What the Article Says

In an October 2 opinion piece on CIO.com, Shree Amujala, founder of the managed service provider Raise Networks, argues that small businesses are having their AI moment but are not yet getting the structure they need. He cites Bluevine’s 2026 Small Business AI Trends Report, which found that 74% of small business owners use or are actively testing AI.

He also cites a Business.com study: 57% of U.S. small businesses have invested in AI, up from 36% in 2023, but only 30% of employees use it daily. A separate BlackFog finding he references says 49% of workers use AI in ways their employers have not approved.

Three Takeaways for Small Teams

  • Start with one workflow, not a tool. His example is a lending team that began with a single process: email review, deal-term comparison, a draft response and a calendar hold. Pick one repeatable task and map it end to end.
  • Set boundaries before expanding. The article recommends approved business accounts, no payroll or HR data, and human review for client-facing or judgment-based work.
  • Measure independence, not attendance. The better test of training is whether employees can run the workflow on their own, not how many people sat through a session.
Intinya

Buying AI seats is the easy part. The value comes from a few well-defined workflows with clear limits and an owner.

What To Do This Week

List the three tasks your team repeats most, choose one, write down the steps and the data it must never touch, and have one person run it for two weeks before you add more.