4 days ago
How AI can power a new era of growth for South African SMMEs
As small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) increasingly turn to technology for a competitive edge, the South African economic landscape is changing. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative force, offering these businesses new ways to enhance operations, drive innovation, and contribute to job creation at a time when unemployment remains high.
Similarly, many small businesses are already experimenting with AI, using it to communicate with customers (34%), manage information (32%) and analyse data (31%), according to a survey conducted by Xero.
AI offers powerful capabilities that can revolutionise small business operations, including delivering data-driven insights to support better strategic planning and market intelligence to enable agile and informed decisions without large research teams.
Beyond enabling smarter decision-making, AI enhances efficiency by automating routine tasks and enabling scalable growth — factors that directly contribute to increased profitability. Forrester's report, New Technology: Projected Total Economic Impact of Microsoft 365 Copilot for SMB, underscores this connection, projecting that SMMEs leveraging AI-powered tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot could achieve a return on investment of up to 353% over three years, with a 20% drop in operating costs and a 6% revenue increase. For SMMEs, this kind of impact can be game-changing.
