I enjoy working with the businesses in our community, especially as they evolve to meet new challenges and opportunities. Heber Valley is a unique place, but even here, the world of business is changing rapidly. One opportunity I see for our local businesses is embracing new technology — specifically tools like AI, ChatGPT, and other digital resources. These tools aren’t just for tech companies or large corporations — they can benefit businesses of all sizes. AI can help automate everyday tasks, freeing up time so business owners and employees can focus on the heart of their work: building relationships and serving their customers. For example, ChatGPT can be used to streamline customer service by answering common questions or even creating content for websites, social media, or marketing emails. This allows businesses to respond faster and more efficiently, creating a better experience for their customers.

AI tools can also help analyze data, making it easier to understand trends and customer preferences, so you can make informed decisions that improve your business operations. These tools can also help you predict inventory needs, optimize scheduling, or even personalize services, ensuring your customers feel valued. By embracing technology, we can stay competitive, grow our businesses, and continue to foster that strong sense of community that makes Heber Valley so special.

Confession: those first four paragraphs were written by ChatGPT. Though not my words specifically, the prompts, queues, and writing style are mine. I did this to make a point about the usefulness of AI tools. I’ll admit I was not an early adopter of AI tools, but they have helped our office be more efficient. For example, our team has been using AI to help us generate meta tags and search terms people might use to find Heber Valley. We then upload those terms into our meta fields on the backend of our website. We have also used it to help us analyze large data sets such as our Shop Local Survey results. It has helped us find trends and insights quickly. Just like all the examples mentioned above, we have used AI tools for social content, survey design, reports, etc. Recently I even used it to help me write a grant request. With the right prompts, and a few more “human” touches added in, I was able to complete the grant 2 hours ahead of schedule. My point in all this is to encourage our Chamber members to think about ways they might be able to use AI in their work. There are many free tools that can help you get your feet wet and test how you might use AI in your own place of business. This has been a fun experiment to show you how you might use AI in your businesses no matter the size.

Give them a try. You might just find that with the time you save in some of those tedious tasks, you have more time to make human connections with customers, employees, and peers.