Einsatz von Künstlicher Intelligenz im B2B Customer-Relationship-Management: Identifikation von Herausforderungen und Einsatzpotenzialen in produzierenden kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

In an increasingly challenging business environment, small and medium-sized business-to-business companies face the challenge of adapting their business processes and company-wide enterprise systems in line with the technology landscape in order to remain competitive. The targeted use of artificial intelligence has the potential to increase efficiency and provide support in various business areas, including marketing and sales. Despite the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, its use in small and medium-sized enterprises often remains hesitant. The aim of this study is to derive a holistic approach for a customer journey supported by AI tools. This study specifically examines the potential use of artificial intelligence in the customer communication of small and medium-sized enterprises in the B2B manufacturing sector. Based on ten guideline-oriented qualitative interviews with practitioners from manufacturing B2B SMEs, their specific challenges in customer communication are identified and the use of AI is examined as a potential solution. The results show that the use of AI in the customer communication of manufacturing B2B SMEs holds potential to mitigate existing challenges, although the possible applications vary depending on the availability of data. This study helps to show manufacturing B2B SMEs how they can use artificial intelligence to improve customer communication.