Small Business and Smart Software: Where to Start

You may already use artificial intelligence at work and not know it. This guide shows what the research says and where a small business can start.

What the research says

• Small and medium-sized enterprises make up 99.8% of Canadian businesses and employ about 63.7% of the private-sector workforce. (Future Skills Centre, June 2026)
• Statistics Canada reported that 19.2% of businesses used artificial intelligence to produce goods or deliver services over the 12 months preceding its second-quarter 2026 survey, up from 12.2% in the second-quarter 2025 survey. Among businesses with 1 to 4 employees, the 2026 figure was 19.9%. These are survey estimates, not a count of every business. (Statistics Canada, 2026)
• Reported adoption depends on how you ask. The Future Skills Centre report cites a 2024 BDC survey in which 39% of small and medium businesses said they used artificial intelligence, rising to 66% when concrete examples were given. That is a different survey and definition, not a directly comparable growth measure. (Future Skills Centre, June 2026, citing BDC)
• The report says many small businesses are unaware that common tools they already use rely on artificial intelligence, and describes under-reporting as one reason survey results differ. (Future Skills Centre, June 2026)
• The same report says adoption does not need to be one big change. Small steps, often with accessible software, can have impact. It also warns that adopting a tool does not always produce the result hoped for, and more research is needed.

What this means for a small business

• You do not need to start with a large project. Try one small task first.
• Check the result every time. A person stays responsible for what goes to a customer.
• Know what you put in. Do not paste private customer details into a tool unless you know how it handles them.

Four everyday tasks to try first

These are our suggestions, not research findings. Try one at a time and compare to how you do it today.

1. Draft a customer email or reply, then edit it yourself.
2. Summarise a long document or meeting notes, then check against the original.
3. List ideas for a social post or flyer, then pick and rewrite one.
4. Turn a rough process into a checklist, then correct the steps you know are wrong.

Three steps this month

1. Pick one repeat task that costs you time each week.
2. Try one tool on it with no private data, and write down what you had to fix.
3. Decide with your team what is fine to use it for and what is not.

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