Exceptional customer experiences are not a luxury—they’re an expectation. For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), delivering standout, personalized experiences has always been a strength. However, lean teams and limited resources can make it challenging to scale excellence without introducing added complexity. The great news is that an extraordinary crop of tools has emerged recently that can serve as force multipliers for smaller organizations with limited funds and personnel.
You’ve heard this before, but it’s true—AI is changing the game. The hype is reality if you find the right solutions.
Accessible, affordable, and increasingly user-friendly, AI-powered tools are helping SMBs remove friction from their operations and refocus on what matters most: serving customers, solving problems, and building lasting trust. AI isn’t here to replace teams (or require additional teams to get it running). Instead, it stands to empower them, streamlining mundane tasks and unlocking new opportunities for connection and growth.
When adopted thoughtfully, AI doesn’t just make work easier. It transforms the customer experience while delivering efficiencies. Who doesn’t love that? From faster response times to more relevant recommendations, AI enables SMBs to meet rising expectations.
Freshworks’ latest AI Workplace Report reveals that 66% of SMB employees now use AI weekly, indicating a rapid shift toward AI as a must-have, rather than a nice-to-have. AI is no longer exclusive to large enterprises with deep pockets—it’s becoming essential for organizations of all sizes that want to stay competitive and efficient.
Integrate AI by Automating Your Routine to Drive Speed and Efficiency
SMBs are learning to save time by delegating repetitive tasks to AI. Virtual assistants and AI agents can automate simple, methodical tasks, such as drafting responses, summarizing customer histories, categorizing tickets, and routing them. Time is a business’s most limited resource, so AI can be a critical tool to make sure you get to use that resource on the most
valuable tasks.
Real-life proof point: The engineering and tech firm TREKK Design Group is an SMB that has automated routine workflows through IT service management (ITSM)*, thereby boosting agent productivity by 25% and reducing resolution time by 35%. This led to teams gaining more capacity to focus on complex issues, resulting in faster support and stronger service delivery.
Keep your Team Empowered and Engaged While Personalizing at Scale
With AI handling routine tasks, teams are free (and more motivated) to concentrate on
higher-value priorities with the customer experience in focus. Today’s customers expect personalized, timely interactions. AI makes this achievable at scale by analyzing previous engagements and providing real-time context. Tools like AI agents, smart knowledge bases, and agent-assist technologies enable teams to deliver the right responses or offers when it matters most.
Real-life proof point: One small business internet software and services company saw these benefits firsthand: after implementing AI-driven support solutions, ticket resolution times improved by 30%, First Contact Resolution increased by 25%, agent productivity rose by 40%, and customer satisfaction scores climbed by 20%.*
Unify Customer Data to Save Time and Empower Smarter Decisions
When effectively managed, customer data becomes a powerful business asset. Too often, valuable insights are siloed across various systems, resulting in inefficiencies as teams search for information instead of leveraging it to enhance customer experiences. Today’s CRM tools, data integration solutions, and AI-driven analytics empower SMBs to unify customer data and turn it into actionable intelligence. By enabling systems to communicate and share information, businesses can gain a comprehensive view of customer behavior and deliver more responsive, informed service.
Real-life proof point: Leading virtual mailbox provider iPostal1 centralized its support tools onto a single platform, allowing an increase in personalized support at scale. By integrating an AI-powered platform, the provider was able to handle over 30,000 conversations a month, resolving over 50% of them automatically.* Customer experience was significantly improved, and the team was able to operate more efficiently. Data unification should be seen as a strategic business move, not just a tech upgrade.
Drive Proactive Service by Transforming Data into Real-Time Insights
It’s easy for SMBs to get caught in a reactive cycle, with slow ticket resolution due to a combination of fragmented systems, manual triage, and a lack of real-time visibility. Without the right insights, it’s hard to stay ahead of issues, let alone be proactive. This presents a massive opportunity for improvement.
With the right tools, SMBs can spot issues early and track trends through AI-powered analytics, customer data platforms (CDPs), and real-time monitoring. Transforming data into real-time insights allows SMBs to approach issues more proactively and develop stronger customer relationships.
Real-time insights don’t just boost KPIs—they help businesses stay ahead of customer needs. And they’re now more accessible to SMBs, no longer requiring data scientists and analysts to make insights come to life.
Transform Your Ways of Working—AI Amplifies, People Inspire
AI is not here to replace human jobs. It is here to be an innovation that elevates employees to the next level.
Nearly 6 in 10 leaders are actively investing in upskilling employees on AI tools, enabling
employees to leverage AI in ways that best suit them. AI excels at tasks such as handling routine requests, identifying patterns, and generating suggestions. But hardworking teams bring the empathy and creativity that build meaningful customer relationships.
Real-life proof point: By integrating AI automation and CRM tools, customer service provider TeleworkPH* saw a 15% increase in tickets resolved per agent and a 20% reduction in resolution time.
With AI managing routine inquiries, agents were able to focus on more impactful conversations—strengthening customer relationships and driving greater satisfaction. The result: a more efficient support team and customers who feel truly heard.
Looking Ahead
AI doesn’t have to be complex. It can be a practical, affordable, powerful tool to take SMBs to the next level. Exceptional customer experiences aren’t just a nice-to-have; they’re a core growth strategy.
As National Small Business Month wraps up, it’s important to remember that SMBs don’t need to take big risks to stand out. With the intentional and strategic adoption of AI, organizations can streamline operations, enhance personalization, and free up teams to focus on what matters most.
Affordable, easy-to-implement AI solutions are now within reach for growing businesses. These tools empower teams to do more with less, improving response times, simplifying workflows, and elevating both employee and customer experiences. The right AI tools can be a competitive edge in a fast-growing market, and SMBs have access to the tools to make it happen.
Source: All customer examples marked with an asterisk (*) are sourced from here.
Mika Yamamoto joined Freshworks in November 2023 as chief customer and marketing officer. Mika’s global experience leading diverse teams has focused on transforming organizations to scale growth. She joined from F5, where she was executive VP and chief customer engagement and marketing officer. Before joining F5, she served as global president of Marketo, becoming SVP and general manager of Marketo at Adobe after it was acquired.
She has held senior leadership roles at SAP, Amazon Books, Microsoft, Gartner, and Accenture.
Photo Courtesy Alex Shuper for Unsplash+
