Great question! AI can definitely streamline tasks for small business owners, though our recent survey found that nearly 60% don’t use it. For those who are interested in using AI, here are some that can make a difference: Virtual assistants: Tools like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant can manage schedules, set reminders and control smart devices, saving you time. AI chatbots: Platforms like Manychat or Tidio handle repetitive customer inquiries, freeing up your time for more complex interactions. Data analysis tools: IBM Watson or Google Looker Studio help make sense of your data with visual reports and actionable insights. Document processing: AI tools automate tasks like invoice processing, reducing manual errors and improving efficiency. Expense trackers: Tools like Expensify streamline financial tracking and organize expenses with ease. Meeting assistants: Apps like Otter.ai record and transcribe meetings, ensuring you focus on what matters during discussions. Insurance solutions: For those in industries requiring Certificates of Insurance (COIs), companies like NEXT have tools that generate COIs instantly, helping you land jobs or submit bids faster. NEXT’s survey shows that small business owners primarily use AI for marketing, customer service and scheduling. If you’re just getting started, focus on tools that address your most time-consuming tasks. We recently had a discussion about it over in another sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/NextInsurance/comments/1ibjxco/2024_survey_data_how_small_businesses_use_ai/ Answer from MattfromNEXT on reddit.com
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IT Pro
itpro.com › home › technology › artificial intelligence
The best AI tools for business to try today | IT Pro
September 5, 2023 - A quick round up of some of the best AI tools for business, including everything from image generators to interview practice
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/entrepreneur › what are the best ai tools that actually help your business?
r/Entrepreneur on Reddit: What are the best AI tools that ACTUALLY help your business?
March 28, 2024 -

Looking for suggestions for some decent AI tools that actually help increase productivity! Besides the standard ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjurney, etc. I'll get the ball rolling-

I recently came across a pretty useful tool on this sub called https://www.talonic.ai/ it basically lets you talk to your database. You can upload a bunch of spreadsheets and ask questions to generate insights or combine certain data into 1 spreadsheet through prompts. I've seen a couple versions of this concept before, but the issue I faced was that the AI would hallucinate a lot with the large amounts of data I threw at it, which hasn't happened here yet. They also surf and get you internet data through prompts but i haven't utilised that feature a lot.

Not sponsored or anything- just something which actually ended up increasing our productivity! Would love to hear about similar tools you're using for your businesses!

