The Best Investment Right Now? Learning to Work with AI

Many people are concerned that AI tools might replace them in their specialised roles in the future. The reality is that these tools are not intended to take away your job – rather, they are designed to help you focus on the work that truly matters by automating the rest. Therefore, instead of fearing the future with AI, embrace it. Learn to master the tools that can assist you with your daily responsibilities and explore new opportunities they may create.

Why AI tools matter for your business

The business landscape is experiencing a pivotal shift, but it's not the one making headlines. While many focus on AI replacing jobs, the real transformation is happening in the growing productivity gap between companies that effectively leverage AI tools and those that don't.

Think of AI tools not as replacements but as force multipliers. When properly integrated into your workflow, they don't just save time – they fundamentally transform what your team can achieve.

The cost implications are clear: companies that haven't embraced these tools are spending valuable resources on tasks that could be automated or enhanced. But it's not just about cost savings – it's about opportunity cost. While your competitors are stuck in time-consuming manual processes, AI-enabled teams are delivering more value, innovating faster, and capturing market share.

Over the past year, our teams and I personally have explored and tested a wide range of AI-powered tools, looking for the ones that truly enhance the way we think, create, and work. Here are the best AI tools that stood out:

AI for thinking & research

As we already established why AI tools are crucial for your business, let’s get straight into the actual tools that can change the way you and your employees work on a daily basis.

Perplexity – Research powerhouse

Let’s start with probably one of the most popular tools: Perplexity. You can think of it as your team's research powerhouse. Unlike traditional search engines that flood you with links, Perplexity synthesises information from multiple sources and delivers clear, actionable insights. It's like having a research assistant who not only finds information but understands it, saving your team hours of reading through endless browser tabs. For businesses, this means faster market research, more informed decision-making, and the ability to validate ideas with reliable data quickly.

Claude – AI writing & analysis

Moving onto the next valuable AI tool – Claude stands out as the analytical powerhouse among AI assistants. Its ability to process complex information and provide nuanced analysis makes it invaluable for strategic thinking. Whether you're analyzing user research data, crafting detailed product requirements, or developing content strategies, Claude helps you uncover insights and patterns that might otherwise be missed. What sets it apart is its adaptability to your specific industry expertise, offering tailored insights and solutions that align with your goals – making it feel less like a tool and more like a thoughtful collaborator.

AI for creation

Further, AI tools can also greatly assist your organisation with the overall creative processes since everyone occasionally struggles to come up with innovative, creative ideas, right? This is where AI can make a difference: it can turn those unproductive days into creative ones, allowing you to save time and focus on other important tasks. So, let’s take a look at the tools that, in our opinion, are the best at enhancing your creativity.

MidJourney - Visual creation maestro

If you’re looking for a generative AI tool that will generate exceptional, creative visuals that don’t even look AI-generated – MidJourney is your guy. A tool that is still leading on the market when it comes to AI image creation for every purpose you can think of. It excels at generating unique visual concepts, mood boards, and design inspirations that look crafted rather than computed. For businesses, this means faster design iterations, more creative exploration, and the ability to visualise concepts before committing to full production.

Suno – Generative audio pioneer

Let's say you need to prepare a soundtrack for a specific project, but you don't have an expert available or the budget to hire one. In this case, your best option is to use a reliable AI tool. Fortunately, Suno is perfect for this job. With Suno, you can become a musician and create music that actually sounds good and resonates with your target audience. What sets Suno apart is its ability to understand musical context and intent, allowing you to generate specific styles, moods, and arrangements that align with your brand identity.

AI for scaling efficiency

Explore the tools that will enhance your production processes, including streamlining workflow automation, creating content while maintaining your brand voice and professional video editing. Mastering these three tools that we’re going to describe now will enable you to accomplish all of this and much more.

Bardeen – Your automation assistant

Imagine having more time for creative and strategic work by spending less time on repetitive tasks. Bardeen is an AI-powered tool designed to streamline your daily workflow by automating tasks across your favourite apps. Whether you need to sync data between platforms, automate emails, or generate reports, Bardeen effortlessly manages these processes with just a few clicks or custom triggers.

