5 New Technologies SMBs are Missing Out On | 2025
Companies pay a big buck for digital transformation to management consultants.
Take the airline industry.
A trillion-dollar industry, moving millions of passengers daily, yet running on technology from the 1990s.
When Southwest Airlines lost nearly $1 billion during the 2022 holiday season, it wasn’t due to bad weather alone – their outdated crew scheduling software simply couldn’t handle real-time changes. The fear of change, budget constraints, and the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality kept them chained to legacy systems.
Sound familiar?
Many small and medium-sized businesses face the same paralysis.
Just like airlines juggling complex operations with ancient technology, SMBs often stick to outdated systems fearing disruption, costs, or simply not knowing better alternatives exist.
But here’s the truth: while digital transformation might seem expensive today, the cost of technological stagnation – like Southwest’s billion-dollar lesson – is far steeper.
Technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain technology are revolutionizing industries by offering advanced solutions for operational efficiency and security.
Let’s explore five technologies that could be your game-changers in 2025
AI Business Phone Management
Remember the days of missing important calls during lunch breaks, or that sinking feeling when a potential customer hangs up after the fifth ring? Many SMB owners still live this reality, juggling their sandwich in one hand and phone in the other.
Modern AI phone systems do more than just answer calls. They transcribe conversations, route calls based on context, and even handle basic customer inquiries. Think of it as having a super-competent receptionist who works 24/7, never takes vacation, and somehow remembers every conversation verbatim.
A simple setup with a tool like Allo can handle appointment scheduling, answer common questions about your business hours or location, and even qualify leads before they reach your team. When a potential customer calls asking about your services, the AI assistant can gather their basic requirements and schedule a follow-up call when you’re available – all while you’re focused on running your business. Allo’s even mobile-first, meaning you can manage calls, messages, and integrations directly from your smartphone.
Generative AI plays a crucial role in enhancing customer service automation by generating sophisticated responses and handling complex inquiries.
The best part? You don’t need a Silicon Valley budget.
Allo starts at just $19 per month for a full-featured business line, including AI call summaries and voicemail transcription. Even their popular Business plan, which handles multiple users and includes their Virtual AI Assistant, runs at $34.99 monthly for a team of three.
That’s less than what most businesses spend on their coffee runs – except this investment actually picks up the phone while you’re making that coffee run.
Knowledge Management
Every business has a Sarah – that one person who knows where everything is, how everything works, and what to do when things break.
But what happens when Sarah takes a vacation, or worse, accepts that job offer from your competitor?
Knowledge management turns your team’s collective wisdom into a searchable, always-available resource. Instead of important information living in Sarah’s head, random Slack messages, or buried email threads, modern tools like Slite help teams build a living, breathing knowledge base. How?
Slite makes this possible by combining document collaboration, smart organization, and powerful search capabilities. Teams can create, organize, and share everything from onboarding guides to process documents, complete with embedded videos, charts, and feedback loops.
The real magic happens when this knowledge base becomes your team’s first stop for information – suddenly, Sarah can focus on growing the business instead of answering the same questions on repeat. Additionally, evolving business models, driven by new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), are transforming how companies operate. These models, such as pay-per-use, leverage new customer data to reshape traditional business practices and enhance consumer engagement.
No-Code Automation
No-code automation tools let you connect your business apps and turn repetitive tasks into automated workflows. Instead of copying data between tools or manually triggering processes, build digital workflows that run themselves.
Cloud systems play a crucial role in enabling no-code automation by providing the necessary infrastructure for seamless integration and scalability.
There’s 3 key automations that deliver immediate ROI:
Lead Capture & Response
- Forms → CRM → Welcome email → Task creation
- Quote generation from deal data
- Meeting scheduling with context sharing
Document Management
- Auto-generate contracts and invoices
- Template population from CRM data
- Cross-platform file syncing
Marketing & Sales
- Multi-platform content publishing
- Lead scoring and routing
- Customer data syncing across tools
Start with Make.com for complex workflows, or Zapier for simpler integrations.
Both offer templates for common business processes. Pick your most time-consuming repetitive task, map out the trigger and desired outcome, and use templates to build your first automation in under 30 minutes. Once you see the impact, expand to other workflows.
