SMB AI Adoption: Insights from the Field

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SMB AI Adoption: Insights from the Field

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Taylor McGinnis

Summary Analyst

In this report, we examine some of the most pressing questions regarding AI adoption taylor.mcginnis@ubs.com

across SMBs, including where demand is emerging, how quickly deployments are +1-212-713 1332

scaling, and how competitive dynamics are evolving. Our analysis draws on two sources: Madeline Tribendis

(1) a UBS Evidence Lab survey of 450 SMB IT decision-makers, and (2) insights from 4 Associate Analyst

SMB-focused partners. AI is the top IT budget priority, increasingly influencing growth madeline.tribendis@ubs.com

trajectories across software categories and benefiting from strengthening demand. +1-212-713 8151

However, deployment remains early—no use case had more than 10% of survey Daniela Campo, CFA

participants in production—and SMBs lag enterprises in both pace and monetization. Analyst

Forward-looking spend intentions are compelling, with the majority of AI-investing daniela.campo@ubs.com

SMBs in our survey expecting broader, company-wide deployment over the next year. +1-212-713-3781

Taken together, these findings point to a market that’s early, but is poised for a ramp in

adoption.

Our Key Takes

Front-Office Takes the Lead in AI: Customer Service stood out as the top SMB

AI use case, followed by Sales & Marketing and Productivity/Work Management.

Partners suggest that the S&M opportunity may be greater down-market vs

upmarket, as SMBs typically have fewer GTM resources and less mature strategies

—creating a larger gap that AI can help close. In contrast, coding—often cited as a

top enterprise use case—was less frequently mentioned. Perhaps due to