SMBs are adopting AI slowly and writing the rules as they go, a new study finds
In its own study of 520 small, midsize and microbusiness decision makers, the Global Technology Industry Association, a trade group whose members are IT service providers, found that most SMBs are moving deliberately rather than fast. GTIA reported that 44% have established an acceptable-use policy for AI tools, 40% have added employee training and accountability requirements, and 39% have adopted data security and confidentiality requirements. GTIA also found that 23% have no dedicated AI budget at all, and that half of respondents already work with an outside technology partner on AI initiatives, a result worth reading alongside who produced the study.
The useful signal for owners: guardrails are becoming table stakes, not bureaucracy. If your team is already pasting customer or payroll data into chatbots, a one-page acceptable-use policy and one short training session cost almost nothing, and they prevent the kind of mistake that turns a productivity win into an uncomfortable client conversation. Slow is not the same as behind. Testing a few use cases, writing down the rules, then funding what works is the pattern the data actually shows.
Source: CFOtech ↗