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AI agent sprawl is a new pain point for small business teams. Just six months ago, several small business owners were using AI tools. There are currently a number of small business AI tools (more than a dozen) that small business owners are trying to manage. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released the results of a study. 58% of all small businesses use some form of AI. This number is more than double the percentage of small businesses that were using AI in 2023. Unintentionally, this rapid growth of AI tools has created another costly problem: AI agent sprawl. An AI Agent Sprawl can be defined as having 12 or more “remote control” options to control the same TV. Additionally, managing these additional devices comes at an even greater cost, as does the subscription cost for each device.
AI Agent Sprawl in Small and Medium Enterprises
Perhaps the first step was to create content using ChatGPT. Then someone said Jasper was better for marketing, so you brought Jasper along. We then used Tidio for customer support, Claude for our team, Gemini for our VA, and AI in our calendar application. Additionally, CRM has recently introduced several new AI-based features. The email app offers AI-powered writing assistance. And since none of them are communicating with each other, none of them have access to the same information or context. So there are 12 different tools that perform similar tasks, and you can't decide which one to use.
Often initiated by business owners Create your first AI agent We were working to address a very specific problem, but ended up creating a much larger problem. It's a fragmented business automation stack that takes more time to manage than it creates in terms of value.
This is not just an abstract example. I recently worked with a small marketing company that was using five different AI writing tools. Team members had different tastes, no brand input, and no overall style guide. As a result, the company's copy was used across the board, the time spent generating content was excessive, and the duplicative use of these tools was costing the company more than $1,000 per month.
The hidden costs of disconnected AI
Subscription costs are clearly part of the problem. With 12 tools at $20 each, you pay $240 per month. However, the actual cost of multiple subscriptions in terms of productivity loss due to context switching is much higher. The American Psychological Association reported Switching between different tasks (sometimes for just a few seconds) can reduce your productivity by up to 40%. Teams lose momentum every time they switch between multiple unconnected AI tools. They forget where a tool has saved their conversation history. One AI doesn't know what the previous AI accomplished, so it ends up completing some duplicate work. A project that should have taken just 15 minutes now takes 40 minutes due to reusing tools.
AI Agent Sprawl vs. AI Tool Integration: A Quick Scan
Source: Business AI Research Institute
A research result has been revealed Teams lose nearly five full weeks (over 9%) of production time per year due to app switching, which is a huge self-inflicted wound for small businesses.
How to conduct an AI stack audit
An AI stack audit is an easy way to see which AI subscriptions are worth the money and time you spend, and is usually the easiest way to ask, “How do I audit my AI stack?” Here's how to perform an audit of your AI stack:
Stack audit steps
Source: Business AI Research Institute
Three rules for adding new AI tools
Once you clean up your current AI stack, find the infrastructure to add new tools and avoid returning to the old mess. As I said before, The number of tools you have is not as important as the actual impact These tools influence the organization (measurement). Here are three rules to guide you through this process.
Audit before adding: Before subscribing to new AI tools, create a comprehensive list of all AI tools that your organization currently subscribes to. Identify what each new tool can do that no other AI tool in your stack can do. If you don't have any, please don't subscribe.
No negotiation required for integration: If you're using a new tool that doesn't have integration capabilities with the tools you already have in your technology stack (i.e. customer relationship management software, calendars, communication platforms, etc.), you're creating “islands.” Islands create “sprawl”. Therefore, do not add new tools unless you can connect to one or all of these three tools.
Make someone on your team the “owner” of the AI tool management process. This means someone on the team has final approval to add new tools, is also responsible for deciding when to remove redundant tools, and ensuring that each new tool integrates with other existing technologies. Without someone acting as an owner of this process, you can experience the effects of AI sprawl.
way forward
AI agent sprawl is an inevitable result of deploying tools without a deliberate strategy. To solve this problem, we don't need to stop using AI; we need to start using it intentionally. By auditing your existing tool stack, eliminating unnecessary duplicate tools, and creating a defined process for adding new tools, you can move from AI chaos to a functional and productive AI ecosystem.
