How do I use AI in my business?
The best way to use AI in your business is as an AI agent alongside the software you already have, such as Outlook and Exact Online, Dutch accounting software. It reads incoming work, finds the relevant information, and prepares the work. A person approves it. Start with one task you currently do by hand, such as the shared inbox.
- Which tasksThe administrative tasks AI can take over, listed by stream, each in one sentence with a link to the use case.
- With your own softwareHow AI works alongside Exact Online, AFAS, Syntess Atrium, and Microsoft 365: reading incoming work, finding information in the software, preparing work, and writing it back after approval.
- ChatGPT or Copilot aloneWhy ChatGPT and Copilot are strong at individual questions and texts, but leave your people to look up and retype information between email and software.
- Hiring or AIIf retyping grows, put AI alongside your team. If work requiring judgment and contact grows, hire someone. Often, you need both.
- Mistakes and reviewHow to prevent AI mistakes from going out: a person approves, every step can be reviewed, and the business remains responsible for what it sends.
What is AI in a business?
AI in a business is an AI agent that reads along in your email and the software you already use: Outlook, Exact Online, AFAS, one of the largest Dutch business software makers, Syntess Atrium, Dutch software for installation companies, or Microsoft 365 with SharePoint. It does the work between them: reading, looking things up, and retyping. It prepares the result as a proposal: an accounting entry, a draft reply, or a scheduling proposal. Nothing happens until someone on your team clicks Approve.
How do you start using AI in your business?
You start using AI in your business with one task, rather than a plan for the whole company. Choose work that arrives every day and currently gets entered into software by hand. The broader goal is to do more work, at a higher quality, with the same people. That way, growth does not always mean hiring someone.
Choose one task where someone currently reads email, looks things up, and retypes information. The shared inbox is often the best place: everything arrives at info@, several coworkers check it, and nobody can see who is handling what.
Distributing email from a shared inboxSet up that task with Bombos alongside you. Bombos visits you, looks at where work arrives and which software it needs to reach, and interviews the people who currently do it. With purchase invoices, the project number is often only in the project manager's head. This makes it a rule Bombos knows.
Purchase invoices someone retypesApprove or correct every proposal at first. You guide it as you would a new coworker. Your correction becomes the rule for next time. With weekly timesheets, after a while you mainly check the exceptions instead of every line of hours.
Weekly timesheets arriving as photos or Excel filesThen decide how much Bombos can do ahead of time on internal work. Messages to customers always wait for approval. For a quote request late on Friday, the reply and quote outline will be ready. Your team spends its time on the price and the conversation.
Quote requests arriving outside office hoursLet your team teach Bombos the next task themselves. You do not need technical skills: if you can explain something to a coworker, you can explain it to Bombos. After quote requests, following up on quotes that are about to expire is a natural next step.
Quotes that expire without anyone calling
We guide you through the first task. Then your team can do it themselves. That is the point: you should not have to keep coming back to us. Read what the first task looks like for a shared inbox at Inbox empty, person decides.
Which questions do the guides answer?
Each guide answers one question business owners ask when they want to get started with AI. They follow the order in which these questions usually come up. Each guide ends with practical examples and a link to the next.
- Where to start with AI in a growing company, and how to choose the first task.
- Which administrative tasks AI can take over, by type of work and with an example.
- How to use AI without an IT department, and what you do yourself.
- How AI works with the software you already have, such as Exact Online, AFAS, Syntess Atrium, and Microsoft 365.
- Why ChatGPT or Copilot alone cannot take work off your hands.
- What AI costs for a small business, and what it delivers.
- Whether to hire someone or use AI as work grows, and when you still need a person.
- How to get more work done with the same number of people, and which work disappears.
- How to prevent AI mistakes, and who checks the work.
What does it cost and what does it deliver?
AI in your business costs the same for everyone at Bombos. The pilot costs 2,000 euros for the first three months, with Bombos alongside you, then 1,000 euros per month. During those first three months, you set up the first task together with Bombos.
What it delivers is work that disappears: retyping, forwarding, and searching for a project number or a customer detail. The coworker doing that work notices first. Then the customer gets an answer faster. Your people keep making decisions, but their time goes into work that requires judgment. Bombos costs less than half a day per week of the employee you would otherwise hire. Read more in what AI costs and hiring or AI.
What does the person do?
The person decides: nothing goes to a customer and nothing is posted until someone on your team clicks Approve. Each proposal shows what Bombos has prepared, with the reason and source, such as the email or invoice it came from. You can look back at every step to see what happened and why.
At first, Bombos submits everything for review. For internal work, such as looking things up, checking, and preparing, you then decide how much Bombos can do ahead of time. Outgoing messages and payments always wait for approval. Read how this works in the guide to mistakes and review.
When is this of no use to you?
An AI agent has little to do if there is no stream of email, receipts, or messages that currently gets entered into software by hand. If everything already happens inside the software, for example because customers and suppliers enter information directly, there is little to gain. In a very small business, the pile of work is usually too small to set up a task around.
Not sure whether your work is a fit? Leave your number through contact and we will call you back to discuss your situation. It is free and carries no obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an IT department to use AI in my business?
No. Bombos works in the inbox and software you already have, such as Outlook, Exact Online, and AFAS. Nothing needs to move. You set up the first task with Bombos. Your team teaches it the next one themselves.
Is ChatGPT or Copilot enough?
ChatGPT and Copilot wait for someone to ask a question. An AI agent reads incoming work itself, finds the information in your software, and prepares the work for approval. ChatGPT and Copilot are useful for writing and summarizing. The work between your email and software still remains.
Can AI send email or post entries in my software itself?
Bombos can write to your software and send messages after approval. Nothing goes to a customer and nothing is posted unless someone clicks Approve. That boundary is always on.
Which tasks can AI take over in a small business?
Mainly work where someone reads, looks things up, and retypes information: linking purchase invoices to a project, converting weekly timesheets into hour entries, distributing email from a shared inbox, and answering quote requests. The person keeps the judgment. The guide to which tasks AI can take over lists them by type of work.
What if the knowledge is only in my people's heads?
Bombos interviews those people to record that knowledge, such as which project belongs to which supplier. When Bombos does not know something, it presents a question rather than guessing. Each correction becomes a rule for next time.
Do my employees need technical skills?
No. If you can explain how to do something to a coworker, you can explain it to Bombos. You correct a proposal as you would guide a new coworker. Your people learn to work with AI along the way.
Does AI replace my employees?
The goal is for the same people to handle more work, at a higher quality. Retyping and searching disappear. Judgment and customer contact stay with your team. For a fast-growing business, that means hiring less often to keep up with the work.
Further reading
- The shared inbox at bookkeeping firms and homeowners associationsSorting mail from a shared inboxEvery email has an owner, with the answer ready.
- Invoices against the project, in every tradeSupplier invoices someone retypesSupplier invoices without retyping, more work with the same team.
- Timesheets and hours in staffing and placementTimesheets that arrive as a photo or an Excel fileHours complete by the end of the week.
- Planning for installation and technical maintenanceQuote requests that arrive after hoursEvery request gets a reply before the customer calls elsewhere.
- Eén taak van begin tot eind: Postbus leeg, mens beslist
- Next guide: Which administrative processes should you automate first?
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