Why Enterprises Are More Confident in GenAI Than Smaller Companies

Generative AI (GenAI) is making a big impact on a lot of businesses right now. But some of those businesses have more confidence in AI depending on their size. According to the GenAI Confidence Index Report, 76% of enterprises express strong confidence in their ability to implement AI, compared to 69% of large companies and only 61% of mid-sized firms. This begs the question: why do larger organizations have more trust in AI’s potential, and what can smaller businesses learn from them?

The Confidence Gap: Enterprises vs. Smaller Companies

So, where does the gap come from? Well, it can be attributed to a couple of things, such as resources, expertise, and long-term strategic planning. A bigger, say enterprise, company will have more of these things due to its size and therefore has more wiggle room to take chances with more confidence. On the other hand, mid-sized and smaller companies usually don’t have the wealth of resources that a bigger business does, so they have to be more careful.

Larger organizations also have a ‘been there, done that’ type of attitude, depending on how old they are. There is a good chance they’ve seen had to deal with shifts like cloud computing and automation. Knowing what it took, enterprises have the experience and frameworks to integrate new tools (in this case AI) effectively. 

Why Enterprises Are More Confident in GenAI

As mentioned before, these larger businesses tend to have more resources to allocate to AI and the things (budget-wise) that come with it. Large companies will more than likely have a budget to bring on top-tier AI engineers, data scientists, and machine learning specialists, while smaller businesses often struggle to attract and/or afford this level of expertise. 

Another reason for bigger businesses to have confidence in AI is strong infrastructure. Enterprises, by the nature of their size, have the computational power, cloud-based platforms, and data pipelines to implement AI solutions at scale, which get the most out of the solution. On the flip side, smaller companies often don’t have the necessary pieces to make a full implementation work, forcing them to rely on third-party AI services, which can be limiting and costly.

Above all else, though, enterprises have a higher tolerance for risk. While smaller businesses may hesitate to invest in AI due to concerns over ROI, larger organizations can afford to test, iterate, and refine their AI models over time. By the nature of their size, there is simply more wiggle room for the willingness to take risks. AI innovations thrive when the teams behind them want to take smart risks.

What Smaller Companies Can Learn from Enterprises

At the end of the day, smaller companies can learn from the bigger ones about AI adoption strategies. First is to start small and scale from there. Trying to do a full-scale AI transformation could be really hard for small teams, even though the thought might be it is easier because there are less pieces. But this can be a false premonition. That is why smaller businesses focus on clear and specific use cases, such as chatbots for customer service or automated data analysis, before expanding into more complex use cases.

Another way small businesses can start to use AI in a good way is with things like cloud-based AI solutions. It takes a big investment to get a full AI solution implemented in person, and small businesses don’t always have the funds to make it work. Looking for cloud solutions opens a new avenue for these smaller companies and lets them use AI without requiring extensive in-house expertise.

One final suggestion for these smaller businesses is to focus on ROI-driven use cases. While it certainly takes time to see the full ROI on an AI tool in a given department, the tool should be implemented in an area where it can give measurable benefits. Some examples of this can be enhancing customer experiences, improving operational efficiency, and streamlining marketing efforts.

Conclusion & CTA

Enterprises might be leading the way in GenAI adoption, but that doesn’t mean smaller companies have to be left behind. Mid-sized and small businesses can close the AI gap if they focus on a ‘land and expand’ approach.

Want to see how businesses of all sizes are approaching AI adoption? Download the full GenAI Confidence Index Report for a deeper look at how companies are leveraging AI to drive success in an evolving digital landscape.

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