Top 7 ways small businesses are using AI for time management

Limited resources and staff often mean every minute counts for small business owners. Artificial intelligence (AI) for small businesses has become a powerful tool for helping businesses improve productivity and streamline operations. 

Integrating AI into your business isn’t just about embracing technological changes—it’s about unlocking your and your team’s potential. Automating tasks and getting data-driven insights can give you an advantage, with 70% of small businesses believing AI can help them compete with larger companies, according to the Intuit QuickBooks AI survey. 

While AI has been in development for years, it’s still imperfect. When using any AI tool, be sure to check it for accuracy, correctness, bias, and IP implications. AI tools continue to help with time management needs, but remember you know your business best, so should always have oversight over your AI tools. 

Let’s look at the top seven ways businesses are using AI for time management, the top tools they’re using, and tips for implementing these tools into your workflow: 

1. Scheduling
2. Task management
3. Project management
4. Time tracking
5. Note-taking
6. Email management
7. Finance management

1. Scheduling

Scheduling is a must for any small business, but it can be time-consuming. AI can help with calendar management and optimizing your schedule. Beyond increasing your productivity, using AI for scheduling tasks and meetings can also improve customer service and save time for your employees.

AI calendars go beyond traditional smart calendar features like reminders. They can suggest meeting times based on your preferences, availability, and goals. For example, look for AI schedulers with features like:

• The ability to define your availability: You set your working hours, block out personal time, and indicate preferred meeting lengths. 
• Team calendar syncing: Choose who to involve and share your availability with specific people or teams. 
• Calendar management optimization: Get suggestions on suitable times that work best for you. 

Potential tools for AI scheduling include AI-powered calendar assistants like Clockwise and email assistants for scheduling meetings like Clara. While calendar apps streamline the process by suggesting times and automating reminders, the final say on scheduling always rests with you.

Instead of endless email threads or phone calls, AI scheduling assistants can handle the entire process. Shifting from reactive to proactive scheduling can save you time and reduce the back-and-forth of coordinating meetings.

2. Task management

Small business task management goes hand-in-hand with scheduling. AI can help small businesses automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks to free up valuable time. Key features to look for in AI task management tools include task prioritization, which analyzes your workload, deadlines, and working habits to organize your tasks. 

Another feature is auto-time blocking, which blocks out time for specific tasks by considering existing commitments and ideal working hours. AI-powered task management is similar to a virtual assistant, taking on the more mundane and repetitive tasks but also using data insights to prioritize items. 

AI tools like Motion and Reclaim can automatically schedule and prioritize your tasks based on importance and deadlines—allowing you to focus on high-value activities that require your expertise and attention.

By eliminating the mental bandwidth of managing tasks, you free up brainpower for the work itself. This can mean faster task completion, improved focus, and reduced stress.

3. Project management

Small business owners often juggle multiple projects at the same time. AI project management tools help with time management by optimizing resource allocation and providing real-time insights.

AI project management tools offer a more automated way to: 

• Collaborate
• Assign tasks
• Set deadlines
• Track project progress

Project management platforms can utilize AI to automate task assignments based on expertise and workload. AI project management tools include the likes of Wrike, Asana, and ClickUp.

When AI can help start a project and assign tasks, it can also help flag delays or roadblocks, allowing you to proactively address them before they impact your timeline.

Note that AI cannot replace the human element for project success. Project managers will still need to define project goals, make strategic decisions about resource allocation, manage stakeholders, and motivate teams.

4. Time tracking

AI time-tracking tools can connect scheduling data with AI capabilities, allowing users to maximize workforce productivity. These tools go beyond simply logging hours by providing unique insights into how time is spent, and where it might be better allocated. Over 60% of small businesses say that saving time is a key benefit of using AI.

AI can identify areas that are slowing down production or processes, allowing for improvements. The result is the ability to lower costs and create faster turnaround times. The benefits of using time-tracking AI tools include: 

• Productivity insights: Accurate time tracking can reveal inefficiencies and bottlenecks.
• Data-driven decisions: Personalized productivity reports can allow you and your managers to make informed choices. 
• Workflow optimization: Discover patterns in your business and get suggestions on how to streamline your processes.
• Realistic goal-setting: By understanding your average task completion times, you can set achievable goals and avoid burnout.

AI-powered time tracking isn't just about knowing where your hours go—it's about gaining actionable insights. Look for tools that can analyze your work patterns and provide insightful reports or recommendations. Popular AI time-tracking tools include Timely, RescueTime, and Toggl Track.

