Washington, DC (June 25, 2025) – THE National Federation of Independent Affairs (NFIB) published his new Small business and technological survey. The report is based on a national survey of owners of small businesses, providing an overview of the types of technologies and the speed at which they incorporate new technologies in commercial operations. The data focuses on small employers, which are small businesses that have at least one employee.
The survey covers how small businesses incorporate technology in many ways, in particular: their use of new or considerably improved technology, their use of artificial intelligence (AI) or having a website. Overall, despite their deserved reputation for innovation, the adoption of new technologies is often difficult for many small businesses, which can affect their ability to develop and compete.
To download the Small Business and NFIB technology survey, please click HERE.
“Owners of small businesses are the main source of innovation in our country, but many small businesses find it difficult to follow technological progress,” said Holly Wade, Executive Director of the NFIB Research Center. “The use of updated technology contributes to competitiveness and productivity, and this report offers a unique overview of considerations that small businesses of different sizes and industries encounter when they adopt new technologies.
The main conclusions include:
Familiarity, use and importance of new AI technologies
The rapid proliferation of AI technologies has changed the operation of business owners. However, the implementation of AI technologies is still limited among the smallest companies. While most small business owners have not yet adopted AI technology in their business, they generally provide that this evolves towards a more important role in their industry and in the operation of their business.
- Almost a quarter (24%) of all small employers are currently using AI technologies (Like Chatgpt, Copilot, Grammarly, Canva, Lunmen5, etc.) for their commercial activity compared to 76% that do not. These figures varied considerably depending on the size of the company, ranging from 21% for employee companies to a figure at 48% in more than 50 employees.
- Sixty-three percent of all small employers believe that the use of AI technologies in their industry over the next five years will be important to a certain extent. Twelve percent said it will be extremely important, 21% said it would be moderately important and 30% said it would be slightly important. Fifteen percent said it would not be important at all and 23% did not know it.
- Twenty-nine percent said they used or plan AI technology for communications (email, memos, documents), and 27% said they used it for marketing or advertising. Fourteen percent declared a commercial analysis or a predictive analysis, 9% declared customer service, 4% declared the accounting, 4% of the automation of the processes declared 4% of 4% declared a detection of cybersecurity or fraud.
- Almost all (98%) of small employers using AI technology indicated that its use had not changed the number of employees in their company.
Use of new or considerably improved technology
- More than half (57%) of all small employers have introduced new or considerably improved technologies (software, equipment, etc.) in the past two years. As for AI, there was a wide range of absorption. Fifty -one percent of employee companies have added new or significantly improved technology, and more than 50 employee companies.
- One of the reasons why owners of small businesses can choose to introduce new technologies is to improve the competitiveness of their market. We asked the owners of small businesses if the technology introduced put them before the competition, allowed them to remain competitive or to let them catch up with the competition.
- Sixty-five percent indicated that the new technology introduced allowed them to remain competitive. Fourteen percent declared that they allowed them to make up for the competition, and 11% said it had put them before the competition.
- Most owners of small businesses assess themselves as more or less online with their competitors in terms of technology. Almost half (48%) of small employers think they have no overall technological advantage over their main competitors, while only 22% report an advantage and 10% report disadvantage.
Website use and operations
- Overall, 82% of small employers have their own website.
- Companies interviewed, 75% with 1 to 9 employees had a website, as well as 90% of companies with 10-24 employees, 96% of companies with 25 to 49 employees and 97% of companies with 50 or more employees.
- Among the small businesses that have a website, around a fifth (19%) accept payments via their website, while 81% do not.
Methodology
The survey was sent by e-mail to a random sample of 20,000 owners of small companies in the NFIB members’ database. The investigation was on the field from March 6, 2025 to March 31, 2025, with an initial invitation on March 6 and a reminder on March 14. In total, 521 respondents completed the survey, representing a wide range of industries, including 21% in services, 16% in retail, 16% under construction and 14% in manufacturing.
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