Small and medium-sized businesses are adopting AI more slowly than larger enterprises. Thryv conducted a survey of over 500 small business owners in April 2024 to find out how small businesses are preparing to use AI. According to a new report on the emergence of AI as a dominant technology for business owners, adoption of AI in small and medium-sized businesses will soon increase significantly. According to the report, only 39% of small and medium-sized enterprises are currently using AI, but the proportion of AI users is expected to jump to 51% by the end of 2025.
There are good reasons for the expected rise. Quantifying the benefits of AI tools, more than half of the AI users surveyed expect to save anywhere from $500 to $2,000 and up to 20 hours per month.
Recommended AI trends: Microsoft-LinkedIn Report: Employees break down long-standing workplace barriers with BYOAI devices
Benefits of AI for small businesses
Businesses large and small can greatly benefit from implementing AI. Various market research firms report that early adopters are better at leveraging AI and mitigating challenges arising from technology and infrastructure misconfigurations. His 15% of respondents expect broader application of AI to have the most positive impact on their business.
Overall, the report found that small business owners are evaluating how AI will impact their operations.
- 73% said it reduces the burden of repetitive tasks.
- 67% say their personal time will return
- 58% said it would help solve resource constraints
“Small business owners literally can’t do everything, so they may be more cautious when it comes to adopting new technology, but Thryv research shows that many small business owners are excited about the potential of AI. We have shown that we look forward to benefiting from this,” said Grant Freeman, president of Thryv. Sliv.
Grant added: “For many people, there are already significant time savings, especially when it comes to the content creation capabilities of generative AI.”
AI vs. employees
Business leaders are concerned that a lack of trust in AI applications will impact their company's reputation and ability to maintain market demand. In this report, he found that there are two main reasons why executives refuse to use AI in their businesses. They don't need AI (46%) or don't trust AI (45%). 24% of respondents said their organization is “too small” to benefit from AI implementation. 33% feel they have yet to find an area where AI can fit. Surprisingly, 8% of executives still feel like they don't have a starting point when it comes to AI. This is despite having access to a plethora of open source and free-to-use AI applications and solutions.
Perhaps that's why employees are taking ownership of AI applications and investing their own efforts and resources to bring Bring Your Own AI Devices (BYOAI devices) into their current roles. yeah.
According to the SBA Office of Advocacy, small businesses employ nearly half of all workers in the United States. Thryv's research shows that AI will not immediately upend this dynamic. Only one-third of respondents believe that AI will make businesses less dependent on their employees.
When you need to add new resources to your business and ask whether humans or AI software can perform the task equally well, small business owners are divided. 36% want to buy AI software; 36% want to buy AI software. 34% want to hire new employees. and 30% would prefer the least expensive option.
Effect of age and size
Age matters when it comes to AI adoption. Less than a third of small business owners over 60 are using AI. And almost half of this age group have no plans to use AI in their business. His 43% of small business owners using AI are in the age group of 21 to 49 years old.
As your business grows, so will your use of AI.
- 47% of companies with 10 or more employees use AI
- 40% of companies with 5-9 employees use AI
- 27% of companies with 1-4 employees are using AI
Advantages and disadvantages of AI
While the momentum for AI adoption is clear, nearly one-third of respondents believe that using AI may have unintended consequences. For Jermaine Stanley, founder of Stanley Consulting Group, that means the possibility of unconscious bias. “AI has revolutionized content creation. I no longer have to battle writer's block and have gained back a lot of time. But as a DEI consultant, I want to make sure I don't unintentionally exclude a population. I believe we need to be diligent about how we use data. DEI is designed to benefit everyone, not just one or two demographics. ”
A wait-and-see approach to AI for small businesses
More than half of small businesses that currently have no plans to use AI in the future want to see how AI will impact other small businesses before implementing it. In terms of opposing opinions among small and medium-sized enterprises overall, one-third said it was “too new'' and “I don't know what it will be used for.'' A quarter of respondents said they do not trust AI.
“Trust and purpose are issues for many of the AI resistance groups,” Freeman said. “However, we have found that small business platforms like Thryv can ease the digital transition for small businesses by embedding AI capabilities directly into their workflows, especially for businesses without staff. The impact of AI is transformative, and we want to make it easy for businesses, no matter how small, to adopt it.”
AI applications on the Thryv Small Business platform
Small and medium-sized businesses can leverage Thryv's platform to experience AI-driven benefits. This includes enhancements to social media management tools to harness the generative power of AI for social media captioning and ad recommendations for streamlined digital advertising.
