The variety of small-to-medium-sized companies which might be utilizing synthetic intelligence has greater than doubled in comparison with final 12 months, in accordance with Verizon Enterprise’ fifth annual survey of SMBs. The survey additionally discovered a revival in SMB tech spending, concluding that as SMBs conduct an increasing number of enterprise on-line, they’re investing extra in help of digitalization than they’ve up to now three years.
Nonetheless, 4 in 5 of the SMB decision-makers surveyed expressed issues in regards to the U.S. financial system usually, and greater than half of them conveyed worries in regards to the monetary safety of their enterprise and their very own job safety. An identical quantity stated that they plan to scale back non-essential spending and/or elevate costs within the quick time period.
However expertise and connectivity-related spending wasn’t the main focus of cuts. In truth, the proportion of SMB decision-makers who stated they’d added or upgraded applied sciences up to now 12 months was up in comparison with final 12 months’s survey, Verizon Enterprise stated.
The commonest upgrades or additions? Extra web bandwidth, quicker web speeds and wi-fi signal-related investments had been the most typical—not shocking, on condition that 38% of SMBs reported that they’d added or transitioned to extra digital/on-line operations, and that they had been leveraging social media platforms to entice consumers, with 39% of respondents reporting that their enterprise had social media storefronts. Almost 75% of respondents additionally indicated that they’d used digital instruments to alter their processes or enhance their revenues inside the previous 12 months. Respondents additionally had been extra more likely to report that they had been seeing innovation and technological development of their enterprise—and elevated revenues—than in previous years of the survey.
Accompanying these traits, practically three out of 5 respondents additionally stated that their SMB had upgraded or added community or machine safety instruments in addition to extra coaching and cybersecurity measures for workers. SMBs within the leisure, meals and beverage, and hospitality industries had been extra more likely to report cybersecurity issues than SMBs in different industries.
“Although determination makers fear that utilizing AI can open their enterprise as much as cyber dangers, AI utilization has greater than doubled in comparison with 2023, with virtually 2 in 5 reporting that their enterprise presently makes use of AI,” Verizon Enterprise stated within the survey report.
“Small enterprise homeowners are getting the hold of AI, discovering the way it can automate time-consuming duties and enabling them to focus extra on their core enterprise operations,” stated Aparna Khurjekar, chief income officer for Enterprise Markets and SaaS at Verizon Enterprise. “Regardless of financial and monetary issues, they’re nonetheless investing in quicker web, AI instruments and social commerce as a result of they perceive how these applied sciences are essential for his or her success.”
The survey additionally mirrored optimism for the approaching vacation purchasing season, with greater than half of the responding retailers (52%) getting ready for his or her first in-store vacation season, a determine that was up 13 proportion level from 2023.
The survey was carried out on-line in August by Morning Seek the advice of and included responses from greater than 600 SMBs, with fewer than 500 staff.
