How SMBs Implement AI

Since close to sixty percent of small and midsized businesses (SMBs) using AI say it will play a much more important role going forward, we decided to look into how SMBs are acquiring and implementing it.

According to a recent Bredin survey of 500 U.S. SMB principals, very small businesses (VSBs, with 1-19 employees) and small businesses (SBs, with 20-99 employees) are most likely to acquire and implement AI solutions from third parties with no modifications. For VSBs, acquiring an AI solution from a third party and customizing it in-house is second; for SBs, it’s developing an AI solution completely in-house — which is the most common implementation method for midsized businesses (MBs, with 100-500 employees).

How SMBs Implement AI

We also asked SMBs if they have created or plan to create AI usage policies. Not surprisingly, larger SMBs are more likely to have created AI usage policies. Only one third of VSBs have or plan to develop a usage policy, while half of SBs and two thirds of MBs have or intend to create one.

Adoption of AI Usage Policies

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