Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) could be the world’s trailblazers in the practical adoption of AI, says Guillaume Roy, chief innovation officer and co-founder at employee experience platform Workleap.
Roy’s vision aligns with indicators from a new Salesforce survey revealing that 91% of small and medium businesses using AI report increased revenue, based on insights from 3,350 SMB leaders worldwide.
According to Salesforce, 75% of SMBs are investing in AI, with more than a third having fully integrated it into their operations. While not all of this activity is strictly HR-related, employee training and development landed as a top-three priority only after acquiring new customers and improving customer experience.
According to Roy, SMBs possess a unique AI advantage: Their agility and resourcefulness allow them to maximize existing tech stacks and data sources, even when operating with modest features. “This limited scope makes it easier for them to gather and analyze meaningful insights from their workplace data,” says Roy.
Roy describes SMBs as “perfect testing grounds” for real-world AI solutions. By connecting common data sources and integrating intelligent capabilities, these businesses can achieve measurable results faster than their larger counterparts.
He argues that the SMB market will demonstrate AI’s true potential—not through lofty promises, but with practical applications that solve real challenges. In this way, the needs of smaller organizations will show “what AI can accomplish beyond the hype,” he says.
HR tech in the news
Qualtrics and SAP have announced a partnership combining SAP SuccessFactors with the Qualtrics XM for Employee Experience suite. This integration offers shared customers and HR teams access to advanced AI solutions.
Technical talent measurement solution Karat has announced its acquisition of Byteboard, a skills-based technical assessment platform. This is Karat’s third acquisition in two years, including Triplebyte in 2023 and Aspect AI in 2024.
Netigate, a European SaaS solution for employee experience management, has introduced Ask AI, a generative AI tool that streamlines feedback analysis to address NPS and eNPS challenges.
According to BambooHR data—drawn from 4.82 million employees—global hiring hit a five-year low in Q4 2024. From November to December 2024, U.S. hiring decreased by 12% and global hiring decreased by 22%.
Workera, an AI-powered skills intelligence platform, has secured a strategic investment from Accenture. This partnership will expand Workera’s global reach and integrate its technology as the official skills intelligence layer within Accenture’s LearnVantage platform.
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