of technology, Karen’s answer is simple.

“No.”

For Karen, new technologies aren’t just a “shiny new tool”, but essential to keeping her businesses thriving.

The post How this entrepreneur juggles two successful small businesses appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The Government-backed ARM Hub AI Adopt Centre is envisioned to not only provide practical guidance for SMEs on utilising AI, but also foster a collaborative, industry-led network with a focus on ethical and safe AI practices to ensure sustainable business growth.

The Centre was unveiled during the recent South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney as part of the Australian Government’s AI Month celebrations. Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub Founder and CEO Professor Cori Stewart shared that it would be a ‘front door’ to expertise, support and services that will foster AI-driven business growth.

“Many businesses feel uncertain about where to start with AI. The common barriers include a lack of data readiness, a skills gap, or simply not knowing which AI applications are relevant to their business. The Centre is offering access to practical solutions to help businesses move forward with AI,” Stewart said.

Stewart said that the Centre will be able to engage with up to 30,000 SMEs on their digital transformation journeys over the next three years as it would help them scale their innovative solutions. She added that participating SMEs will be able to tap into expertise from international companies such as Microsoft and Databricks, as well as local AI SMEs Data and Knowledge Enterprise and Raytracer.

“Australian industry is ready to invest in AI and robotics to increase its productivity and competitiveness. We’ve designed this Centre to provide practical pathways to de-risk the adoption and use of AI and Generative AI, helping businesses to make the most of this fast-moving frontier of technology,” Stewart said.

“Research shows AI and automation are expected to increase Australia’s productivity by up to 150 per cent. We want industries to be transforming their operations for long-term success by having their data organised, structured and ready for AI,” she added.

The ARM Hub AI Adopt Centre will complement the initiative of the Australian government to establish four centres under its AI Adopt Program to facilitate the safe and responsible use of AI by SMEs.

“The ARM Hub AI Adopt Centre is here to make businesses better using the benefits of AI and Generative AI. Our collaboration of 28 partners includes AI and robotics experts across Australia, which ensures we are delivering the best skillsets into all corners of the country,” Stewart concluded.

The post New ARM Hub AI Adopt centre to help SMEs harness AI appeared first on Inside Small Business.

One of the biggest challenges Victoria faced after her diagnosis was customer service interactions in retail, sport, recreation and tourism venues. “Firstly, not knowing what to expect can invoke nervousness and sometimes prevent me from participating,” she laments. “Secondly, having to constantly explain and repeat myself to service staff can be frustrating and awkward.”

After talking to a number of other people with disabilities, Victoria and her husband, Chris, were surprised to learn that these two barriers were consistent across a range of conditions and levels of ability. “We found there was a lack of information available to [help people] prepare before arriving at a venue and a lack of assurance of being treated with empathy once there,” she explains.

These conversations left Victoria resolved to develop a more inclusive and accessible customer service solution, bolstered by the fact that Chris is a renowned tech innovator. The couple worked on coming up with a mobile application that would help remove mental barriers and improve the customer-service experience across a range of activities. They launched their app, Cérge, in 2019.

Tech take-off; surviving COVID-19 

In preventing inadvertent discrimination and ensuring empathetic experiences during everyday shopping, travelling and participation in sport and recreation, Cérge makes use of two technological platforms. One is the Content Management Platform for Access and Inclusion, a pioneer and market-leader that provides information on accessibility of partner venues with tools that include virtual tours, virtual stories, sensory guides, audio guides, and digital communication boards.

The other platform is the Companion App, a communications platform that allows customers with a disability, parents, carers and support workers to discreetly inform a venue’s service staff before their arrival of essential ‘about me’ information. The app sends the details directly to a point-of-sale terminal, tablet, or phone, thus preventing the unconscious bias or unawareness of disability that contributes to the negative experiences disabled customers go through with customer-service teams.

“Imagine having your own personal disability advocate in your pocket to help overcome any social barriers, fears and anxieties to improve outcomes and reduce NDIS budget pressures,” Chris avers. “That is the power of Cérge.”

The app had already established a position in the market when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a challenge for the company.

“We sought to implement a technology that is all about improving participation and customer service in the real world, only for the sector to almost grind to a halt,” Victoria recalls.

Fortunately, Victoria and Chris were able to forge partnerships with businesses such as Belgravia Leisure, Belgravia Foundation and White’s IGA, which supported Cérge‘s vision and mission and saw the value for both their customers and the business.

The couple were also able to build an online community of people with lived experience with a disability, which has provided them with insights into their business strategy and product.

“Having such incredible support from both clients and customers has been invaluable, especially in the tough early days,” Victoria shares.

The company has successfully maintained an upward curve and last year achieved 341 per cent year-on-year growth and expanded its venue network from 29 to 128. This increase in venues all came via inbound enquiries. The company attributes its growth to the rise in awareness and genuine interest among the public, enterprises, NDIS, and local governments in improving inclusivity for people with a disability, which has brought about a shift in society towards a demand for improved experiences and inclusiveness on behalf of the disabled sector.

