Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of how small businesses operate—but not everyone is on board yet. Survey results vary (see below for insights from Thryv), but according to a recent Small Business and Technology Survey taken earlier this year from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), only 24% of small business owners report “using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Canva, or Copilot in any capacity.” That gap matters, because as we head into 2026, AI is no longer just a nice-to-have experiment—it’s increasingly embedded in how businesses market, sell, serve customers, manage operations, and make decisions.
This final installment of my 2026 predictions series focuses on how AI will actually show up in small businesses in the year ahead. Not as a replacement for people, but as a partner—streamlining work, surfacing insights, and freeing owners and employees to focus on higher-value, more human tasks. The insights that follow (provided by Cisco and Thryv) cut through the hype to explain where AI is delivering real benefits, how adoption is accelerating, and why small businesses that take a thoughtful, practical approach to AI will be better positioned to compete, grow, and stay relevant.
Work Won’t Be Powered by More Tools—But by Connected Intelligence
By 2026, the workplace won’t evolve through more apps or digital assistants, but through Connected Intelligence—where people, data, and digital workers (AI agents) work together side by side.
In this new era, collaboration happens without friction. Digital workers anticipate needs, coordinate tasks in the background, and resolve issues before they surface. Work flows naturally across teams, platforms, and time zones, allowing employees to focus on higher-value work instead of managing tools and handoffs.
Connected Intelligence removes the limits of geography and individual capacity. Knowledge and expertise move instantly to where they’re needed. Digital workers surface insights in context, automate workflows quietly, and keep work moving forward—without interrupting human creativity or decision-making.
The businesses that lead in 2026 will embrace open, interoperable ecosystems built on trust. By unifying secure connectivity with intuitive, embedded AI, they will create workplaces where people and digital workers operate as one—unlocking new levels of agility, creativity, and performance.
The result: collaboration becomes a strategic advantage, complexity fades into the background, and work finally moves at the speed of ideas.
—Aruna Ravichandran, SVP & CMO, AI, Networking & Collaboration, Cisco
AI Rapidly Accelerates Small Business Digital Transformation
Small business productivity will skyrocket as business owners use AI-enhanced automations for everything from marketing to invoicing and scheduling, to customer communications. Beyond that, the insights these automations produce, once only available to enterprises, create the opportunity for them to make data-driven decisions and anticipate business demands in ways they never could have before. A recent Thryv survey found more than half of SMBs are using AI, most of them daily, and 58% report saving 20+ hours per month. It feels like the small business digital transformation is now accelerating into the later innings.
—Joe Walsh, CEO, Thryv
No More “Man Vs. Machine”
We’re in full “human + AI” mode. While predictive analytics will help businesses proactively prevent customer issues before they turn into negative online reviews, human interaction will continue to be expected and appreciated. Which is a real advantage for small businesses. These business owners aren’t just running a company; they’re part of the community, running local fundraisers and sponsoring youth sports teams. AI can provide Together, they create the kind of experiences that customers value.
—Grant Freeman, President, Thryv
AI Serving as Our Universal Assistant
AI will further streamline the way we work. It might feel futuristic to some, but soon, we won’t need three apps to get one thing done. We’ll just ask an AI like ChatGPT or Claude to handle a task, and through integration with tools like our CRM and appointment scheduler, it will take care of the request inside the same conversation. For example, I would say “ChatGPT, schedule a call with my recent sales leads to review a quote and discuss next steps.” No extra clicks. No switching tools. Just action. This is where we’re headed: AI as your universal assistant.
—Sean Wechter, CTO, Thryv
SMBs Will Reap the Benefits of Big Business Insights
With increased use of Chatbots, SMBs will be able to easily access and leverage data on purchase history, preferences, and browsing habits, and provide tailored recommendations and customized solutions just like big brands do. We’re already seeing this dynamic play out with AI-driven personalized automations. It’s another case of accessible technology leveling the playing field for small businesses.
—Sarah Madden, Head of Customer Experience, Thryv
AI-first Go-To-Market Will be Table Stakes
In 2026, having an AI-driven GTM strategy will no longer be a competitive advantage but rather a baseline requirement to stay competitive. SMB sales teams will increasingly rely on AI for lead scoring, outreach automation, and personalization, potentially boosting conversion rates by double digits.
