6 AI Tools That Can Help Business Owners Work Smarter
Between managing operations, meetings, emails, finances, marketing, and keeping clients happy, it’s hard to find a business owner that isn’t stretched thin (in fact we aren’t sure that one exists…). That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in.
No longer just a buzzword, AI is now part of many people’s everyday workflow. Whilst not yet perfected, AI is certainly at a stage where tools exist to help business owners save time, reduce manual tasks, and make smarter decisions. Whether you’re a solo operator, a growing SME, or managing a larger team, these tools are designed to streamline the stuff that clogs up your day.
Here are some AI tools that we use and a few more that are popular with Australian business owners:
1. Brieff – simplify client communication
What it does:
Brieff helps businesses collect client input and project briefs in a more structured and efficient way. Rather than getting half-baked info through long email chains or messy forms, Brieff uses smart templates and automation to gather everything you need from clients in a clean, streamlined format. Business owners know that process is everything and Brieff helps our process be more clear cut and efficient for clients, avoids scope creep on our end and elevates our professionalism more broadly.
How it helps you:
- Cuts down on back-and-forth emails and admin time
- Ensures you get the right information upfront
- Speeds up onboarding and quoting processes
- Helps avoid scope creep by clarifying expectations
How you can use it:
- Send check-ins to clients before meetings where they can fill out bite-sized questionnaires via email, SMS or the Brieff app. It means that the initial part of meetings where time is often spent catching each other up is now unnecessary
- These answers help you to walk in better prepared for the meeting too. It means you can do some of the work beforehand which is ideal for everyone involve
Brieff is especially handy for service-based businesses like designers, marketers, consultants, and accountants. We find this one particularly handy for syncing with our calendars and client check-ins. It records and summarises virtual and in person meetings.
2. Fireflies – notetaker for meetings
What it does:
Whilst Brieff can’t be beaten (in our eyes) for advisory efficiencies, Fireflies is a great all rounder no matter what industry you’re in when it comes to meeting assistance. It joins your Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet calls, records the conversation, and automatically generates transcriptions, summaries, and action items.
How it helps you:
- Never take manual meeting notes again
- Quickly revisit who said what and when
- Get automatic summaries and follow-up tasks
- Keep everyone aligned, especially in remote or hybrid teams
Fireflies is a game-changer if you’re juggling multiple meetings and don’t want important details falling through the cracks.
3. ChatGPT – your brainstorming buddy
What it does:
ChatGPT is a conversational AI tool that can generate ideas, draft content, answer questions, summarise documents, and help with strategic thinking. The trick is nailing your prompts and once you do that, it can answer nearly anything for you.
How it helps you:
- Draft emails, proposals, blog posts, and reports
- Brainstorm marketing campaigns or product ideas
- Summarise lengthy documents or regulations
- Use it as a sounding board for decisions and planning
Business owners love ChatGPT because it’s like having a super-knowledgeable (and lightning-fast) assistant available 24/7. Remember that it’s information isn’t necessarily 100% accurate so if you’re using it to relay information or inform decision making in a specialised area (like finance or law), we still recommend you check the answers with your own research and/or real person in that field.
4. Syft Analytics – turn your numbers into insights
What it does:
Syft is an AI-powered analytics and reporting tool that connects with your Xero account to turn raw financial data into beautiful, digestible reports and dashboards. As you can imagine, this one really gets us going!
How it helps you:
- Understand your business performance at a glance
- Create easy-to-understand reports for stakeholders or investors
- Forecast cash flow and spot trends early
- Compare performance across periods or entities
- Collaborate with your accountant in real time
If financial reports give you a headache, Syft makes them visual, interactive, and easy to interpret—even if you’re not a numbers person. Already on Xero? Turn on your Syft connection and start exploring what it can do for you.
5. Descript – AI-powered audio & video editing
What it does:
Creating content for your marketing is really time consuming and even if it’s outsourced, editing is also one of the most time consuming pieces for a marketing agency. Descript lets you edit video and audio as if you’re editing a document. You can cut out filler words, correct mistakes, and even generate voiceovers using AI.
How it helps you:
- Create professional podcasts, training videos, or content quickly
- Automatically transcribe interviews or team recordings
- Save time with drag-and-drop editing and AI cleanup tools
- Make social media clips with captions in minutes
Perfect for businesses using content marketing or internal training videos.
6. Tidio – customer support chatbot
What it does:
Tidio combines live chat with an AI chatbot that can automatically answer customer queries, recommend products, and escalate complex issues to a human. We all know this isn’t a new concept and we’ve all had a painful experience with AI chatbots but they’re significantly improved and worth another go if you simply don’t have the resources to be manually replying.
How it helps you:
- Instantly respond to common questions
- Reduce workload on your customer service team
- Improve customer experience and lead conversion
- Available 24/7—even when you’re not
Especially useful for ecommerce or service-based businesses with lots of web traffic.
So there you have it – a starter’s guide to dipping your toe into the AI water. Another way to think about it is to consider where a lot of your time is being spent, or where bottlenecks are being created in your business. Then, have a search for AI tools that could potentially help solve the problem. We bet something exists!
As always, if you want to chat through the ways tech can help your business, we would love to help.
