Members who attended our free workshop on Wednesday 4 June acquired realistic and practical advice about using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve business efficiency.

The presenter was Cameron Rule, Director of Downtime Assassin, one of our Associate Members.

Cameron began with an overview of AI including its evolution since the 1950s and growing role in productivity.

A key point is that AI is already part of many common business tools. Rather than fearing it, we should embrace the opportunities for automating certain tasks so we can focus on critical aspects of our work.

As one example of AI how improves efficiency, Cameron demonstrated Fyxer, an email management system that declutters inboxes, drafts email replies and integrates with scheduling systems and meeting platforms.

Cameron also discussed the following examples.

• Quoting: Job management platforms such as Simpro incorporate AI and connect to suppliers to ensure accurate pricing in quotes.
• Content creation: Tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot (integrated into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams) can create social media posts, website content, images and plain English explanations that help customers understand complex problems.
• Meeting transcription and summarisation: Tools such as Fyxer, Otter and Fireflies can capture everything said in a meeting and create draft transcripts and summaries.

Cameron made it clear there are risks associated with AI, such as when it provides confident answers that are false. A smart tip is to use multiple tools and cross-check the results.

A live prompting exercise demonstrated how the quality of AI output depends on the instructions (prompts) that human users provide. This shows the importance of ensuring staff receive adequate training and know AI is a tool they must use with care.

Cameron also gave guidance on choosing the right AI tools, discussed the future of AI and AI agents that take the place of human beings, and touched on the concept of superintelligence.

He believes trades roles are safe for now, but we can expect disruption to administration-heavy roles and junior white-collar jobs.

Cameron’s advice to business owners is to embrace AI and start trialling AI tools. Business owners should also be drafting a company AI policy, training staff on best practices for using AI and ensuring they use AI for repetitive work only, not critical decision-making.