BILL Survey Finds 85% of SMBs Are Enthusiastic About Using AI in Financial Operations

BILL (NYSE: BILL), a leading financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), today unveiled The BILL 2024 State of Financial Automation Report which provides an in-depth look at emerging trends in SMB financial management and operations. Conducted by SMB Group, the survey results demonstrate that SMBs believe innovative technology such as AI and automation are beneficial capabilities for their financial operations. SMBs are looking to AI and automation to help them increase efficiency and empower them to redeploy staff to more strategic tasks that can foster innovation and growth.

Key findings of the survey include:

• SMBs see business benefits of AI: SMBs want to use AI for their business, both for strategic and tactical financial operations.
• Automation is important to financial operations: The majority of SMBs agree that automation is essential to enhancing business efficiency, decision-making, and employee attraction and retention.
• Integrated financial management solutions provide value: Almost two-thirds of SMBs said that integrated financial management solutions would provide high value to the financial operations of their business.

“Advances in AI present a new opportunity for SMBs. AI can help them make better decisions and bring powerful efficiency and productivity outcomes to improve their business,” said Ken Moss, Chief Technology Officer at BILL. “For SMBs, choosing the right technology and AI partner for their business is essential to their long term success. It’s not just about being innovative. SMBs need accessible, trusted and useful technology that can actually transform their business.”

SMBs See an Opportunity to Leverage AI to Improve Their Business

Automation is already transforming financial operations, offering SMBs better accuracy and efficiency when it comes to managing their cash flow. With new innovation and advancements in AI, it presents even more opportunities to enhance their business. Many SMBs want to embrace AI, with 85% of SMBs responding that they are enthusiastic about using AI for their business. They view AI as a beneficial tool for strategic planning and everyday operations of their business. SMBs identified decision-making and analytics benefits as the top advantages that AI can contribute to financial operations. They also cited practical benefits such as giving employees time to focus on more important tasks, detecting irregularities, summarizing data, and streamlining routine activities as key advantages.