AUSTIN, Texas, Could 1, 2025 – A brand new survey from AI voice options firm Vida exhibits that small and mid-sized companies which can be early adopters of AI-powered voice brokers are seeing elevated income, improved buyer engagement and stronger positioning as trade leaders, in keeping with the corporate.
The inaugural SMB AI Voice Agent Adoption & Influence Survey discovered that SMBs that contemplate themselves trade leaders are extra seemingly to make use of AI-voice brokers, notably for inbound gross sales inquiries and buyer questions. But, adoption continues to be early and uneven throughout the SMB panorama, largely on account of perceived obstacles like buyer desire for people and potential complicated implementation.
The SMB AI Voice Agent Adoption & Influence Survey was carried out by Vida and Survey Monkey in March 2025, polling 320 SMB house owners and managers throughout varied industries. The survey has a margin of error of ±5 %, guaranteeing statistically dependable insights into AI adoption traits, advantages and challenges throughout the SMB sector.
Survey findings embrace:
- Solely 22 % of SMBs at present use AI voice brokers for his or her enterprise, however practically one-third (31 %) plan to spend money on AI voice throughout the subsequent 12–24 months.
ROI:
- 97 % of SMBs utilizing AI voice brokers report a rise in income.
- 82 % say these instruments have improved buyer engagement, serving to scale back missed calls and seize extra gross sales alternatives.
- 80 % report saving 5 or extra hours per week, releasing up time for higher-value duties.
Chief Benefit:
- 69 % of SMBs classifying themselves as leaders use AI voice brokers for buyer assist or gross sales, in comparison with simply 22 % that self-identify as aggressive.
- 49 % of SMBs classifying themselves as leaders have extensively adopted AI into their day-to-day operations.
Missed Calls
- 42 % of SMBs estimate shedding greater than $500 a month — or $6,000 a yr — on account of missed buyer calls.
- 50 % acknowledge broader enterprise impacts from missed communications.
- obtain between 10 and 100+ buyer calls per day.
Use Circumstances
- The highest purposes for AI voice brokers are inbound gross sales inquiries (31 %) and answering FAQs (20 %) – duties that always go unattended however impression income.
- Surprisingly, solely 7 % are utilizing them for buyer assist escalation, signaling untapped potential to enhance service workflows.
Obstacles to Adoption
- The highest causes SMBs cite for not adopting AI voice brokers embrace the notion that clients want talking to people and considerations concerning the complexity of setup.
- In the meantime, 61 % of SMBs report feeling in no way assured or solely considerably assured of their skill to implement and combine new applied sciences.
Regardless of these hurdles, most SMBs say they’re conserving tempo with rivals relating to know-how, however confidence in implementation tells one other story. A majority of respondents described themselves as both “in no way assured” or solely “considerably assured” of their skill to combine new instruments like AI voice brokers.
“SMBs are lacking greater than calls – they’re lacking income,” mentioned Lyle Pratt, CEO and Founding father of Vida. “Our survey exhibits that AI voice brokers aren’t only a tech pattern, they’re a strategic benefit. Companies utilizing them are seeing actual positive aspects, and we count on adoption to rise shortly as extra SMBs acknowledge the chance and perceive the real-world use circumstances.”
“There’s clearly a spot between perceived tech-savviness and precise readiness to undertake these instruments,” added Pratt. “Whereas SMBs acknowledge the worth of rising applied sciences, they typically lack the assets or experience to successfully put them into observe. We wish to assist bridge the hole with options which can be simple to implement and ship ROI quick.”
To study extra concerning the Vida survey click here.