—Rees Johnson, Chief Product Officer, Thryv
Thryv’s 3 Top Tips For Maximizing the Power of AI For Small Businesses
1. Start small, scale fast
Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Begin by applying AI to one high-impact area—like automating appointment scheduling or lead follow-ups—then expand as you see results. Or evaluate CRMs that integrate AI into their platform, so your AI experience is seamless.
2. Train Your Team to Work Smarter with AI
AI tools are only as effective as the people using them. Take the time to train your employees on how to interpret AI insights and incorporate them into daily workflows. This ensures that their usage of AI complements their judgment—not replaces it.
3. Make Data Your Superpower
AI feeds off data. Make sure your customer and business data are clean, organized, and up to date. The better your data quality, the more accurate your AI-driven recommendations and predictions will be, leading to smarter decisions and better customer experiences.
From Small Business AI to the Enterprise View
Before we wrap up, you’ll notice that some of the insights below come from an enterprise perspective—particularly from Cisco. While much of this may feel bigger than what most small businesses deal with today, it’s still worth paying attention. Why? Because enterprise technology trends almost always trickle down. What large organizations are building, testing, and standardizing now often becomes simpler, more affordable, and more accessible to small businesses a few years later.
Think of this section as a glimpse around the corner. It helps explain where AI, networks, and automation are headed—and why the tools small businesses will use tomorrow are being shaped by decisions happening at scale today.
The Enterprise Network Becomes Autonomous: Agents Run It, Platforms Win It, and Openness Fuels It
By 2026, workplace networking across campus, branch, and Industrial IoT will cross a structural tipping point: the network will stop being an object that IT operates and become a system that operates itself.
1st, AI agents will replace traditional AIOps as the dominant operating model
What began as AI-assisted troubleshooting will evolve into AgenticOps—digital workers that autonomously manage the full network lifecycle. These agents will detect anomalies, correlate root causes, enforce intent, remediate issues, and continuously optimize performance in a closed-loop fashion. Humans will no longer “run” the network day to day; instead, they will supervise policy, risk boundaries, and business intent. In industrial and mission-critical environments, this shift is not optional—scale, uptime, and safety requirements demand autonomous execution with human guardrails.
2nd, networking will become open by default
As AI agents operate across domains, closed systems become friction points. The network will increasingly expose open APIs, telemetry models, and extensibility frameworks that allow agents to reason and act across vendors, domains, and environments. Openness will not be ideological—it will be practical. Agents cannot be effective inside silos, and customers will demand ecosystems that allow interoperability across campus, WAN, security, cloud, and OT.
3rd, platform advantage will become the decisive battleground
In a world of autonomous operations, the value shifts away from individual devices toward the platform that orchestrates outcomes. Winning platforms will unify management, observability, security, automation, and AI agents into a single control plane spanning IT and OT. Enterprises will choose vendors that deliver business outcomes—resilience, experience, security, and efficiency—not those that simply offer faster hardware or better point tools.
Industrial IoT will accelerate all three trends
Factories, logistics hubs, utilities, and campuses are converging IT, OT, Wi-Fi, private 5G, and edge computing. This convergence dramatically increases operational complexity while reducing tolerance for downtime or human error. Industrial environments will be the proving ground where AgenticOps, open ecosystems, and platform-centric networking are no longer aspirational—but essential.
—Aruna Ravichandran, SVP & CMO, AI, Networking & Collaboration, Cisco
It’s No Longer About Simply Scaling Bandwidth
In 2026, CIOs should prioritize networks that are not only elastic and application-aware but also architected for the realities of pervasive AI. As enterprise AI matures, we’re seeing a convergence of frontier model capabilities, an increasing proliferation of agents, and efficient models moving to the edge. A competitive advantage now comes from real-time efficiency, integration, and trust, not just raw power.