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Great question! AI can definitely streamline tasks for small business owners, though our recent survey found that nearly 60% don’t use it. For those who are interested in using AI, here are some that can make a difference: Virtual assistants: Tools like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant can manage schedules, set reminders and control smart devices, saving you time. AI chatbots: Platforms like Manychat or Tidio handle repetitive customer inquiries, freeing up your time for more complex interactions. Data analysis tools: IBM Watson or Google Looker Studio help make sense of your data with visual reports and actionable insights. Document processing: AI tools automate tasks like invoice processing, reducing manual errors and improving efficiency. Expense trackers: Tools like Expensify streamline financial tracking and organize expenses with ease. Meeting assistants: Apps like Otter.ai record and transcribe meetings, ensuring you focus on what matters during discussions. Insurance solutions: For those in industries requiring Certificates of Insurance (COIs), companies like NEXT have tools that generate COIs instantly, helping you land jobs or submit bids faster. NEXT’s survey shows that small business owners primarily use AI for marketing, customer service and scheduling. If you’re just getting started, focus on tools that address your most time-consuming tasks. We recently had a discussion about it over in another sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/NextInsurance/comments/1ibjxco/2024_survey_data_how_small_businesses_use_ai/
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Jasper helps a lot to our content writer, and Sintra ai connects data from different sources like CRM, analytics, and outreach tools, then gives insights through its bots. Super usefull for reporting and spot trends faster.
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Zapier
zapier.com › app picks › best apps
The best AI productivity tools in 2026 | Zapier
February 15, 2023 - Zapier is built to help your tools and AI work together seamlessly across 8,000+ apps. It's a hub that lets you do everything from analyzing business data with AI to creating entire automated systems that react instantly (and intelligently) ...
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Marketer Milk
marketermilk.com › blog › ai-marketing-tools
26 best AI marketing tools I'm using to get ahead in 2025 | Marketer Milk
August 18, 2025 - Discover the 26 best AI marketing tools some of the biggest brands use today. Learn how marketing teams are using artificial intelligence to grow fast.
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LivePlan
liveplan.com › blog › planning › ai-business-plan-writing-tools-ranked
I Spent 15+ Hours Testing AI Business Plan Writers — Here Are the 8 “Best” | LivePlan
I spent around 15 hours testing some of the latest AI-powered business plan writers and generators to find out. Here is my experience (and rankings) for each tool, so you can skip all the testing and just start using the best AI business plan writing tools.
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Synthesia
synthesia.io › home › synthesia blog › the 45 best ai tools for 2025 (tried and tested)
The 45 Best AI Tools in 2025 (Tried & Tested)
1 month ago - An in-depth guide to the 45 best AI tools including the best AI assistants, video generators, automation tools, app builders, and more.
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
I Tested 500+ AI Tools, These 12 Will Blow Up Your Business - YouTube
✅ Get access to my Executive Assistant Playbook: https://go.danmartell.com/47iE3VW👥 Are you building an AI software company? Partner with me: https://go.dan...
Published   October 31, 2025
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Google Workspace
workspace.google.com › solutions › ai
AI Tools for Business | Google Workspace
Google Meet has been extremely transformative for us with regards to bringing people together and collaborating. Now, with Gemini in Meet in preview, we’ve been really impressed with how it can take meeting notes, from bulletizing to capturing action items. I don’t even need to make edits to what comes back in the Google Doc. Ashley Hatter, Senior Director, Enterprise Technology Trellix · Our AI policy is 'people first.' NotebookLM is an incredible augmented intelligence tool that just works, is very performant, and does what it says it does.
Published   January 15, 2025
Find elsewhere
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RingCentral
ringcentral.com › home › top 20 ai tools for business
20 Top AI Tools For Business Collaboration, Productivity & More
September 25, 2025 - The best AI apps for business can help with things like collaboration and productivity, workflow automation, content creation, and more · AI tools encompass any software that leverages artificial intelligence technologies to streamline business operations and processes.
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The Neuron
theneuron.ai › top-tools
Top AI Tools for Business and Work (Updated 2024)
The best content tool for most businesses. ... A content writer built for enterprises. ... Long-form video to short-form video in one go. ... Turn good writing into a good podcast. ... The most conversational AI we’ve ever seen.
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Simplilearn
simplilearn.com › home › resources › ai & machine learning › the top 10 ai tools for business in 2026
The Top 10 AI Tools for Business in 2026
October 31, 2023 - Unleash the power of AI in 2025 to transform your business: discover the top 10 game-changing AI tools for customer service, sales forecasting, and more!
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Celonis
celonis.com › blog › what-ai-tools-do-businesses-use-today
What AI tools do businesses use today?
According to a Forbes Advisor survey, ... organizations – are customer service, cybersecurity and fraud management, digital personal assistants, customer relationship management, and inventory management....
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HubSpot
blog.hubspot.com › sales › small-business-ai-tools
AI for small businesses: 22 essential tools for real business growth
October 20, 2025 - The free plan includes planning and publishing tools, the landing page builder, and Buffer’s AI Assistant for up to three social media channels. Marketers can also schedule 10 posts at a time per channel, which is amazing for a free plan. Best for: Solos and small teams on 1-3 channels. Price: Free plan available. What I like: It’s so affordable. If you’re a small business, you’re likely not on all the social media platforms.
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Upmetrics
upmetrics.co › business plan software › 10 best ai business plan generators (tried & tested) – 2025
10 Best AI Business Plan Generators (Free & Paid) - Save Time
September 26, 2025 - At $20, it’s cheaper than most AI business plan tools, but you still need spreadsheets or planning software to assemble everything. The fee makes sense if you see ChatGPT as an AI research and drafting assistant. After testing both tiers, I’d say ChatGPT only works if you’re on the paid plan. At $20/month, GPT-4 delivers longer, more coherent outputs and deeper responses that (while not flawless) are close enough to usable once you verify them. For me, ChatGPT is best seen as a drafting partner, not a planning tool.
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Futurepedia
futurepedia.io › home › ai tools › business
AI Business Tools & Software for 2025
Tools for streamlined hiring, training, and HR management. ... Revolutionize hiring with AI-driven automated voice interviews. ... AI-driven platform optimizing recruitment, retention, and workforce planning. ... Transform hiring: AI-driven video interviews, global candidate reach. ... Automate hiring, streamline communication, integrate seamlessly. ... Boost sales strategies with AI-driven insights and automation. ... Streamline business operations with AI-driven chatbots and automation.
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Pipedrive
pipedrive.com › blog › 18 top ai tools for business productivity
18 Top AI Tools for Business | Pipedrive
August 1, 2025 - Email is a critical tool for sales collaboration and outreach, but it can also be time-consuming for busy teams. According to a Microsoft study, workers spend an average of 8.8 hours a week reading and writing emails. The AI business tools below help you streamline activities to claw back some of that time. Best for creating sales emails and managing customer and team interactions.
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Lindy
lindy.ai › blog › best-ai-business-ops
10 Best AI for Business Operations in 2025: Tested Manually | Lindy
May 1, 2024 - Discover the 10 best AI tools for business operations in 2025, tested hands-on to help founders and ops leaders save time and boost efficiency.
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ThoughtSpot
thoughtspot.com › data-trends › ai › best-ai-tools-for-business
Best AI Tools for Business Efficiency in 2025
3 weeks ago - According to McKinsey, AI-driven automation could drive labor productivity growth of 0.1 to 0.6% annually through 2040, making it a key driver of long-term business efficiency. The challenge isn’t whether to use AI—it’s choosing the right tool for the job. To help, we’ve compiled a list of the best AI tools for business efficiency in 2025, covering everything from analytics and chatbots to content creation, productivity, and project management.
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Microsoft
microsoft.com › en-us › ai
Microsoft AI Tools and Solutions | Microsoft AI
Explore in-depth resources, real ... ... Get best practices and insights to jump-start your AI transformation with Microsoft 365 Copilot....
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Storychief
storychief.io › blog › ai-tools-for-business
20 Best AI Tools for Business in 2025
September 30, 2025 - Discover the best 20 AI tools transforming business in 2025. Boost efficiency and drive growth with our expert picks. StoryChief, Grammarly, Notion and more