Industry Reads
What we are reading: technology, AI, and operations news that matters for small business, with our take on why it matters for yours.
Most organizations say their data is not ready for the AI they want
New research covered by CDO Magazine finds data problems delayed or derailed AI projects at 86 percent of organizations, and only 39 percent have data that is digitized, structured and ready to use. Data scattered across disconnected systems was a leading obstacle. A founder-run business has fewer systems to untangle, so deciding where each record lives and what each field means is far easier before an AI project than in the middle of one.
Most small businesses now use AI, but few have built it into how the work runs
A Babson College survey of small business program graduates, reported by Fortune, finds 86 percent now use AI, yet only 15 percent say it is fully part of their core operations, and 77 percent want more training. For a founder-run business, closing that gap starts before the tool: an assistant can only follow a process someone has defined and written down, so documenting how the work actually runs comes first.
Six or more tools is now common, so decide which one owns each number
The Chamber's 2026 small business report finds 41 percent of small businesses now run six or more technology platforms, nearly three times the 2022 share, and 84 percent plan to use more technology. Every added tool is another place a sales, inventory or labor figure can live. For a founder, the useful step comes before the next purchase: name the one system that owns each number on your weekly scorecard, so the review starts from the figures instead of a debate about which copy is right.
Freight costs are rising fastest for the smallest buyers
Bank of America's payments data shows freight and logistics spending growing about four times faster at firms under $5 million in revenue than at mid-sized firms, and the report suggests small buyers are more exposed to spot rates. Inventory transactions per firm are also climbing faster than spend. For a founder-run business, that rewards proactive purchasing: reorder points and supplier lead times written down, so orders go out on schedule instead of on rush freight.
Small businesses using AI expect to add staff, not cut it
Researchers at the New York Fed studied more than 5,000 small employer firms and found that the ones using AI expect to add staff and grow revenue faster than firms that do not, even after accounting for how each firm was already doing. The authors call it an association, not a cause. Our reading for a founder: the firms expecting growth still plan to hire, so AI sits inside a job a person keeps doing, and that job gets defined first.
Public money now backs AI and automation help for small manufacturers
NIST awarded more than $30 million to 12 Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers, the publicly backed advisers that help small and mid-sized manufacturers adopt AI, robotics and automation. If you run a shop, it is worth knowing that kind of help exists near you. Any adviser can only modernize a process you can describe, so map how the work runs today before you ask anyone to automate it.
AI can speed up training, but only on knowledge someone wrote down
A new study argues that AI can shorten technical training by digitizing expert knowledge and putting it in front of newer workers. That only works when the knowledge already exists somewhere outside one person's memory. For a founder-run business, the first move is not a training tool: it is writing down how the job actually gets done, so there is something to train anyone, or anything, on.
Switching software is getting cheaper, so your next renewal is a negotiation
This piece argues that AI tools are shrinking the cost and risk of moving data and integrations between platforms, which weakens the lock-in many software vendors rely on. For a founder-run business, the practical move is to price your exit before the next renewal: request a full export in an open format and see what actually comes out. Data you control only gives you bargaining power once you have tested that you can take it with you.
The ERP Payoff Lands After Go-Live, Not At It
Clorox began replacing decades-old supply chain systems in 2021 as part of a five-year digitization program, and its CFO now expects the operational gains, better demand planning, lower inventory, and more automation, to land in the current fiscal year. The company was candid that the cutover disrupted fulfillment before it improved it. The lesson scales down cleanly: a system replacement does not create value at go-live, it creates value once the process around it stabilizes, and that holds whether the budget is $500 million or $50,000.
Nearly Every Small Business Runs on Tech Now. Most Run on Four or More Tools.
The Chamber's Empowering Small Business research finds 99 percent of small businesses use at least one technology platform, most use four or more, and a third juggle six-plus. AI use has more than doubled since 2023, and 82 percent of adopters grew their workforce. Read the tool counts as a warning label, though: every added platform is another place your data lives, and disconnected tools are how a business ends up working for its software instead of the reverse.