As the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) develops, lots of business owners are looking into the possibility of using it to take some of those pesky admin tasks off their plate when they are not quite ready to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).

And we’re all for it!

There are absolutely tasks that AI can do for you in a more cost effective way that a VA. But, there are also a lot of tasks where that lack of human input can have very serious repercussions on your business, customer service and reputation.

Navigating it can be a minefield, so we’ve put together this list of the 5 tasks that could be managed by an AI tool, and 3 that absolutely shouldn’t be…

Admin tasks AI can help you with

• Email Management: Now, we’re not saying here that AI should be replying to your emails for you. But, there are a lot of AI-powered tools out there that can efficiently analyse and sort your email inbox for you based on predefined rules. For example, softwares like HappyFox and Drag can filter spam, categorise messages, and even assign emails in a joint inbox to particular team members.
• Scheduling and Calendar Management: AI-driven virtual schedulers can find and suggest suitable meeting times by analysing both yours and your clients calendars. Tools like Calendly’s AI Assistant and Doodle help to streamline your processes and take the back and forth out of scheduling a call or meeting with someone.
• Social Media Management: AI tools can schedule posts, analyse engagement metrics, and even respond to basic customer inquiries, freeing up yours or your VAs time to focus on creating engaging content and building brand presence. Some good examples of these that have actually been around for a while now are Hootsuite and Buffer.
• Automating your Workflow: From lead scoring and nurturing to personalised email campaigns, platforms like Hubspot and Zapier can help to analyse your customers behaviours and preferences, to streamline your sales funnel. By automating some of these processes, it will help to ensure that leads aren’t slipping through the cracks.
• Content Idea Generation: Now this one comes with a huge warning that AI should not be creating all of your content for you. The reason behind this is that it very rarely sounds like you and it loses the personal aspect of any piece, potentially breaking trust with your clients. That being said, tools like ChatGPT and Copy.ai are amazing for content ideas generation. In a very short amount of time they can come up with hundreds of different blog titles and post suggestions around your given topic that you can then create and schedule.

Automating a lot of these tasks can not only help to streamline your internal processes, but they can also help you to save time and work more efficiently and strategically. Plus, automating some of these administrative tasks that drain your time and energy will give you more headspace and time to focus on the job you love.

And that leads us on to this… As tempting as it may be, here are 3 tasks that you should absolutely not be handing over to AI.

Admin tasks AI that need that personal touch

• Creative Content Creation: While AI can help you to generate content, that doesn’t mean that it should. The biggest flaw with these tools is that they can never know a) how you talk so that your copy sounds authentic, and b) they will never know your customers as well as you do so any copy it creates will struggle to resonate with the people that matter most. It might be factually correct and might even pull out the same points on your chosen topic that you would, but what it lacks is the human touch and creativity required for creating compelling marketing copies, blog posts, or designs.
• Client Relationship Management: One of the most important points that many small businesses pride themselves on is the personal service that they offer to their clients. Strong client relationships are built through those personal interactions where customers feel like they’re being heard. And that relationship can be damaged really quickly if they are being sent in circles by an online chat bot, don’t have the opportunity to talk to an actual human being on the phone or keep receiving uninspiring and impersonal emails that have clearly been sent out in bulk. This is where a VA would be a far more valuable asset to your business.
• Strategic Decision Making: While AI is a powerful tool for many aspects of your business, it shouldn’t be solely relied upon for strategic decision-making. AI operates on predefined algorithms and data patterns, which means that it lacks that human intuition and emotional intelligence that often makes the difference between a long term strategic solution and one that won’t progress your business. That’s not to say that AI can support your decision-making process by providing insights, but it should always be secondary to human analysis, critical thinking, and creativity to ensure your choices are well-rounded and informed for long-term success.