What SMBs Plan to do with AI

AI is a popular tech trend that may help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surpass their competitors. According to Forbes, many SMBs may not be meeting their expectations when it comes to keeping up with the evolving technology landscape. Forbes noted that, while many SMBs feel they are ahead of the competition when adopting new technologies, most of them are only keeping up. And AI may be the answer to leaving competitors behind. 

TSL Tech Research wanted to help IT leaders at SMBs understand where they stand in relationship to their peers, so we conducted online research into AI adoption. We surveyed 365 business leaders at SMBs in a variety of industries and asked them how they plan to use AI.  

Here’s an overview of the results and some insights into what the findings mean for IT teams at SMBs. 

Top 3 AI Plans for SMBs 

Adopting AI can be a crucial advantage for SMBs. The survey uncovers some top use cases that IT leaders at SMBs can leverage to outpace their competitors. 

We asked leaders at SMBs what they plan to do with AI in the next 2 years. The top 3 choices were automation, advanced analytics, and customer experience. 

Of the SMB surveyed: 

• 67% Chose automating routine tasks 

• 63% Chose improving data analysis and insights 

• 52% Chose enhancing customer service 

Key Takeaways: 

To stay competitive, SMBs need to use AI to automate manual workflows. AI also allows SMBs to generate deep insights that can be used for making business decisions. With AI, companies can automate and personalize customer service to better engage with and win over clients. 

Further AI Use Cases for SMBs 

Outside of the top 3 responses, the SMBs surveyed indicated that they plan to use AI to fulfill multiple use cases, including optimizing operations, strengthening cybersecurity, and promoting innovation. 

Not far behind the top choices were: 

• 51% Streamlining operational processes 

• 49% Enhancing cybersecurity and threat detection 

Key Takeaways: 

Using AI to streamline operational processes aligns with the top use case of automating routine tasks. SMBs can strengthen their security posture by adopting AI-powered security tools, such as preventative threat detection. 

Rounding out the results were plans to use AI for: 

• 23% Personalizing customer experiences 

• 15% Developing new products or services 

• 12% Optimizing supply chain and logistics 

Key Takeaways: 

Plans to personalize customer experiences align with the #3 choice of enhancing customer service with AI. AI can gather and analyze customer histories to customize experiences. SMBs can promote innovation by using AI to identify and create new products and services based on information about customer needs. For retail and manufacturing companies, AI can solve complex supply chain and logistics problems. 

AI adoption is clearly a popular trend among SMBs. Only 6% of the firms surveyed indicated that they had no plans to use AI in the next 2 years. 

AI-Powered Automation for SMBs 

Chosen by 67% of respondents, AI-powered automation has a lot of potential for SMBs. AI can create robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline routine, time-consuming, and error-prone processes. Agentic AI uses digital assistants to automate manual workflows. 

AI Analytics  

Out of the SMBs surveyed, 63% plan to use AI to improve data analysis and insights. AI can analyze huge volumes of data from across an organization to produce business intelligence (BI) for decision making. Using AI analytics, companies can predict business trends, strengthen cybersecurity by identifying and preventing risk, and solve complex problems. 

AI for Enhanced Customer Service 

With more than half of respondents planning to implement AI for enhancing customer service, customer experience is clearly an important use case for SMBs. Agentic AI can take over the duties of customer service agents. Of the SMBs surveyed, 23% plan to use AI for personalization of the customer experience. By combining agentic AI with data analytics, SMBs can customize paths to purchase and issue resolution based on customer histories. 

Get Ahead of the Curve with AI 

TSL Tech Research conducts original research into technology trends and challenges faced by today’s companies to present an accurate picture of the current tech landscape. 

Using the insights provided by our research, IT leaders at SMBs can see how their company fits into the picture. According to TSL Tech Research, SMBs are exploring the potential of AI to automate workflows, generate BI, and create exceptional customer experiences. To stay ahead of the competition, SMBs need to uncover AI use cases and develop an AI strategy to achieve them using the right technology. 

Want to gain more insights into IT trends and challenges? Reach out to TSL Tech Research to run a survey or ask us to design a custom survey for your IT business.