Whether it is for immigration purposes, attracting investments or aligning a business strategy, writing a solid business plan is essential for a business’s success. However, creating a comprehensive and effective business plan can be daunting, requiring significant research, analysis, and writing skills. Fortunately, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically, Chat GPT have made it possible to automate and streamline many of the processes involved in business planning, such as executive summary, commonly used business strategies in marketing and sales, hiring strategy and execution plan. Read more about Chat GPT-4.
In this article, we will explore the ways in which Chat GPT and similar AI tools can help entrepreneurs and businesses in creating a robust business plan that sets them up for success.
We will examine the benefits of using Chat GPT-like-powered tools to enhance the planning process and the potential drawbacks and limitations to consider. Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur or just starting out, this article will provide insights into how AI can help to create a business plan.
A role of AI in Business Plan Writing in 2023
The use of AI in business plan writing is becoming more common, particularly as AI technology advances and becomes more accessible. While it’s difficult to provide an exact figure on the frequency of AI usage for business plan writing, it’s safe to say that more and more entrepreneurs and businesses are leveraging AI-powered tools to streamline the planning process and enhance the accuracy and reliability of their plans.
AI-powered tools can provide valuable insights and analysis that can help entrepreneurs to make more informed decisions and develop more effective strategies for their businesses. As such, AI is becoming an increasingly popular tool for business planning across a range of industries and sectors. However, it’s important to note that while AI can assist in certain aspects of business plan writing, it’s still essential to have a human touch and understanding of the business’s goals and vision in order to create a comprehensive and effective plan.
Benefits of using AI in writing
There are several benefits of using AI in business plan writing, including:
Time-saving: AI-powered tools can automate many of the time-consuming tasks involved in business plan writing, such as data analysis and financial forecasting. This allows entrepreneurs and business owners to focus on other aspects of their business plans, such as strategy development and implementation.
Accuracy: AI can provide accurate and reliable data analysis and forecasting, reducing the risk of errors and inaccuracies in the business plan.
Insights: AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of data from various sources, providing valuable insights into market trends, consumer behaviour, and competitor analysis. This information can be used to develop a more comprehensive and effective business plan.
Inspiration: AI-powered tools can trigger your inspiration while writing a business plan, especially describing the business model, value proposition, target customers and business history.
Customization: AI-powered tools can be customized to suit the needs and goals of the business, providing tailored analysis and insights that are specific to the business’s industry and target audience.
Writing skills: AI works well for those having issues with writing.
Gaps filling: Sometimes the AI can generate structured answers and texts that can discover the topics that have been missed.
Overall, the benefits of using AI in business plan writing, especially if you are writing the business plan by yourself, can lead to a more comprehensive, accurate, and effective plan that sets the business up for success.
What sections can AI help to write in a Business Plan
AI can help to write the following sections of the Business Plan:
- Executive Summary
- The Company (Business Model, Target Customers)
- Market Analysis
- Marketing Strategy
- Hiring Strategy (roles common for the industry)
- Operations Plan
- Expenses
How to control AI or What you should not do when writing a business plan
While AI can be beneficial, it does not resolve all the issues and will not write the entire business plan instead of you. Some sections cannot be written without deep analysis, and others cannot be written by a machine at all.
Sections that can be partially written by AI but require substantial human input and a deep understanding of the business
You should carefully read the AI – generated content as the following sections are important and can dramatically change the core of the business plan.
- Business Model: You need to clearly explain the business model and AI sometimes can misinterpret or miss some major points of the business.
- Target customers: AI will suggest the common-targeted groups and the business will have higher chances of succeeding if target customers are defined by the business owner.
- Value proposition: Value proposition requires an understanding of the business’s core values, vision, and goals, as well as the needs and wants of its target audience. Creating a compelling value proposition requires creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking, which are all qualities that are currently beyond the capabilities of AI.
- Operations Plan: The execution plan will change based on the business owner’s expectations, growth plan, and human and financial resources. While AI can form the content, the writer must set the foundation of the operations plan.
- Market Analysis: As the business plan requires the latest relevant and trusted data, and AI cannot always provide statistics and data sources, an additional research is required for the industry research and market analysis section.
Sections that cannot be written by AI:
- Company History
- Hiring Plan and Organizational Chart
- Competition
- Financial forecast (revenue streams, sales forecast, assets and liabilities)
Are professional business plan writers using AI?
Professional writers are usually not using AI at all as although AI can write faster, it cannot write better and replace the human experience and writing skills especially when it’s about describing emotional or descriptive parts of the business plan. These essential components effectively bridge the gap between the business and the reader or customer, ultimately driving investment and promoting profitable business transactions. Additionally, some sections can be confusing for AI to understand and the output can be confusing for the reader.
At Nordland Business Solutions, we prioritize the personalized needs of our clients when crafting business plans. Therefore, we do not rely on AI-powered tools for content generation. Our business plans are of superior quality, surpassing that of machine-generated content.
Should or should not use AI?
At Nordland Business Solutions we have been re-writing content initiated by the customers and generated by AI and cannot provide a clear Yes and No answer.
It is harder for a professional writer to re-write the content generated by machine, however, ChatGPT can be a good assistant if you have no other option than to write a business plan by yourself and do not have access to professional writing services.
If you decide to use Chat GPT, we recommend using AI carefully, understanding the business plan structure, including only relevant content and keeping in mind the limitations of the machine.
Seven Common Business Plan Mistakes
How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Business Plan
Generated by AI + Do It Yourself (DIY) | Generated by a professional writer |
Pros | |
Speed: AI-generated content can be produced quickly and efficiently, saving time and resources. | Creativity: Professional writers can provide a level of creativity and nuance that AI may not be able to match. |
Cost-effective: AI-generated content can be more cost-effective than hiring a human writer, making it accessible to smaller businesses and startups. | Contextual understanding: Professional writers understand the context and nuances of the content, resulting in more accurate and effective content. |
Data-driven: AI can analyze large amounts of data to provide insights and analysis that can inform the content of the business plan. | Authentic tone: Human-generated content can have a more natural and authentic tone that resonates with readers. |
Customization: Professional writers can customize the content to the specific needs and goals of the business. | |
Cons | |
Lack of creativity: AI-generated content may lack the creativity and nuance that human writers can provide. | Time-consuming: Human-generated content can be more time-consuming and resource-intensive than AI-generated content. |
Limited understanding: AI may not fully understand the context and nuance of the content it produces, leading to inaccuracies and inconsistencies. | Costly: Hiring a professional writer can be more expensive than using AI-generated content. |
Unnatural tone: AI-generated content may have an unnatural or robotic tone that can be off-putting to readers. | |
Limited customization: AI-generated content may not be customizable to the specific needs and goals of the business. | |
Inconsistency: Self-generated content by a non-professional writer may vary in tone and style, confusing readers. | |
Human error: Non-professional writers are susceptible to errors and inaccuracies, which can affect the quality and effectiveness of the content. |
Read more about How to Use ChatGPT for Business in 2023.
Contact Us at Nordland, if you need a high-quality business plan for your business.