Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries, changing how businesses operate and innovate. For startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), AI offers a chance to compete on equal footing with larger organisations. By delivering data-driven insights and automation, AI drives growth and streamlines operations. This special series by e27 highlights how SMEs are leveraging AI to adapt to today’s fast-paced business environment.
In this instalment of e27’s AI Leader Content Series, James Chisham, Vice President of Product Management at Oracle NetSuite, shares insights on why SMEs need to embrace AI, strategies for overcoming adoption challenges, and how this transformative technology can level the playing field for smaller businesses.
How AI transforms SME operations
AI’s potential lies in its ability to make businesses smarter, faster, and more efficient. For SMEs, this means automating routine processes like data entry, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks. AI-powered insights also allow businesses to make data-driven decisions, from forecasting sales to identifying market trends.
Customer engagement is another area where AI excels. Tools like generative AI chatbots and machine learning (ML) models deliver personalised, human-like interactions, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. These innovations enable SMEs to scale their customer service efforts without massive overheads, ensuring they remain agile and competitive.
By automating repetitive tasks, streamlining workflows, and delivering personalised customer interactions, AI empowers SMEs to compete on a level playing field with larger enterprises. Modern AI tools integrate seamlessly into existing systems, making adoption smoother than ever. For SMEs, embracing AI isn’t just about keeping up—it’s about unlocking growth and staying ahead.
Why SMEs hesitate to adopt AI
AI has the power to revolutionise industries, yet many SMEs hesitate to adopt it due to some concerns about cost, complexity, and safety.
The number one thing still is lack of understanding. There’s been such an avalanche of AI information and how it can do all these wonderful things. Because an SMEs primary focus is running their business, then they start thinking: do we assign people to look at this specifically? Do we divert them away from important work to look at it? And then you get into the realms of do we need data scientists and people to manage data and things, all of a sudden that’s a heavy lift for them. So, I think there was definitely a big learning curve.
I think the other thing that we see commonly is that we have lots of organisations cropping up building businesses around AI itself. So, they’ll have these people knocking on their door saying “wow, look at us! Great capability.” And again, you have to weigh that up in terms of understanding what that solution does and if there’s an additional cost, and then that makes that difficult as well.
Thirdly, there was a lot of talk around what AI will generate for you. Can we rely on that? Do we feel safe in entrusting our business data to an AI machine? Because you want your data secure, only accessible by you. You want your model running on your data, you want to be sure about the results that it’s bringing back.
Also read: Are we stressing ourselves out amidst AI adoption
…and why they shouldn’t
While not fully unfounded, there are many ways that SMEs can challenge and work around these misconceptions. Technological advancements have democratised AI, offering tools that are cost-effective and easy to use. SMEs can now adopt AI solutions without overhauling their operations or hiring dedicated data scientists.
Adopting AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming. SMEs should start small, focusing on targeted proof-of-concept projects to test AI’s potential in specific areas of their operations. Establishing clear goals and measuring ROI ensures that these early efforts deliver value and build confidence in scaling further.
By leveraging modern tools with built-in AI capabilities, SMEs can quickly achieve tangible benefits without the burden of high costs or complexity. This approach allows businesses to integrate AI into their workflows naturally and sustainably.
How Oracle NetSuite weaves AI into their systems
The one thing that we’ve done as a business at Oracle NetSuite is looked at our technology from the ground up. In terms of the way that our users consume AI, we want to have it in the fabric of the workflows, of the things that they do every day. We call it advise and assist. So, advise is delivering insights and assist is delivering productivity. Certainly, for an SME, that productivity angle is really important, because typically they may be running with lean finance departments, operations, departments, etc. When we talk about analysing business data and informing decision making, we want to free up users to do that more value-add work.
Our technologies run on Oracle Cloud infrastructure. Within that you get all of that compute power and the AI models that an enterprise customer would would receive. We wanted to very much make our AI consumable, and just have it in the fabric of our customer systems so SMEs can also have that kind of experience.
