Using AI for business in northeastern Ontario: an entrepreneur and a business owner weigh in

Using AI for business in northeastern Ontario: an entrepreneur and a business owner weigh in

'We're not stuffing this technology back in the box': expert

Jake Feick, a young entrepreneur from Sudbury, Ont., believes small businesses that don’t use artificial intelligence (AI) will fall behind.

“Having an automated internet presence, not having to lift a finger, right? Like that's revolutionary,” he said.

“Some people don't even have an internet presence for their business right now. So having it all automated, you know, even automatic scheduling for social media, it's everything, right?”

Feick started his business, Backend Solutions, to offer a more affordable option for small business owners that need help implementing AI.

“AI prices for automation agencies right now are centred towards larger companies,” he said.

“And it just doesn't make sense to me because I think that these AI automation services are way more impactful for a small business who's trying to grow, you know, someone who wants more.”

Feick said small and medium-sized businesses can use AI to automate email and social media campaigns, generate invoices for customers and handle customer interactions with chatbots.

Mixed results at car dealership network

Vince Palladino, president of the Palladino Auto Group in Sudbury, which owns multiple dealerships in the area, said the organization has been using AI systems for a few years now, with mixed results.

“When we let our AI tools run on their own, I would say it's like a 50 per cent satisfaction rate right now,” he said.

Palladino said his dealerships still rely on human interactions with customers and use AI in a limited way, often to generate sales leads and initial interactions with customers.

He added that the Palladino Group’s current use of AI costs more to implement than it saves the company.

“Currently it hasn't replaced any jobs in our industry, or at least with my group or organization,” he said.

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Over the long term, Palladino said autonomous robots able to handle repairs and maintenance on vehicles could be a “game changer” for the industry.

Jules Ducharme, a computer science professor at Collège Boréal in Sudbury, said he believes overuse of AI for customer service can be a disadvantage for small businesses.

“If you have a chatbot that answers for you, it's a bit bizarre because you're kind of like saying, ‘You're not important yet for me,’” he said.

Ducharme said small businesses should focus on human connection that is lost when customers deal with large corporations. But he added that AI can be useful when smaller businesses want to create promotional content or even improve their products and services.

Carmi Levy, a technology analyst and journalist based in London, Ont., said that while there isn’t much hard data available on how small businesses are benefiting from AI, there is anecdotal evidence it is helpful in some cases.

“A lot of small businesses that use them [AI agents] say it frees them up to focus on the things that are of higher value to them,” he said.

Levy said that ultimately, customers want their questions answered accurately. Whether the answer comes from a chatbot or a human doesn’t matter as long as the interaction is transparent — and the customer knows they’re not interacting with a real person.

“We're not stuffing this technology back in the box. It is out there,” he said.

“The benefits to organizations of using [AI agents] are too compelling for them to stop at this point. It can drive productivity. It can allow them to fight outside their weight class, grow faster than would otherwise be the case, and satisfy customers in ways that even if they hired thousands of humans and sat them on the phone, they simply wouldn't be able to do.”

Jonathan Migneault is a CBC reporter/editor based in Sudbury. He is always looking for good stories about northeastern Ontario. Send story ideas to jonathan.migneault@cbc.ca.