BBB Business Tip: Your guide to small business data collection and storage for AI

If you’re ready to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in your business, then know this: data is key. AI and machine learning require vast amounts of data.  This means you will need to collect and store data from your customers in order to make these tools work for your business.

Here are BBB’s tips for planning for your data needs, securely storing data, and creating processes within your company.

AI data collection and storage tips for small business owners

• Get clear on what kind of data you need. AI tools can streamline anything from customer service inquiries and product recommendations to employee training and fraud detection. The specific data points you need will depend on how you use AI. Think about how you’ll implement AI in your business. Then, find out what data sets they require to work efficiently. Collecting and storing unnecessary data from your customers can create privacy risks.
  
  
• Make a data collection plan. Even if you already have some data to work with, you’ll likely need more. Decide how to collect data to feed AI applications and who will oversee the task.
  
  
• Once you have the data, ensure it’s clean and organized. If the data you feed AI isn’t accurate or organized, you won’t get accurate results, analytics, etc. You’ll need to invest time into data cleaning, which usually involves standardizing your data sets, fixing spelling errors and empty fields, and identifying and removing duplicate data points, among other things. How you need to organize the data depends on the kind of tool you’re using. Speak to customer service reps if you aren’t sure about best practices for organizing things. Depending on the scale of your project, you may need to work with data scientists or AI experts who can help you fine-tune your model.
  
  
• Think about storage. All the data you collect will need a place to live. Think about how much space you’ll need taking into account that AI works in four stages: ingest, preparation, training, and inference. Each stage has different storage needs, and how your data is stored can affect the project's outcome. Find out what storage systems are compatible with the AI application you plan to use. Once you understand those basic requirements, you can consider other factors into consideration, such as cost and legal regulations in your industry.
  
  
• Consider data accessibility, security, and scalability. Make sure your data is both easy to access and secure. The company or product you choose to store data with should offer basic security measures like encryption, access controls, regular data backups, and firewalls. Another big consideration is whether the storage space you purchase is scalable. After all, the amount of data you need to store will grow with your business.
  
  
• Set data management guidelines. Ensure that sensitive information, such as customer details and trade secrets, isn’t inadvertently fed into AI applications. Lay down some ground rules and store this kind of data separately, where it won’t create a breach of privacy.
  
  
• Train your staff. Remember that AI is a developing technology. Most of your staff may not know how it works, so you’ll probably need to offer some basic training sessions. Help employees understand how to collect, store, and access the data and who’s responsible for each part of the process.
  
  
• Set metrics to measure success. Metrics like customer retention, cost savings, or new revenue streams can help you see if you are collecting and feeding the right data into AI. If metrics show AI isn’t benefiting your business as you’d hoped, be ready to adjust. You may need to collect a different kind of data or hire a pro to assist with further data collection or cleanup.

For more information

Read more about implementing AI in a small business. The BBB small business page contains more information to help you grow your business while overcoming common challenges. Get advice for running your small business more efficiently.

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