Case Studies

The Challenge: DeSerres, a Canadian art supply retailer, saw a flood of online inquiries during the pandemic. With a small team, they couldn’t keep up, risking frustrated customers and lost sales.
The AI Solution: Enter Heyday, an AI-powered chatbot. Integrated into their website, it handled routine questions—like “Where’s my order?”—in English and French, 24/7. Complex queries were passed to humans, but the bot took the bulk of the load.
The Impact: In just four months, Heyday managed 108,000 conversations, automating 90% of them. Response times shrank from 10 minutes to under 1 minute, and customer satisfaction jumped 25%. Agents, freed from repetitive tasks, drove a 15% sales boost through personalized upsells.
Why It Matters: Small retailers don’t need a big budget to scale support—AI can step in as a tireless team member.

The Challenge: FC Beauty, a Dubai-based skincare SME, wrestled with inventory woes. Too much stock ate cash; too little lost customers. Manual planning couldn’t keep pace with demand swings.
The AI Solution: They turned to an AI predictive analytics tool, crunching sales data, social media buzz, and regional trends. Machine learning fine-tuned forecasts, spotlighting what to stock and when.
The Impact: Stockouts fell 40%, overstocking 30%, saving $50,000 yearly. Staff slashed forecasting time from 20 hours to 2 hours a week, pivoting to marketing. Sales rose 20% with better availability.
Why It Matters: AI turns guesswork into precision, letting small businesses run leaner and smarter.

The Challenge: Phoenixfire, a UK marketing agency, juggled tight deadlines for budget-conscious clients. Crafting content from scratch bogged down their small team, capping growth.
The AI Solution: They adopted tools like ChatGPT, mastering prompts to churn out blog drafts, captions, and ad copy. Editors polished AI outputs, blending tech speed with human flair.
The Impact: Content creation time dropped 60%—from 5 hours to 2 per piece. They took on 50% more clients without extra hires, and revenue climbed 30% in six months. Draft quality improved 20% with practice.
Why It Matters: AI can kickstart creative work, letting small teams punch above their weight.

A small U.S. Siemens unit making custom electronics battled equipment breakdowns and inefficiencies. Manual checks couldn’t scale with their lean crew.
The AI Solution: They deployed a lite version of Siemens’ Digital Enterprise Suite. AI analyzed sensor data, predicting failures and optimizing production in real time.
The Impact: Downtime fell 30%, saving 50 hours monthly. Output rose 25%, and OEE improved 20%. Monitoring time dropped from 15 hours to 3 weekly, boosting productivity 35%.
Why It Matters: Small manufacturers can tap big-tech AI for outsized gains, no huge investment required.

The Challenge: A small Unilever UK division launching a new line needed talent fast. Their two-person HR team spent 20 hours a week sifting resumes, slowing progress.
The AI Solution: They piloted HireVue, an AI tool that screened resumes and video interviews, ranking candidates by skills and fit. It automated 70% of the process.
The Impact: Screening time fell 75% to 4 hours weekly. Hires came 50% faster (2 weeks vs. 6), with 30% better performer retention. HR productivity rose 40%, aiding a 15% revenue lift.
Why It Matters: AI can turbocharge hiring, keeping small teams nimble and competitive.