Not deploying. Not scaling. Experimenting. Stuck in what I call AI purgatory, the gap between “we know AI matters” and “we’ve actually made it work.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SAS\/IDC report broke the numbers down: only 9% of SMBs have fully embedded AI into strategy and operations. 40% haven’t started at all. The primary barrier? 77% of non-adopters say they see no applicable use case for their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That number keeps me up at night. 77% can’t see how AI applies to them, in a year when 41% of all code globally is AI-generated and 92% of developers use AI daily. The technology is everywhere, and three out of four SMB leaders think: “not for me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s the pattern: they tried ChatGPT, maybe gave Copilot a spin, possibly had someone vibe code a prototype. They saw interesting results. They couldn’t figure out how to make it systematic. So they went back to running the business the way they always have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The encouraging data buried under the bleak headline: 87% of SMBs that do use AI report positive business impact. The technology works when deployed correctly. The problem is the deployment, not the tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SMBs don’t have data engineering teams. They can’t afford six-figure consulting engagements. The entire AI readiness ecosystem was built for enterprise. The HVAC company with 30 employees, the regional law firm, the restaurant group, they’re invisible to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
70% are stuck. The way out isn’t a tool. It’s a path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
70% of small and midsized businesses are stuck in the “experimental” or “opportunistic” phase of AI adoption. Not deploying. Not scaling. Experimenting. Stuck in what I call AI purgatory, the gap between “we know AI matters” and “we’ve actually made it work.”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/33"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattmurphy.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}