Big Business
“Big Business” – A cartoon that illustrates that small businesses are proving to be the early winners of getting value from AI.
A backlash against the value of AI is starting to take hold. “In April and May, I started hearing from companies: ‘Oh my god, we are 3x over our entire 2026 token budget and it’s only April,’” said J.R. Storment, Executive Director of the FinOps Foundation. The concern extends beyond rising costs. Accenture UK CEO Matt Prebble recently commented that roughly 90% of businesses have yet to see meaningful financial returns from their AI investments.
At the same time, studies continue to show that AI can improve productivity by 10% to 20% across many knowledge-work tasks. If AI is genuinely making people more productive, why are so many organizations struggling to realize a return on their investment?
Much of the discussion around AI focuses on large enterprises because they are spending the most money. Yet history suggests that transformative technologies rarely create value evenly. The internet did not transform every industry at once, nor did mobile computing. Early winners tended to be organizations that found a specific problem where the technology could deliver an immediate economic benefit.
Large organizations are attempting to layer AI onto complex businesses built around legacy systems and multiple layers of management. Even when the technology works, translating individual productivity gains into organizational outcomes can be surprisingly difficult. But, small businesses face a different challenge as they do not need a company-wide AI strategy. They need to reduce administrative work and deliver a better experience without dramatically increasing costs. In many cases, AI is allowing them to do exactly that.
For example, wellness coaches, therapists, financial advisers and other service providers are increasingly using AI to automate routine tasks, giving them more time to spend with clients. The customer experiences a more personal service, even though AI helped make it possible. While large enterprises continue searching for returns, many smaller firms have already found them.
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“Great context, Ian. I’ve long felt that the current iteration of these models best lends themselves to utilizing Advanced Inference (AI) tools in the context of what so-called knowledge workers do as opposed to replacing same…
The large vs. small discussion is perhaps also influenced by Wall Street, in that claiming to have made sizable investments in AI tools is viewed favorably by analysts, etc…
As this approach is blowing up budgets is perhaps an unintended consequence and may open these firms to criticism, since the perception that ‘lower value human capital’ (credit: Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters) can be easily replaced is similarly blowing up – in firms’ faces…
Small firms are more directly benefiting from these tools and perhaps have an inside track on bona fide early successes…”
“Interesting angle. Though I’d argue the gap might be temporary…once large enterprises figure out how to restructure around AI rather than just bolt it on, their scale could become an advantage again. The question is whether small businesses can move fast enough to build durable advantages before that happens.”
Sources:
Editorial (Apr 14, 2026) – Understanding the use of AI among small businesses – JPMorganChase
Tristan Bove (Mar 18, 2026) – Goldman Sachs says small businesses are embracing AI, but fewer than 1 in 5 are good at actually integrating it – Fortune
Paul Getter (Jan 02, 2026) – AI’s Double Lens: What Leaders Must Learn From Both Big-Picture Risks And Small-Business Innovation – Forbes
Editorial (Mar 17, 2026) – AI Presents a Major Opportunity for Small Businesses—But Support Is Needed to Close the Implementation Gap – Goldman Sachs