With powerful AI capabilities moving to the edge, it’s no longer about simply scaling bandwidth, but about enabling secure, low-latency decision-making close to where data is generated. CIOs must plan for networks that adapt in real time, embed security and identity at every touchpoint, and offer transparent insight into how AI systems operate. The future of campus and branch infrastructure is intelligent, adaptive, secure, and trusted.
—Lawrence Huang, SVP/GM Network Platform, Cisco
Empowering IT Teams
In 2026, we will witness a fundamental reimagining of the IT function as organizations enter the era of AgenticOps and intelligent networks. Historically, the ever-increasing complexity of IT environments, driven by advanced technologies and hyper-distributed workforces, has kept IT teams locked in cycles of reactive troubleshooting and manual intervention.
The next two years will mark a decisive turning point. With the emergence of autonomous network operations powered by AI, automation, and predictive analytics, IT will shift from reactive firefighting to proactive supervision of agentic systems. These intelligent platforms will anticipate issues, automatically optimize performance, and self-heal, allowing IT professionals to move beyond tactical problem-solving.
As IT teams transition into supervisory and strategic roles, they will focus on guiding, training, and refining autonomous systems rather than direct intervention. This evolution will enable IT to deliver seamless, assured connectivity as a true business differentiator. Ultimately, IT teams will ‘see more, react less,’ dedicating their expertise to driving innovation, enhancing digital experiences, and unlocking exceptional business value across the enterprise.
AI Will Demand a Modernized Network
The widespread adoption and scaling of AI projects are rapidly becoming a significant driver of networking constraints for enterprises. While organizations are already encountering these limitations in 2025, the trend is projected to intensify in 2026 as companies successfully validate and deploy AI solutions on a larger scale. This expansion of AI operations, characterized by massive data transfers, real-time processing, and distributed computing, will place immense pressure on network infrastructure, demanding increased bandwidth, lower latency, and enhanced security. Consequently, enterprises will need to prioritize substantial network upgrades, including investments in robust connectivity, intelligent network automation, and potentially edge computing integration, to support the demanding requirements of AI and ensure continued operational efficiency and innovation.
The Platformization of Networking: Unified Management for a Hyper-Connected Enterprise
In 2026, the platformization of networking will reach an inflection point, redefining how enterprises architect, manage, and secure their digital infrastructure. The days of managing a patchwork of silos across campus, branches, data centers, and SD-WANs are drawing to a close. Instead, organizations will increasingly demand a unified networking platform that provides seamless visibility, control, and automation across all environments.
This transformation will be driven by the emergence of a single, integrated control plane that spans on-premises and cloud networks, underpinned by shared telemetry and AI-powered insights. Enterprises will leverage this unified approach to collapse operational silos, optimize performance, and accelerate innovation. With shared data streams and AI-infused automation, IT teams will be empowered to holistically orchestrate network policies, security, and user experiences, regardless of location or underlying technology.
As platformization becomes the new standard, networking will evolve from a collection of disparate tools to a strategic enabler of business agility and resilience. In this new era, enterprises will expect their networks to be as unified, intelligent, and adaptive as the applications and workloads they support.
—Austin Lin, VP of Product Management, Network Platform, Cisco
Wrapping Up the Series
As this three-part predictions series shows, 2026 won’t be defined by a single trend or technology. Instead, it will be shaped by how small business owners adapt—choosing focus over frenzy, practical tools over hype, and clarity over constant hustle. Whether it’s rethinking growth, navigating money and financing, or deciding how and when to use AI, the businesses that succeed will be the ones that move deliberately and stay grounded in what works for them.
AI, in particular, doesn’t require an all-or-nothing leap. It rewards curiosity, experimentation, and thoughtful integration. Small businesses don’t need to match enterprises tool-for-tool; they need to use technology in ways that save time, deepen relationships, and support better decisions. As we head into 2026, the opportunity isn’t just to keep up—it’s to build businesses that are smarter, more resilient, and better aligned with the people who run them and the customers they serve.
Rieva Lesonsky is the founder of Small Business Currents, a content company focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurship. You can find her on Twitter @Rieva, Bluesky @Rieva.bsky.social, and LinkedIn. Or email her at Rieva@SmallBusinessCurrents.com.
Illustration courtesy: Getty Images for Unsplash+
