Ajith Sankaran, Senior Vice President, C5i.
In recent months, the conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved from discussing generative AI to exploring the transformative potential of what many now call the “Agentic AI Era.” Industry leaders have made bold statements indicating a fundamental disruption to the traditional SaaS (software as a service) business models. Today’s generative and agentic AI technologies are beginning to exhibit the ability to act autonomously, make decisions, create content and even manage parts of business operations. For small and medium businesses (SMBs) operating under resource constraints, this evolution could be nothing short of revolutionary.
Understanding The Agentic AI Era
At its core, agentic AI refers to systems that not only generate outputs, such as creative content or data insights, but also take the initiative to drive decision-making processes. These systems can assess a situation, propose a plan, implement solutions or “take action” with minimal human intervention. Generative AI, which powers everything from advanced chatbots to content creation platforms, is one facet of this larger agentic capability. Recent studies, such as PwC’s 2025 AI Business Predictions, indicate that investments in AI-driven technologies can lead to significant gains in productivity and innovation.
Opportunities For SMBs
Agentic AI opens up a broad array of opportunities for SMBs to address specific business problems and unlock new sources of growth. Here are a few key areas where these technologies can be particularly impactful:
1. Customer Service and Engagement: Modern AI chatbots and virtual assistants can now manage customer inquiries, provide personalized recommendations, and even resolve complex issues without human intervention. For instance, an SMB operating an online retail store can deploy a generative AI chatbot to handle 24/7 customer support, freeing up staff to focus on higher-level tasks.
2. Marketing Content Creation And Activation: Generative AI can produce tailored marketing content, ranging from social media posts and product descriptions to email campaigns—at scale. This can not only reduce costs but also enable rapid experimentation with different messaging strategies. Agentic AI systems go a step further and can drive actions such as posting the content on Instagram or sending a personalized email.
3. Application Development: By integrating AI agents into their development workflows, SMBs can automate code generation, debugging and testing. AI agents can transform software ideas into executable code, refactor existing codebases and autonomously resolve bugs. Agentic AI can manage deployment processes by monitoring system performance, predicting potential issues, and implementing solutions in real time, ensuring seamless application performance post-deployment.
4. Operational Efficiency: Agentic AI tools can optimize supply chain management, automate and execute routine administrative tasks, and help with maintenance workflows. For example, an SMB manufacturer might use agentic AI to monitor inventory levels in real time and create and send re-order emails to suppliers. Another AI agent could monitor the responses and drive other actions as needed
5. Human Resource Management: SMBs can leverage agentic AI to transform HR departments by automating and enhancing various functions. In talent acquisition, AI agents can autonomously screen resumes, assess candidate qualifications and shortlist top applicants, thereby accelerating the recruitment process and reducing manual workload. Agentic AI can manage onboarding procedures by guiding new hires through necessary documentation and training modules.
Practical Applications: How To Get Started
For SMBs ready to harness the power of agentic AI, the path forward involves a combination of strategic planning, investment in the right technology and a focus on building a supportive data infrastructure. Here are several steps to consider:
1. Define specific business problems. Start by identifying key pain points within the organization that could benefit from automation or enhanced data analysis. Whether it’s improving customer service response times or reducing operational costs, having a clear objective will guide the selection and implementation of AI tools.
2. Invest in quality data infrastructure. The effectiveness of AI systems is directly tied to the quality of the data they process. SMBs should evaluate their current data collection practices and invest in technologies that ensure data is accurate, comprehensive and easily accessible.
3. Start small with pilot projects. Rather than a full-scale implementation, begin with a pilot project in one area of the business. For example, a generative AI chatbot can be deployed on the website to measure improvements in customer engagement and satisfaction.
4. Leverage cloud-based AI services. Many leading technology providers now offer scalable, cloud-based AI platforms that are particularly well-suited for SMBs. These services allow businesses to experiment with advanced AI capabilities without incurring the high upfront costs associated with developing in-house solutions.
5. Leverage RAG and small language models. Integrate Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with small language models (SLMs) to enhance AI efficiency. This combination allows AI systems to access real-time data, ensuring outputs are current and contextually relevant. For SMBs, this means deploying powerful AI solutions without the need for extensive computational resources, making it a cost-effective strategy.
6. Embrace cross-functional collaboration. Successful implementation of agentic AI requires collaboration across various departments. SMBs will need to encourage different teams (marketing, operations, IT, customer service, etc.) to work together in integrating AI into existing processes.
7. Monitor, evaluate and iterate. Once the pilot projects are in place, SMBs will need to continuously monitor performance against predefined metrics. An iterative approach allows the organization to adapt quickly and scale successful initiatives.
Conclusion
The emerging “Agentic AI Era” offers a transformative opportunity for small and medium businesses to address longstanding challenges and unlock new growth potential. By leveraging generative AI and agentic AI tools, SMBs can streamline operations, enhance customer experiences and make data-driven decisions that drive both sustainability and profitability.
However, success in this arena requires more than just adopting cutting-edge technology; it demands a clear strategic vision, high-quality data, effective change management and ongoing human oversight. Learn from the experiences of early adopters and carefully navigate common pitfalls, to position yourself at the forefront of this new era. Now, the question is not whether SMBs can adopt agentic AI, but how quickly and effectively they can harness its potential to secure a competitive edge in tomorrow’s marketplace.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
