A new report from SAS and IDC has suggested that European SMBs are making stronger progress in operationalising AI and embedding it into day-to-day business processes than those in the US.
The study, AI for SMBs: Closing the Readiness‑Reality Gap, polled more than 1,600 SMB leaders across 28 countries, including 640 respondents across Europe.
The study assessed organisations across four dimensions: planning, building, enabling capabilities, and deployment. While US companies scored highest on the first three, Europe seems to be making stronger progress in actually operationalising AI and embedding it into day-to-day business processes.
The wider global picture showed many organisations were still struggling to move from experimentation to meaningful business impact. More than two-thirds (70%) of SMBs worldwide remained in either experimental (37%) or opportunistic (33%) stages of AI maturity, with disconnected initiatives and limited organisational readiness preventing progress at scale.
The report identified several operational barriers preventing SMBs from scaling AI effectively. Nearly half (45%) said that their data was scattered across systems with no clear ownership; and similar number (46%) said AI tools still operate in isolation rather than as connected workflows; just over a quarter (26%) said governance, risk and compliance for AI emerged as the top AI priority among SMB leaders; and uncertainty around compliance, security and risk management was identified as the biggest execution barrier (24%). Only 9% of SMBs said they had fully embedded AI into strategy.
John Carey, senior vice president of global channels at SAS, said: “Organisations treating governance as a foundation rather than an obstacle are often the ones best positioned to execute. The findings suggest European SMBs are taking a more operational approach to AI adoption – focusing not just on experimentation, but on putting the right structures in place to scale AI effectively. Their stronger execution performance may also reflect greater preparedness for evolving regulatory environments such as the EU AI Act.”
“To actually make something of their AI strategy, SMBs need to move from disconnected pilots to true alignment of their data, people and resources,” said Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, vice president, research, at IDC. “Experimenting with the technology is one thing. Deploying it strategically and sustainably is quite another.”
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