For small to medium businesses, the pressure to innovate is real, but so are the constraints.
Teams are expected to deliver more with the same resources, manual processes and limited budgets. Modernizing analytic workflows often feels out of reach, especially without enterprise-level staff or funding.
But change is coming fast. IDC predicts that by 2027, half of SMBs will adjust their IT budgets to factor in AI. No longer will AI be something to brag about your organization having, but rather a baseline necessity to stay competitive in the market. The Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA) reports that 65% of SMBs now consider technology a “primary factor” in attaining their goals, with many spending a higher percentage of revenue on tech than large enterprises.
This momentum is encouraging, but the reality is that most SMBs face the same barriers: limited IT resources, manual processes, unpredictable costs, too many vendors and questions of trust. These challenges slow transformation and make it harder to stay competitive.
The good news? Cloud-based analytics can help level the playing field. SAS has been helping organizations of all sizes modernize in the cloud – simplifying operations, improving resilience and freeing up teams to focus on insights instead of infrastructure. The same approach that works for enterprises can help SMBs too.
Here's five big challenges for SMBs and how a cloud-first approach is helping them overcome them.
1. Limited IT resources
Tight budgets and growing tech demands from cloud to AI strain small IT teams. Existing staff often juggle daily maintenance alongside strategic initiatives, slowing productivity and increasing downtime. Digital transformation can’t happen when teams are consumed by routine tasks, leaving you vulnerable to inefficiency, security risks, and competitive disadvantages.
As part of an SMB, you might upskill or cross-train employees, but this takes time and money. Or, you might prioritize scalable, cloud-based solutions and automation tools, or outsource IT functions like cybersecurity or cloud management.
In a smaller team, everyone wears many hats. Your team is highly qualified and can make a huge impact, yet you don’t have a whole team of folks on stand-by to modernize your resources. Plot twist, you don’t need to!
TowneBank is a great example. By using SAS for managed analytics, their small team operates like a much larger department.
As a growing organization, it’s very important for us to get as much out of our solutions and personnel as possible. We have limited resources, so we want to make sure we have a solution provider who can meet needs that we may not be able to meet ourselves. Erich Reuter, EVP of Quantitative Analytics and Enterprise Stress Testing, Townebank
Cloud-based platforms allow SMBs to modernize analytics without expanding staff, so teams can focus on insights rather than infrastructure.
2. Manual processes that slow you down
Manual work drains time, money and competitive advantage. On average, employees spend over 20 hours a month on data entry, while leaders lose 16 hours a week on tasks that could be automated.
Before SAS, Boddie-Noell relied on spreadsheets and manual processes to make business decisions. To keep up with its growing restaurant chain and a growing amount of data, it turned to SAS® Viya®.
Instead of spending a few weeks manually creating ad hoc reports with old data, we now rely on user-friendly SAS Viya dashboards that can generate reliable, timely reports. David Gardner, Director of Analytics, Boddie-Noell
Automation shifts resources from maintenance to growth. Sales teams spend more time with customers, finance reduces invoice processing time and marketing teams analyze campaign data faster, turning operational costs into value generation.
Cloud-based analytics make automation scalable and accessible, even for teams without specialized IT staff.
3. Unpredictable costs
SMBs face rising input costs, shifting tariffs and unpredictable consumer demand. Without real-time forecasting tools, they often react too late to secure favorable alternatives. This uncertainty can undermine budgets and limit investment in growth.
Travis Perkins, the UK’s leading builders’ merchant and home improvement retailer, uses SAS to optimize inventory and supplier relationships.
We can see the number of products we buy from each supplier, including our profit margins and any bulk-buy discounts we receive. What’s more, we can see if, for example, a particular supplier contributes to 60 percent of our sales but just 40 percent of our profits, so we can better understand the value of the relationship. That insight is especially handy if you’re negotiating a contract renewal. ” Aaron Jenkins, Plumbing and Heating Category Manager, Travis Perkins
Tight budgets are nothing new for SMBs. Cloud platforms help remove the guesswork from IT spending, making costs easier to plan for. Pair that with timely insights and organizations can manage volatility with a steadier hand and invest in growth more confidently.
4. Too many vendors, not enough clarity
With your team of skilled employees packed full of responsibility, you have to outsource to vendors to help tackle your goals.
Over half of all SMBs work with at least five different software vendors, often adding specialized solutions piecemeal. This patchwork almost inevitably leads to higher costs and potential service gaps.
SMBs are responding by consolidating end-to-end solutions that scale with growth. This lowers operational costs due to streamlined services, simplifies communication with fewer points of contact and offers a unified approach to IT, which reduces overall redundancy and errors.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM has embraced this approach, gaining flexibility, stronger governance and unified analytics in the process. Using SAS Viya on Microsoft Azure, they're helping customers express, connect and celebrate.
SAS is critical to our day-to-day activities. By providing our marketing and business operations teams with online reporting, cloud capabilities, machine learning and model building, we unlock new opportunities every day in how we engage with our customers. Arnie Leap, CIO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
Vendor consolidation through the cloud not only simplifies operations but also strengthens the foundation for long-term growth.
5. Difficult to know who to trust
You need to know your data is secure and that the insights you’re acting on are reliable. And with all the innovations in AI and lofty promises from organizations, it’s difficult to decipher who you can trust with your data.
Ethics, responsibility and trust exist for good reasons, but in business, they are absolutely mission-critical for quality decision-making and risk mitigation.
The Healthy Nevada Project, one of the largest population health studies in the US, uses SAS predictive analytics to advance research while keeping sensitive patient data secure and trusted.
The SAS platform has been the foundation of the Healthy Nevada Project. We have immersed ourselves in SAS' machine learning and AI procedures and use them continuously. Jim Metcalf, Chief Data Scientist, Healthy Nevada Project
By grounding its work in evidence-based methods and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals, the Healthy Nevada Project team can be confident in its findings. This, in turn, engenders trust with patients, partners, stakeholders and communities. Using SAS keeps data secure, AI responsible and insights reliable for the right operational decisions.
Curious about how to get started?
Check out SAS Managed Cloud Services: SAS Viya Essentials, a low-cost, turnkey managed cloud solution that gives organizations like yours access to powerful SAS analytics tools without the need for customer configurations or complex deployments.
Simply put, it saves you time, allows you to focus on what’s important and keeps your workloads safe.
