For most of the small businesses recently surveyed for RingCentral, the top challenge they experienced around AI integration involved data security. Things change, however, when it comes to very small businesses (VSBs). While nearly four in 10 firms (37.27%) with 400 or more employees said data security was their top concern, and a third of firms with 21-99 employees said the same, that figure dropped to 15.7 percent among small businesses with 0-20 employees. For those very small businesses, a complex “onboarding process with unclear expectations” was the number one concern, named by about 30 percent. It’s apparently a substantial challenge. Of course, it may not be the only resource constraint limiting AI adoption, but VSBs are falling behind their larger counterparts. Whereas the large majority of larger small businesses have integrated AI into customer conversations (such as through chatbots), just a third of VSBs surveyed by RingCentral have some the same. Data recently published by Genesy indicates there are some disconnects between the readiness and willingness of businesses to deploy agentic AI and the trust and acceptance of consumers who’ll ultimately interact with it. While 81 percent of CX leaders trust agentic AI with sensitive customer data, just 36 percent of consumers feel the same. Similarly, 74 percent of businesses indicated they’re comfortable using agentic AI for billing, financial transactions and account security, while consumers were more hesitant. Of those surveyed, only 35 percent of consumers were comfortable with the technology handling money transfers, 49 percent with resolving billing issues and 50 percent with updating personal information. When it comes to overall customer service resolution, though, more than half of consumers (58 percent) said they don’t care whether the issue their experiencing is resolved by a human or AI as long as it’s “handled quickly and completely.” This indicates that the efficiency and effectiveness of the technology can overcome consumer skepticism, analysts said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman raised fears of an AI bubble with comments in a recent interview with The Verge. “Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes,” said Altman. “Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.” Perhaps Altman knows that one of ever two venture capital dollars are going to AI startups, according to findings by CB Insights, and AI funding in the first half of 2025 already surpassed 2024’s record full-year total. “Startups are raising at sky-high valuations,” said CB Insight analysts, “with multiples crossing 100x.” AI is transforming how work gets done, and the pressure on networks is mounting, said researchers at Cisco. According to its survey of more than 8,000 senior IT and business leaders responsible for networking strategy and infrastructure, a major architectural shift is underway across enterprise networks, as AI assistants, agents and data-driven workloads create faster, more dynamic, more latency-sensitive and more complex network traffic. • 94% of respondents say AI, IoT and cloud computing will have the greatest impact on their network in the next two years; 62% say it’ll be down to AI alone • 97% say a modernized network is critical to rolling out AI, IoT and cloud • 91% plan to increase the share of IT budget allocated to networking • 71% say their data centers can’t scale AI • 88% plan to expand capacity to support AI workloads across on-prem, cloud or both • Only 11% of data centers are fully optimized for AI workloads with advanced capabilities • 98% say AI-native, autonomous networks are essential to future growth “The network is no longer just infrastructure. It’s strategy. It’s value. And it’s the priority for leaders,” said Cisco researchers. VSBs Need Help Onboarding AI Genesys Survey Reveals Enthusiasm, Distrust for Agentic AI AI Bubble Alert AI Transforming Infrastructure AI & AUTOMATION Have Integrated AI in Customer Conversations 400+ employees 81.55% 100 to 388 employees 74.55% 21 to 99 employees 55.36% 0 to 20 employees 33.33% Source: RingCentral 8 CHANNELVISION | SUMMER 2025
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