By Bret Tushaus
Artificial intelligence is helping small and medium-sized businesses close the gap with larger competitors. Bret Tushaus explores how AI empowers SMBs in the professional services sector by enhancing agility, streamlining operations, and improving project delivery. With the right strategy and tools, AI can become a powerful equaliser for ambitious firms.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have always possessed unique strengths, including agility, creativity, and the ability to adapt quickly to change. Yet when it comes to accessing advanced analytical capabilities and technological resources, larger organisations have historically held certain advantages through their enterprise-level infrastructure, vast data repositories, and specialised teams.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now amplifying the natural advantages that SMBs already possess. The technology is democratising sophisticated capabilities, allowing agile, creative businesses to leverage their inherent flexibility alongside enterprise-level analytical power. This combination of human agility and AI creates a powerful competitive advantage. For those operating in the professional services sector in particular, where project complexity and resource management directly impact margins, AI represents a transformative opportunity to level the competitive landscape.
Rethinking project excellence with AI
Traditionally, project management has long relied on historical data and fixed methodologies, alongside human intuition. While effective to a degree, this model has favoured larger organisations with substantial infrastructure and specialised staff. For smaller businesses with limited resources, it often means accepting some level of uncertainty is simply part of the process.
AI changes this equation fundamentally. By analysing vast datasets of past performance across multiple touchpoints, AI systems identify potential risks and opportunities long before they would become apparent through the conventional means outlined above. This predictive capability gives SMBs a new level of foresight, allowing them to match or even exceed the sophistication of larger competitors.
It’s little wonder that confidence in tracking key project metrics – including profitability, budget adherence, and actual cost – has jumped from 59% to 75% in just one year among UK project-based SMBs. This dramatic improvement coincides with the fact that 57% of firms now are currently using, or planning to adopt AI to improve project delivery.
This transformation is particularly relevant for SMBs, where just over six in ten (61%) identify technology integration as a critical challenge yet 47% recognise technology and automation as their primary profitability driver. The potential for competitive advantage through AI adoption has never been greater.
Balancing ambition with pragmatism
Simply acknowledging AI’s potential is insufficient. Successful implementation requires a structured approach that balances ambition with pragmatism. Several strategies are a non-negotiable for firms looking to level the playing field with AI.
We’re already seeing the effects of this transformation firsthand in the professional services sector. Small consultancies are now leveraging AI to perform complex analyses that once required supercomputing capabilities. Boutique architectural firms are using generative design tools to explore thousands of design possibilities in the time it once took to create a handful of options. Project-focused SMBs are employing AI-powered sequencing to optimise resources with a precision previously impossible without dedicated planning departments. But how can all firms reap the same rewards?
The key is to partner with progressive solution partners who have AI capabilities built into their roadmap. Rather than developing complex data strategies from scratch, SMBs can leverage off-the-shelf solutions that are designed with AI integration in mind. By using these tools to their fullest extent and generating quality data through daily operations, businesses create the foundation for AI capabilities both today and in the future. This makes AI immediately accessible without extensive internal data expertise or intimidating technical overhauls.
Equally important is investing in a team’s capabilities. While AI solutions become increasingly user-friendly, organisations still need professionals who understand both the technology’s potential and its limitations. This means ensuring project teams understand how to effectively leverage AI tools within their existing workflows, building on the collaborative and adaptive culture that already defines successful SMBs.
With just over half (53%) of firms citing lack of upskilling investment as detrimental to their organisation, and 51% focusing on encouraging continuous learning, successful SMBs recognise that human capability development must parallel technological advancement. This dual focus ensures businesses not only adopt current AI solutions but develop the organisational adaptability to integrate future innovations as they emerge.
Building future ready teams
Integration must be iterative. SMBs must start with clearly defined use cases where AI can deliver immediate value, such as automating routine administrative tasks, enhancing project risk assessment, or improving resource allocation. With 41% of smaller organisations identifying significantly increasing their number of projects as essential for future success, AI-powered process optimisation must offer a pathway to expansion without proportional increases in personnel or operational costs.
The encouraging news for SMB leaders is that returns on AI investment can be immediate when the right approach is taken. By starting small with mainstream tools and focusing on specific use cases, businesses often see efficiency gains within weeks rather than months. This rapid return is particularly valuable for SMBs where every operational improvement directly impacts the bottom line.
While AI offers transformative potential, it must be utilised to enhance – rather than replace – existing business strengths. AI’s analytical power is nothing without hard-won expertise and a deep understanding of client needs. The future of projects for SMBs will be about the creation of collaborative intelligence that amplifies what a team already does well.
For SMBs, AI represents an opportunity to do what they’ve always done best – innovate, adapt, and deliver exceptional value – but now with unprecedented analytical power and efficiency. The natural agility and creativity that defines successful small and medium-sized businesses, combined with AI’s analytical capabilities, creates a compelling competitive advantage that larger, less flexible organisations struggle to match. SMBs must continue to prioritise digital transformation, with an emphasis on upskilling, collaboration, and innovation. In turn, smaller firms position themselves for long-term growth while underlining one clear message: the technology that once threatened to widen the competitive gap is now the most powerful tool for closing it.
As Deltek’s Vice President of Product Management,
