HiVanya: Helping small businesses navigate the rise of AI

For many leaders, AI feels less like a tool and more like an intimidating unknown—one that is fast-moving and impossible to ignore. HiVanya Inc., an AI consulting and training firm based out of Halifax, is passionate about helping small and medium-sized businesses keep up without being overwhelmed.

“Our main goal is to bring actionable AI to small and medium businesses locally, so that they're not drowning in a whole bunch of tools, or being confused or scared about AI,” says co-founder Sreejata Chatterjee.

Recently, Chatterjee has been on the road with Digital Nova Scotia for the AI Discovery Series, where she led workshops that taught participants how to create AI agents and automations to use in their day-to-day work. After leading several sessions across the province, Chatterjee says there’s a different energy around artificial intelligence.

"I think what makes my work a little bit easier is just the appetite of people to learn more right now and to just adopt the technology, which has not always traditionally been the case because people have been afraid of change,” says Chatterjee. “But with AI, something is different. People want to get on on top of it"

Despite the enthusiasm, one of the first challenges Chatterjee discovered while delivering the series is that many business owners know they need AI, but they don't know where to start or what it can actually do for their business.

“Sometimes I'll ask, ‘Is there a problem that you're looking to solve?’ and often they'll just say, ‘I just want to know how AI can help me. I don't even know what it can do,’” says Chatterjee.

Inspired by this feedback, HiVanya developed a free AI roadmap tool. Businesses can take five minutes to answer a few questions, and the tool will outline ways that they can implement AI.

“They can start from zero and then over a few months–or a year, or two years even–get to where their business is fully AI enabled,” says Chatterjee.

Beyond using specific tools, she recommends that business owners–and everyone else– start including technology and AI in their daily habits, so that they can keep up with changes in technology. “Everybody will be using AI,” she says. “AI is here to stay.”Whether through a five-minute roadmap quiz or daily experimentation, the path to an AI-enabled business starts with the decision to begin exploring. Learn more about HiVanya’s AI Roadmap: https://hivanya.com/ai-wins