Small business owners are thinking about the possibility that AI could shake up how they manage their finances, and most of them say they don't plan to cut jobs for that, according to a new study from small business banking platform Bluevine.
New data from Bluevine shows plans for most small businesses to keep their staff intact, even though they are nearly 40% expecting AI to deepen their finances.
The Bluevine survey showed that through internal and external votes of thousands of small business owners in the first half of the year, 60% said they had no plans to reduce personnel for AI for the next two years. According to the survey, Main Street Business believes that AI is helping existing teams work smarter, with 60% of small business owners voted to be optimistic about AI's business impact.
“A well-built AI application could serve as a way to help small business owners surpass their weight classes. And when they do, it's interesting that they're using AI to enhance their business outlook rather than looking to cut back on staff.” “They're interested in AI, but they actually wanted clarity, security and tools that fit their business. That's the conversation we need to have.”
Companies are looking for practical ways to use AI, including marketing and sales (39%), business data and insights (33%), and customer service support (28%). The AI tools with the highest utilization of Blue Vine customers were CHATGPT (436%), Cursor (22,100%), Firefly (169%), Runway (129%), and Otter (76%).
Overall, AI use among small and medium-sized businesses has increased exponentially, with Bluevine's checking account client data showing that the use of AI systems by SMEs nationwide has increased by 410,900% over the past two years. It emphasizes another point. Small business owners who hesitate to implement AI systems now risk falling behind their early adopter counterparts.
“AI makes small business owners more efficient and effective than ever,” Lifshitz continued on the research. “This has the opportunity to strengthen the path of ownership for small and medium-sized businesses for future generations.”
Still, concerns remain. 23% of survey respondents said security risks and potential data breaches are their biggest concerns when considering whether to use AI apps for financial tasks. Beyond security, small business owners are worried about whether AI can trust to make accurate decisions (17%) and whether they will integrate new tools with their current banking system (5%) (9%). Meanwhile, 18% say that AI is not considering managing its finances.