Growing to meet demand

Victoria and Chris found it difficult to keep up with the increased demand. So the couple decided to bring in additional help, most notably adding Matt Von der Muhll as Cérge’s chief operating officer in February 2024. Matt has previously led innovative technology firms as founder and overseen commercial activities and investments in various roles, including VP commercial and corporate development at Track160, director APAC at Respondology, co-founder and managing partner at Place Capital, and executive director at SpotXchange (now SpotX) and Adconion. Matt also worked with Chris at Unlockd, the start-up Chris co-founded; Matt served as chief operating and revenue officer.

“Matt’s experience and expertise scaling tech businesses globally is the perfect addition to the Cérge team at this intersection of our journey,” Chris enthuses.

With a foundational team in place with the leadership skills, expertise, and the lived experience needed in Cérge, the company is keen on addressing the increased demand for improved accessibility. A particular focus for the company is expanding its services to cater to airports and schools, while continuing to build on its services in the sport, retail, recreation and tourism sectors.

“Our greatest priority is to meet that demand and support our partner governments and enterprises with our innovative tech platforms and improve the lives of people with a disability at scale,” Chris says. “The next key hires will be paramount to our next phase of growth.”

Victoria and Chris are also keeping an eye out on the upcoming changes to the NDIS and the National Autism Strategy.

“With an increasing diagnosis across our population of both visible but mostly invisible disabilities, particularly certain types of autism and ADHD, it is increasingly urgent [that we have] a solution that enables individuals to feel comfortable and confident, to improve participation but with a downward pressure on disability budgets,” Chris says.

Looking abroad

There are also plans to expand internationally, especially into Southeast Asia and the Middle East, by 2025, leveraging the fact that more and more countries in those regions are placing accessibility and inclusion as top priorities for both government and business.

“We know our core product is profitable and converting the unmet enterprise and government demand into contracted commitments and delivery of our solution is key to scaling internationally,” Chris explains.

Ultimately, Victoria and Chris envision Cérge becoming the global standard for all access and inclusion solutions, and they believe Australia’s renown as an incubation market for tech start-ups and an early adopter of technology will play a key role in realising their goal.

“We are passionate about technology that is ethical, disruptive and sustainable,” Victoria says. “Hence, Cérge was born to improve the lives of up to 1.8 billion people living with a disability globally and to empower organisations to better support 1 in 5 of their customers. Cérge really is a win-win all round!”

This article first appeared in issue 45 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine

The post The start-up transforming customer service for people with disabilities appeared first on Inside Small Business.

For SMEs, embracing AI is crucial to navigating and adapting to future workforce changes, and workers are ready to rise to this challenge. A whopping 91 per cent of Australian workers say they are confident they can adapt to the changes AI will bring to their jobs, predominantly citing they feel ‘capable’ (43 per cent), ‘prepared’ (40 per cent) and ‘excited’ (33 per cent) about the prospect. With employees expressing a keen interest in acquiring AI skills to enhance their careers, SMEs can leverage this enthusiasm to drive innovation and efficiency within their businesses.

Evidence indicates that SMEs are already integrating AI tools into their workplaces, with 44 per cent of white-collar SME workers saying they are encouraged to use AI by their employer, and a further 48 per cent of these workers confirming their employer has offered training on how to use AI tools.

As businesses increasingly turn to AI to enhance content creation, provide insights into market dynamics, improve customer communication, tailor marketing to individual customers or streamline admin processes, having employees who are skilled in these tools becomes paramount.

On-the-job training in AI ensures that workers remain equipped and adaptable in the face of constantly evolving tech. Importantly, the focus of training on how to use AI tools should not be on comprehending the intricate technical details of AI, but rather in mastering how to effectively engage AI platforms to generate desired outputs. This strategic understanding will enable employees to harness AI capabilities without being overwhelmed by its complexity.

There are several ways for SMEs to implement AI training initiatives effectively, even with limited resources and manpower.

Leverage online learning platforms

SMEs can take advantage of numerous online learning platforms that provide a wide range of AI-related courses suitable for varying skill levels. Additionally, many of these platforms offer flexible scheduling options, allowing employees to learn at their own pace without disrupting daily operations. By investing in subscriptions or individual course purchases, SMEs can provide employees with valuable AI training resources without breaking the bank.

Utilise free resources and tools

In addition to formal training programs, SMEs can explore free resources and tools available in the AI ecosystem. Many reputable organisations, including tech giants like Google and Microsoft, offer free online courses, tutorials, and documentation on AI technologies and applications. SMEs can encourage employees to leverage these resources to deepen their understanding of AI concepts and gain hands-on experience with relevant tools and platforms.

Foster internal knowledge-sharing

SMEs can also tap into the existing expertise within their organisation to facilitate AI training initiatives. Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees can create a collaborative learning environment where individuals with AI skills mentor their colleagues. This approach not only minimises training costs but also strengthens team cohesion and morale. By harnessing the collective intelligence of their workforce, SMEs can cultivate a culture of continuous learning and innovation.

AI is the future work, and investing in relevant AI training can provide SMEs with a strategic advantage in today’s competitive business landscape. By embracing AI education initiatives and empowering their workforce with relevant skills, SMEs can adapt to evolving industry trends, enhance operational efficiency, and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation.

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