Digital Payment Optimization
“Your payment couldn’t be processed” – four words that make both customers and business owners cringe. In an era where people buy groceries with their watches, payment friction is the fastest way to lose a sale.
Modern payment infrastructure lets you accept payments anywhere while reducing fees and fraud. Choose the right stack based on your sales channels and transaction volume.
Blockchain technology can further enhance payment security and reduce fraud, offering transparency and reliability in transactions.
Essential Stack:
- Payment Processing: Stripe, Square
- Digital Wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay
- Local Methods: ACH, SEPA, bank transfers
- Subscription Management: Stripe Billing, Chargebee
- Fraud Prevention: Built-in tools from processors
Key Benefits:
- Lower processing fees (0.5-2.9%)
- Reduced fraud rates
- Faster settlements
- Multiple currency support
- Automated reconciliation
You can start with Stripe for online payments for transactions. It offers simple integrations and scales with your needs. They even have an excellent guide for SMBs to get you started.
We recommend payment automation ASAP so that whether your customer wants to pay with a card, digital wallet, or a bank transfer, your answer will always be “yes, we can handle that.”
Customer Success Automation for Enhanced Customer Engagement
Remember when “customer service” meant waiting on hold while listening to smooth jazz covers of 80s hits? Today’s customers expect more, but that doesn’t mean you need to hire an army of support agents.
Customer success moves beyond reactive support to proactively ensure customers achieve their goals with your product. Additionally, protecting customer data against emerging cyber threats is crucial, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) transitioning to post-quantum cryptography solutions.
Essential Focus Areas:
- Onboarding: Get customers to first value fast
- Product Adoption: Track and improve feature usage
- Health Monitoring: Spot risks early
- Account Growth: Identify expansion opportunities
- Feedback Loops: Collect and act on insights
Core Tools:
- Customer Success Platform: Gainsight, Planhat
- Support System: Intercom, Zendesk
- Usage Analytics: Mixpanel, Amplitude
- Communication: Email + in-app messaging
Start by mapping your customer journey and identifying key success metrics. Use basic tools until you reach scale, then invest in dedicated customer success platforms.
The magic happens when automation and human touch work together. Let the systems handle the routine stuff – onboarding emails, usage tips, satisfaction surveys – while your team focuses on the high-touch interactions where human expertise really matters.
Making these Emerging Technologies work for you - Our advice
We listed quite a few tools and it might feel overwhelming. But, much like when you were starting your business - you need to take this one step at a time.
When adopting new technologies, it's crucial to consider potential threats and the importance of security measures to protect your business.
Finding Your Starting Point
Look at where your business loses time and money. Payment friction slowing down sales? Manual tasks eating staff time? Leads getting lost? Start with your biggest problem - that’s where new tools will have the most impact.
Take small steps
Begin with digital payments - they affect your cash flow immediately. After that’s running smoothly, automate one time-consuming task like lead responses or invoice generation. Get these basics right before moving to advanced tools like predictive analytics.
Mobile devices play a crucial role in facilitating the adoption of new technologies, enhancing user experiences through features like Augmented Reality and machine learning.
Real Costs
Software prices are just the start. Add setup time, training, and integration costs. Most teams need 2-3 months to adapt to new systems, and work will slow down during the switch. Budget for these disruptions.
Machine learning technology on social network platforms helps analyze user interactions, which can optimize costs by prioritizing content from closest connections.
Document your experiment
Document your current process first. Test new tools with a small part of your business. Train your team properly - rushed training causes most implementation failures. Check results weekly and expand only after proving success.
Lastly - don’t get the annual plan
Don't buy annual plans until monthly tests work. Most SaaS tools give a discount when you get an annual plan. It’s the same trap gyms use to sell annual memberships. Look around you - how many of your friends with an annual gym membership actually use it for the entirety of the year?
Similarly, you need to be practical with your tests. Get free trials wherever possible, set reminders to cancel them, and take the monthly plan for tools with the most potential. Only get the annual plans when you’re sure that the tool will be an excellent fit for your company in the long run.
Give each new tool three months to prove its worth. It should either bring in more revenue or free up significant time for your team. If it's not delivering, that's okay - it just means it's not the right fit for your business right now. Keep testing and adjusting until you find what works for your specific needs.
