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A new survey finds that small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. are catching up on adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to help their businesses, but nearly half say they don’t know how to get started.
A recent survey of small business decision makers conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Visa found that only 52% of U.S. small businesses have implemented AI in their operations, and nearly half of those that have not yet done so plan to do so within the next two years. Of those that have implemented AI, 85% say they are using it more than they did a year ago.
However, nearly 90% of SMBs face obstacles in integrating AI into their business, with 47% of respondents citing learning how to use AI tools as a barrier, followed by choice (36%), not knowing where and how to start (34%), ensuring compatibility (31%) and concerns about privacy and security (26%).
“There’s recognition that AI and technological advancements are important to small businesses,” Dennis Press, Visa’s head of North American small business, told Fox Business in an interview. “We’ve heard just as many people say, ‘I don’t know how to get started,’ and just don’t know how to get started, and they’re not experts on AI or new technologies.”
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A Morning Consult Visa survey found that small businesses are optimistic about AI but face barriers to adoption. (iStock)
For small businesses that aren’t sure how to start using AI in their business, Press suggested they “try it in a low-risk area, even if it’s just through chat, and see where it can help.”
For example, small businesses could use AI to help them draft press releases because “not many small businesses have writers or PR departments,” she said, adding that the AI-generated output could be guaranteed to be a representative voice for the business and could be refined as needed rather than being written from scratch.
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Small businesses can start using AI with low-risk use cases to get familiar with the tools. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
The survey found that among SMBs that haven’t adopted AI, 49% of respondents said marketing is the area of their business where they’re most interested in using AI, far surpassing other use cases such as business development, accounting and customer service.
Once small businesses become more comfortable using AI in a low-risk capacity, they can “go along the spectrum” to try different use cases, Press said, adding that they should look to partners and vendors within their industry who can share insights on how AI can benefit their operations.
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Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can help small businesses in a number of ways. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Look for key partners and vendors in the small business space,” Press says. “There are vendors that specialize in working with different industries. These vendors, which tend to be large companies like Visa, are already looking into AI adoption and asking these vendors, ‘What are you doing with AI? How does it impact my business? How does it help me?'”
“My advice would be to start small. Look for partners you can trust with good, solid thought leadership. Look for vendors that are already starting to address AI in ways that will really impact your business,” Press said.
Of SMBs that have adopted AI, 53% strongly agreed that automation gives decision makers more time to focus on their work, increasing productivity and increasing revenue.
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The survey revealed that all SMBs, including those that have not yet adopted the emerging technology, are broadly optimistic about AI and believe it will benefit their business, with 65% being optimistic that AI will have a positive impact on their business.
“Small businesses should be optimistic and open to AI. AI is definitely going to impact the entire way we do business and the way we already do business as consumers today.”