AI adoption requires understanding and data — always, data
The first challenge is just even understanding how they can leverage it. What areas of their business is it really going to drive impact? Because you don’t want to use AI just for AI’s sake. For many SMEs, the biggest challenge is understanding how AI fits into their business model and whether their current infrastructure supports it.
Successful adoption begins with building a solid foundation, particularly around data. We firmly believe the best AI is fuelled by the best data and that AI is only as effective as the data it’s trained on, which makes consolidating business data across functions—such as accounting, HR, and sales—a critical first step.
Also read: Why sustainable power starts with data
A lot of SMEs will probably know the feeling of having pockets of information and data in spreadsheets and various other systems. Cloud-based platforms that integrate AI capabilities simplify this process. These platforms eliminate the complexity of siloed systems and offer SMEs the scalability needed to grow. Investing in these solutions not only supports AI adoption but also lays the groundwork for long-term operational efficiency and innovation. There is also the security aspect, because you want your data to be secure. Our value at Oracle NetSuite is you bring that data into our suite because you want to be able to rely on that data and know that data is the single source of the truth.
Get your technology foundations right for better AI adoption
SMEs should get their tech stack in order and look to adopt a cloud solution to be able to get the most of their AI. If you get the technology foundation correct, then that’s not only going to power your growth as a business, but also power your growth into adopting AI.
For smaller businesses with these growth ambitions, adopting an integrated cloud based platform like Oracle NetSuite will allow them to reap the benefits of embedded AI capabilities at no additional cost. It also reduces complexity as it connects their data across the business and automates core business processes, which goes back to having data that fuels their AI. Ultimately, when you get to the point of adopting AI, you’ll get some very, very quick wins in terms of automating some of those very manual business processes. And then you can build on that foundation as you come along.
As with most impactful things, AI adoption requires investment for sustainable scaling
Commit to invest. When a business starts, they’re really trying to grow their business very quickly. They’re using a spreadsheet or maybe a small package that they’ve got from somewhere, but then very quickly, as their business grows, they find that they’re in a position where they can’t manage the business effectively. They’ll have some new staff, they’ll have a new department, they very quickly might need to move to a new market because of the growth, and then they realise they need something to support their growth.
Adopting new technologies generally takes some kind of investment, and it usually takes a bit of time for you to realise a return on that investment. SMEs should definitely look to choose tools with AI built into the software and not bolted on. Have that AI in the fabric of the software and everything that you do; don’t try to bolt pieces on because you’ll then bring in additional complexity into to the whole process. So that way, you’re going to get some immediate value from from AI, likely with a limited cost as well.
Also read: Breaking barriers: iFLYTEK’s insights into AI’s role for SMEs
Oracle NetSuite on what’s next for SMEs and AI
The future of AI for SMEs is brimming with possibilities. Over the next three to five years, advancements in generative AI and low/no-code tools will further democratise access to this technology. AI will continue to level the playing field for SMEs and allow them to compete with larger businesses, who arguably will have more people and bigger budgets. SMEs will be able to automate content creation, streamline workflows, and integrate seamlessly with emerging tools like personal AI assistants. These innovations will not only enhance operational efficiency but also enable SMEs to offer differentiated, personalised customer experiences at scale.
The boundaries of AI technology, we can’t even see the edge of it right now. But ultimately, at the core, AI will help customers do more with less, increase revenue, expand margins, and create healthier businesses that can flourish in any economic environment. The growth is exponential; there’s going to be a lot happening. But I’d always tie it back to you have to start with the right foundations.
Oracle NetSuite, a global leader in cloud-based business management software, empowers SMEs to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and scale efficiently. It is the leading integrated cloud business software suite, including business accounting, ERP, CRM and e-commerce software. By embedding AI into its platform, NetSuite provides SMEs with advanced tools to drive growth and innovation.
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This article is part of e27’s special series on Artificial Intelligence for Startups and SMEs, where we explore the transformative power of AI in helping startups and small and mid-sized enterprises navigate today’s competitive landscape. Stay tuned for more insights from industry leaders in upcoming editions.
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