Note that AI time tracking isn’t for micromanaging employees. It's about empowering them to work smarter and reach their full potential.

5. Note-taking

Efficient and quick note-taking can be an important task for most business owners. AI tools go beyond simple note-taking, offering features like idea capture and auto-to-text transcription.  

Tools like Evernote and Notion can help you take quick notes and reminders, as well as extract text from images. Then organize those notes in folders and categories so you can quickly find and reference them later. 

With audio-to-text transcription, AI can convert audio from meetings, interviews, or customer interactions into written notes. AI tools like Otter.ai transcribe recordings into text and summarize the content, saving time and making it possible to quickly review conversations.

AI-powered note-taking can help small businesses further streamline their workflow and ensure no valuable idea slips through the cracks. While these tools can help optimize efficiency, be sure to have a human double check before relying on the transcripts.

6. Email management

AI-powered email management means no more sifting through endless threads to find urgent customer questions or missing critical order updates. Such tools analyze your inbox and prioritize emails based on sender, subject, keywords, and past interactions. This ensures that you see the most important emails first. 

For example, an e-commerce business might use AI email tools to automatically filter customer inquiries about orders, flag potential shipping delays, or even highlight positive reviews for social media marketing. 

AI can also help manage your contact list and notify you of updated contact information based on email signatures.

AI tools that can help with things like prioritizing emails and contact management include Superhuman and SaneBox. These tools can also help create custom folders for different types of emails.

By leveraging AI for email management, you save time, improve customer relationship management, and stay organized.

7. Finance management

While not all small businesses spend a lot of time taking notes or managing emails, nearly all consider financial management a priority for success—45% of small businesses say that more accurate business forecasting is a key benefit of AI.  

AI-powered tools streamline financial operations, offering personalized insights and simplifying decision-making. The biggest features of using AI finance tools include: 

• Simplified financial tasks: Automate repetitive tasks like invoice generation, expense tracking, transaction categorization, and financial report preparation. 
• Personalized insights: Recommendations from your business data, such as cost-saving opportunities, financial forecasts, or optimal pricing strategies.
• Easier decision-making: AI tools present financial information in intuitive dashboards and visualizations, allowing small business owners to quickly grasp their financial health and make confident decisions. 

Intuit Assist is a powerful AI tool that leverages your QuickBooks data to provide actionable insights and automate financial tasks. Use it to help you identify trends, track key metrics, and avoid potential financial challenges.

As technology continues to advance, small businesses embracing AI will gain a competitive edge, positioning themselves for growth and success.

Best practices for AI time management

AI time management tools can help small businesses boost productivity. Here are some tips to ensure you’re getting the most from AI time management tools: 

• Take inventory of your time: Identify repetitive, time-consuming tasks and see if there are ways to automate them with AI. 
• Do a cost-benefit analysis: Look at the time commitment or financial investment you’ll need to make for each tool AI implementation. While there may be upfront costs, the long-term gains in time management often outweigh them.
• Ensure a security-first approach: Prioritize the data security of your and your customer’s data and information by implementing data protection measures.
• Tailor AI to your specific needs: Customize AI tools to align with your specific business processes, industry, and company size. 
• Keep a human touch: While AI offers valuable insights, remember that human judgment is still important. Strike a balance between relying on AI and leveraging human expertise. 

Note that not all tools will work for your business or processes. For example, while some business owners may find using an AI time-tracking tool helpful, others may find it more cumbersome than using simpler productivity hacks, like the Pomodoro technique.  

AI tools are still novel and will improve over time. Ensure the tools you use are providing accurate results—even on basic things like summarization—and be aware that many tools are still developing and should be used with human oversight.

Run your business with confidence

No magic tool solves all of our time management challenges. Small businesses can, however, free up time for strategic thinking and planning by automating tasks. AI time management tools are a great starting point. 

As AI technology evolves, expect more tools and solutions promising to enhance productivity and optimize workflows. When embracing such tools, consider your own bandwidth for vetting and testing and the costs. 

Look for an AI-driven accounting automation platform like QuickBooks that offers multiple tools in one. 

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Based on U.S. Intuit Assist Beta customers using outstanding invoice notifications and AI-drafted invoice reminder features, compared to customers sending standard invoice reminders to the same customers, from January 2024 to August 2024. Not available in QuickBooks Online Advanced.