MSME Day: How AI is Empowering Indian Small Businesses with GoDaddy's Apurva Palnitkar

As MSME Day approaches, we'll be diving deep into how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is empowering Indian small businesses. We're joined today by Apurva Palnitkar, Senior Director of Marketing at GoDaddy India.

Get ready to learn about the specific AI tools offers to help businesses with domain selection, marketing, and overall operations. We'll also explore the challenges faced by small businesses in adopting AI and how GoDaddy's resources can help them overcome these hurdles. 

How has digitalization, including the use of AI, improved work processes for small businesses, and what are the expectations for growth in the coming years?

It’s an exciting time for small businesses in India. AI is no longer just a buzzword; it’s a game-changer. Recent findings from our GoDaddy's 2024 Entrepreneurship Survey reveal that 94% of Indian small business owners believe AI implementation would yield tangible positive outcomes. Interestingly, the areas respondents deemed most likely to benefit from AI include marketing (65%), business planning and strategy (61%), and customer service (52%). These findings suggest that AI has the potential to significantly impact the core functionalities of Indian small business owners. 

AI can enhance marketing efforts by analyzing customer information, like shopping trends, which allows for personalized campaigns. It can also improve business planning with analytics that track trends and optimize operations. Chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine inquiries, provide real-time online assistance, and process transactions. 

After learning more about the benefits of using AI technologies, small businesses are anticipated to continue to adopt Generative AI driven tools and solutions. At GoDaddy, we've launched a free guide to help small business owners and entrepreneurs embrace AI confidently. AI is a transformative force, and businesses that adopt it can thrive, while seeing substantial growth and efficiency gains.

What AI tools do you offer for domain name selection, and how do these tools enhance branding and customer exposure for businesses?

We are is leveraging the power of AI to revolutionize how businesses, organizations, and individuals identify the right domain name for them. Our suite of AI-driven tools exemplifies this innovation.

Our AI Domain Search capability provides personalized domain suggestions tailored to the unique needs of each user, based on their inputs of desired needs It's not just about finding an available domain; it's about finding one that enhances your branding and facilitates accurate customer exposure. This is particularly important for entrepreneurs and small businesses getting started, as the right domain can build brand recognition, improve search engine visibility, and build credibility with customers.

Here’s how it works: users enter a description of their business or a few relevant keywords, and the AI Domain Search tool takes over. Utilizing generative AI technology, it offers creative, unique, and brandable domain name suggestions that align with the business description, idea, product, or service.

What is the role of AI in improving customer service and creating a better customer experience? 

Considering that our global survey found that 52% of Indian small businesses believe AI can help with customer service, there are various ways they could leverage AI to help them in this area.  

For example, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can help provide 24/7 online support. AI can also help with personalization. By analyzing customer data, AI can offer tailored recommendations and solutions based on individual preferences and behaviors. These insights enable companies to make informed business decisions that can further enhance their strategies and services.

Efficiency and speed are other key benefits. AI systems can quickly process and analyze vast amounts of data, providing rapid responses to inquiries, helping to resolve issues more quickly.

Proactive support is another area where use of AI technology can be beneficial. It can help to predict potential issues and offer solutions before customers are even aware of the problem. This proactive approach can help to prevent issues from escalating and contributes to a smoother customer journey.

What are the potential future applications of AI in areas like marketing, business planning & strategy, and the overall operations of a small business?

AI has the potential to transform small business operations, particularly in marketing, business planning, strategy, and the overall customer experience. Our Global Entrepreneurship survey revealed that 94% of small business owners in India recognize AI's potential in these areas.

In marketing, AI can enhance personalized customer experiences through targeted advertising, predictive analytics for sales trends, and task automation. In business planning and strategy, AI produced data can help to improve decision-making, identify new market opportunities, and enhance financial forecasting accuracy. Additionally, AI can also significantly improve customer experiences by aiding businesses understand and anticipate customer needs.

Notably, 97% of small business owners stated that digitalization has noticeably improved their work processes, showing a strong readiness to integrate AI into their operations. This underscores the concept that digital transformation, including AI adoption, is a strategic necessity for SMEs in today's connected and competitive world.

What challenges do small businesses face in understanding and implementing AI, and how can AI services and resources help overcome these challenges?

According to our GoDaddy survey results from 2024, Indian SMEs reported that they face three significant barriers when it comes to embracing the use of Generative AI: 1)lack of awareness (50%), 2) cost constraints (43%), and 3) lack of time to implement these tools (29%).

While these perceived barriers are valid concerns, these challenges are addressable. To overcome these challenges, small businesses can leverage AI services and resources designed to be user-friendly and affordable. Educational resources and training can increase awareness and understanding of AI's benefits and applications.

We've launched tools and resources to help SMEs embrace AI confidently including AI Domain Search tool that helps a small business to choose a domain name for their business. GoDaddy’s Prompt Library is a free AI-powered tool that offers a collection of marketing prompts to use in generating helpful AI results. This is like having a marketing expert who provides personalized suggestions based on a business's industry, audience, and goals.

How does AI aid in creating professional-looking content, enhancing online presence, and facilitating branding?

AI aids in creating professional-looking content by automating design elements, generating high-quality visuals, and optimizing text for readability and engagement. It can enhance a business online presence through personalized content recommendations, SEO optimization, and social media management. Additionally, AI facilitates branding by analyzing consumer data to tailor brand messages and maintain consistent brand identity across all platforms.

To support this, we introduced GoDaddy Studio with AI capabilities, a graphic design tool that helps businesses create attractive and professional looking digital content. Packed with templates and design elements, it allows for easy customization without the need for design skills, enabling businesses to produce high-quality visuals for their digital presence without hiring a professional graphic designer. This tool exemplifies how AI can democratize access to professional-grade design, boosting online presence and enhancing branding efforts for small businesses.