What distinguishes Bardeen is its contextual intelligence, which comprehends your workflow requirements and proposes automation ideas specifically designed for your tasks. You can develop customised workflows, or "playbooks," that connect with tools such as Notion, HubSpot, and Google Sheets.

Bardeen enables teams to save hours of manual work while retaining complete control and flexibility over their processes. With its no-code approach, anyone can easily automate workflows, transforming repetitive tasks into time-saving automations that allow you to focus on what truly matters.

KoalaWriter – Effortless content generation

There are several AI content writers available to assist with content creation, but KoalaWriter stands out by offering a variety of options for creating, optimising, and planning your content workflows. What sets KoalaWriter apart is its ability to address one of the biggest challenges in content creation: maintaining a consistent brand voice at scale. Unlike basic AI writers who tend to produce generic content, KoalaWriter learns and adapts to your unique tone, style, and brand guidelines. For your organisation, this means you can enhance your content production across multiple channels while ensuring that every piece feels authentically yours. This is especially valuable for maintaining consistent messaging across your website content, marketing materials, and communications, all while preserving the human touch that makes your brand unique.

NapkinAI – Sketch-to-digital converter

Imagine you’ve just written an article for your blog and want to enhance it with visuals. Infographics are always a great way to boost your content. However, the challenge arises if you don't have a designer available or if your designers are too busy with their regular tasks.

This is where Napkin comes in. You can easily input your article into the tool and select the sections for which you want to create visuals. Napkin will then provide you with a wide variety of graphics to choose from, and you can fully customise them. This tool generates high-quality visuals based on your article content, saving you a lot of time.

While it’s always best to tweak these graphics to fit your visual hierarchy and overall brand aesthetic, Napkin is an excellent solution for visual content creation, especially if you're short on resources.

Runway – Seamless video editing tool

Producing high-quality video content can be challenging, particularly if you don't have the technical skills or the budget to hire a professional editor. Whether you're creating promotional videos or social media reels, achieving a standout presentation often demands polished visuals and effects that can feel unattainable for a small team.

Runway makes video editing easier by using AI to manage time-consuming tasks such as background removal, object tracking, and colour correction. Its user-friendly interface means you don’t need to be an expert to produce visually impressive content. The tool also includes advanced features like scene editing and text-to-video capabilities, enabling you to transform your raw footage into professional-quality videos effortlessly.

Runway enables teams to quickly create high-quality videos, allowing more time to focus on creative direction and storytelling rather than getting bogged down in technical details.

The real challenge: Thinking alongside AI

At this stage, you probably pick your favourite tools out of those we described. The next step is to develop a strategy for integrating them into your daily work.

First and foremost, it’s important to focus on mastering one tool at a time before moving on to the next. Once you've become proficient with a tool, explore how to connect it with your workflow effectively.

It is also essential to choose the right tools that meet your needs. While many AI solutions may seem appealing and exciting to explore, if automating your processes is your top priority, it's important to focus on your specific business requirements first.

AI won’t replace you – but those who leverage it will excel

For leaders and organisations, the real question isn’t “Will AI take our jobs?” but rather, “How can we use AI to focus on the work that truly matters?” The answer lies in embracing AI not as a threat but as an accelerator of human potential.

The next 6 months will determine who becomes invaluable and who becomes replaced. Not because AI is taking over, but because the gap between those who know how to leverage it and those who don't is growing exponentially.

Summary

The AI revolution isn’t about replacing human creativity and expertise – it’s about enhancing them. Success comes from mastering the right tools, integrating them into workflows, and leveraging AI to focus on strategic, creative work. Organisations that learn to think alongside AI will lead the future. If you're looking to optimise workflows or enhance your digital presence, reach out for a consultation with our experts.

If you need help optimising your workflows or are looking for someone to enhance your digital presence, feel free to send us a message and schedule a consultation with one of our experts.