(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in small business technology that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
This Week in Small Business Technology News
Small Business Technology News #1 — A tech reporter stopped using ChatGPT for everything and found these AI models beat it at research, coding, and more.
David Gewirtz of ZDNet makes a case for using several AI models as they excel at different jobs, and choosing the right one depends on the workflow, not the model version number. Gerwitz presents several examples and illustrates how AI models vary widely in strengths: some are better at images, others at coding, research, or speech recognition. A few examples include Google’s NotebookLM, which is great for generating audio explainers from dense documents. Gewirtz does a convincing job of showing in great detail why selecting different AI models for different tasks is a practical approach. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your small business:
This is the year your business needs to standardize on an AI model/chatbot/assistant for your teams to use. Your AI model should be doing everything from reviewing contracts, creating policies and advising on decisions. But which one is best? The field is crowded and the answer is, not surprisingly, complex. Some platforms are better than others. But using multiple platforms can be confusing and unproductive. My advice is to research the pros/cons of all the big names and then go with just one. Yes, some may do better at certain tasks. But you’re looking for consistency and ease of implementation across your organization. And it’s likely that they’ll catch up.
Small Business Technology News #2 — Intuit expands AI and fintech stack to deepen small business ties.
Intuit is deepening its AI integration and fintech partnerships to reshape how small businesses handle finances, payroll, and payments. The company has entered into an exclusive deal with fintech company Affirm to bring “pay over time” financing options directly into QuickBooks Payments, helping small businesses manage cash flow. Checkr — the background screening platform — is now integrated with Intuit’s payroll tools, and it has adopted OpenAI’s Frontier enterprise AI platform. These moves are designed to make QuickBooks and other Intuit products a one-stop financial stack for small businesses — handling payments, credit access, HR functions, and automated insights all in one place. (Source: Simply Wall St)
Why this is important for your small business:
Traditional software companies like Intuit are facing steep competition from AI models that promise an easier way to “vibe-code” similar solutions. But Intuit does have a big advantage: a massive customer database and a strong brand. Added to that is that most businesses don’t want to go through the pain of changing accounting systems unless they absolutely must. The good news — judging by the above recent news — is that Intuit is staying innovative and not standing still.
Small Business Technology News #3 — LinkedIn touts agentic AI to slash recruitment time.
LinkedIn is rolling out a more advanced agentic AI-powered Hiring Assistant that goes beyond simple generative text tools. Rather than just helping with search or drafting text, the system uses multiple autonomous AI agents that can carry out multi-step recruitment tasks on their own. With this Hiring Assistant, recruiters are saving roughly four hours per role filled thanks to the AI handling routine work. Candidate profile review time has dropped significantly (LinkedIn cited a 62 percent reduction in some measures). Large Language Models help to fine-tune results pulled from large datasets. (Source: Computer Weekly)
Why this is important for your small business:
Ask any business owner what their biggest challenge is and it’s finding talent. And not just on the shop floor, but strategic management. LinkedIn has emerged as a leading recruiting tool over the past few years and management is leveraging AI to maximize its use. I’m a customer and have had success. Be aware, however, that it’s not cheap. My LinkedIn experience has been costlier than other job search platforms, but then again you do get what you pay for.
Small Business Technology News #4 — Newo raises $25M to power SMB front desks with voice AI.
Newo.ai — a San Francisco–based startup — has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Ratmir Timashev (co-founder of Veeam Software), bringing its total capital raised to about $32 million. The company builds voice and text AI agents that act like always-on front-desk assistants for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). These agents can answer phone calls; handle SMS and web chat; communicate through messaging platforms like WhatsApp; book appointments, route inquiries, keep up with customer messages and handle basic questions — all with human-like accuracy and speed. (Source: Ventureburn)
Why this is important for your small business:
According to Newo, many small businesses miss a large share of incoming calls (often 20–40 percent) due to limited staff or after-hours coverage, which can mean lost appointments and revenue. Newo’s AI aims to reduce missed calls and capture more business, without hiring extra personnel.
Small Business Technology News #5 — Wealth manager stocks sink as new AI tool sparks disruption fear.
Shares of major wealth management and brokerage firms dropped sharply after news broke that fintech firm Altruist Corp. launched a new AI-powered tool for creating personalized tax strategies — stirring investor fears about AI disrupting the traditional financial advisory business. Stocks such as Charles Schwab, Raymond James Financial, LPL Financial Holdings, and Stifel Financial saw significant declines of roughly 7–8 percent in trading, marking some of their worst sessions in months. (Source: AdvisorHub)
Why this is important for your small business:
If you’re in the financial services or wealth management business, get ready for big changes. According to the report, the new AI tool helps financial advisors personalize strategies and generate key documents (like pay stubs and account statements) faster and more efficiently than traditional methods. That sparked fears that such automation could erode traditional advisory business models. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Neil Sipes said, “The selloff appears tied to broader concerns about AI disrupting the wealth management model.”
Each week I round up five small business technology news stories and explain why they’re important for your business. If you have any interesting stories, please post to my X account @genemarks
