Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries across the globe, and while large corporations often dominate the conversation, small businesses and entrepreneurs are proving to be key players in driving AI adoption. Their agility, willingness to experiment and ability to collaborate with larger organizations make them uniquely positioned to influence how AI is implemented across industries.
Brian Stoll, CEO and founder of Illuminate Digital, has seen this dynamic firsthand. His company leverages AI to provide digital marketing and operational solutions to clients, both big and small. According to Mr. Stoll, the advantages for small businesses lie in their ability to move quickly.
“Flexibility and speed of implementation. AI can be a great time saver and can help save a lot of money. With a small company compared to a large one, the small company, especially solopreneurs or companies with 10 or fewer employees, may not need to go through red tape to get approvals to use AI,” Mr. Stoll explained.
Within Illuminate Digital, that speed has already paid off. “Within my business, we were able to start using AI to help create better social media content and graphics the same day we started discussing it,” Mr. Stoll said. “A large company might take weeks to be able to start using it.”
The perception that small businesses lack the resources to deliver enterprise-level solutions is fading as entrepreneurs demonstrate the power of AI-driven tools. For Mr. Stoll and his team, collaboration with larger companies is already a reality.
“We are already doing this for larger and smaller companies with Google Business 360 Services,” Mr. Stoll said. “This software program uses AI to analyze over 100,000 points of data from businesses all over the country. We use this AI software to improve the map rankings for clients both big and small.”
These partnerships highlight how small firms can inject fresh ideas and adaptability into large-scale operations, helping bigger organizations stay competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Despite this, misconceptions about small businesses persist. Mr. Stoll believes larger companies often underestimate how effectively entrepreneurs can harness AI.
“I think large companies might think a small company doesn’t have a large enough staff to implement AI, or small businesses don’t have staff with the knowledge base to use AI effectively,” Mr. Stoll said. “We personally have not seen this as an issue at all. AI is great for helping to brainstorm ideas, assemble a meeting agenda with a simple bullet point list of what the leader wants to accomplish.”
Illuminate Digital’s work demonstrates the measurable advantages smaller firms can deliver through AI.
• On website performance: “We use AI to review a prospect’s website to help determine why it is not converting. We use this data to explain to the client why they are not getting enough calls or contacts, then we use this data when we build the websites so we can fix and prevent issues with conversions.”
• On Google Maps visibility: “Google Business 360’s AI technology will analyze a company’s Google Business Profile and suggest services to be listed based on similar companies,” Mr. Stoll said. “Next, it will automatically write a business description and service descriptions that are based on the AI knowledge base to improve a company’s map rankings. Then the AI writes Posts and Q&As for the company profile. This has already been improving the rankings on Google for larger companies.”
• On operations: “We use AI to help create better standard operating procedures. We have an SOP for nearly everything we do at Illuminate Digital,” Mr. Stoll said. “A couple of years ago we only had one SOP, and it wasn’t very good. We used AI to help us improve the SOP to improve our speed of service and improve customer experience. For every improvement, we explained to ChatGPT what issues we still saw. Sometimes it offered small suggestions and a few times it created a brand new SOP that we were then able to create a spreadsheet of the checklists with. These SOPs have already shown an increase in our client satisfaction, reduced churn and added additional sales from our existing clients. They have told us that they are working with us again because the first project was such a great experience.”
Looking ahead
Mr. Stoll sees both opportunity and disruption on the horizon. Small businesses, in his view, are well-positioned to play a major role in the next wave of AI innovation.
“Big or small, the companies that grow the fastest are going to be the companies that use AI, and the ones that use it the most effectively will be the companies that are the most efficient at the implementation of AI,” Mr. Stoll said. “We will see a meteoric rise of small and large companies in the next decade. I believe that there might be two or three companies that don’t exist right now that will rival Walmart, Amazon or Apple for annual revenue within the next 10 years.”
While acknowledging that AI will displace some jobs, Mr. Stoll stresses the importance of adaptation. “Unfortunately, some people will lose jobs because of AI, but some people will get a job because of their knowledge of AI and how to implement it.
“Today reminds me of John Henry’s hammer story,” Mr. Stoll added. “Instead of learning how to run the machine that would take his job, John thought he could outwork the machine that drove the spikes on the railroad, and when they had a contest to see if the machine or the man would win, John died from exhaustion trying to outwork the machine. Change is inevitable, so we should embrace it. Learn how to use AI, and you will not just save your job or business; you might grow far beyond your imagination.”
Small but mighty
The future of AI won’t be defined solely by global tech giants. Entrepreneurs and small businesses across Iowa and beyond are already proving their ability to innovate, collaborate and scale solutions that larger companies may struggle to implement quickly.
As Mr. Stoll’s experience shows, small businesses are not just keeping up with AI, they’re helping to lead the way.
This column was submitted by Jessica Abdoney, NewBoCo.
