• by Ray Schultz , April 30, 2018

Small businesses are warming up to artificial intelligence — or at least to the idea of it. Of 550 SMBs surveyed by Intuit, 66% are using automation technology and 54% see it as an opportunity.

Those using AI deploy it for finance and billing (29%), marketing (28%), sales (27%), customer service (25%), operations (15%) and production (9%). Email would fall into the marketing bucket.

SMBs are also unafraid of the new technology — only 5% find it threatening, and only 1% say it will lead to job losses, and 31% feel it will result in job gains. Another 59% predict there will be no change.

SMBs also say automation will have a positive impact on business efficiency (73%,) productivity (68%), innovation (62%), responsiveness to market changes (60%) and revenue (59%).

“It’s encouraging that small business owners view automation tech as an opportunity— not a threat — and are embracing these breakthrough technologies for the betterment of their businesses,” states Alex Chriss, chief product officer, small business group, at Intuit.