WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 25, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its new Small Business and Technology Survey. The report is based on a nationwide survey of small business owners, providing insight into what types of technologies and the speed to which they are incorporating new technologies into business operations. The data focuses on small employers, which are small businesses that have at least one employee.

The survey covers how small businesses incorporate technology in numerous ways, including: their use of new or significantly improved technology, their use of artificial intelligence (AI), or having a website. Overall, despite their deserved reputation for innovation, adopting new technology is often difficult for many small businesses, which may affect their ability to grow and compete.

To download NFIB’s Small Business and Technology Survey, please click HERE.

“Small business owners are our nation’s top source of innovation, yet many small businesses struggle to keep up with technological advancements,” said Holly Wade, Executive Director of the NFIB Research Center. “Use of updated technology contributes to competitiveness and productivity, and this report offers unique insight into the considerations small businesses of varying sizes and industries encounter when they adopt new technologies. This includes the rapid proliferation of AI and how technology impacts business operations now and their anticipation of how it will impact them in the future.”

Key findings include: 

Familiarity, Use, and Importance of New AI Technologies

The rapid proliferation of AI technologies has altered the way business owners work. However, the implementation of AI technologies is still limited among the smallest businesses. While most small business owners have yet to adopt AI technology into their business, they generally anticipate it evolving into a more important role in their industry and in operating their business.

• Nearly a quarter (24%) of all small employers currently use AI technologies (such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Grammarly, Canva, Lunmen5, etc.) for their business activity compared to 76% who do not. These numbers varied greatly by company size, ranging from 21% uptake for single-digit employee firms to 48% at 50+ employee firms.
• Sixty-three percent of all small employers think the utilization of AI technologies in their industry in the next five years will be important to some degree. Twelve percent reported it will be extremely important, 21% reported it will be moderately important, and 30% reported it will be mildly important. Fifteen percent reported it will not be important at all, and 23% didn’t know.
• Twenty-nine percent reported they are using or planning to use AI technology for communications (email, memos, documents), and 27% reported using it for marketing or advertising. Fourteen percent reported business analysis or predictive analysis, 9% reported customer service, 4% reported accounting, 4% reported process automation, and another 4% reported cybersecurity or fraud detection.
• Nearly all (98%) of small employers using AI technology reported that its use has had no change in the number of employees at their business.

Use of New or Significantly Improved Technology

• Over half (57%) of all small employers have introduced new, or significantly improved, technologies (software, equipment, etc.) in their business within the last two years. As with AI, there was a wide range in uptake. Fifty-one percent of single-digit employee firms have added new or significantly improved technology, and 75% of 50+ employee firms have.
• One reason small business owners may choose to introduce new technology is to improve their market competitiveness. Small business owners were asked if the technology introduced put them ahead of the competition, allowed them to stay competitive, or let them catch up to the competition.
  • Sixty-five percent reported that the new technology introduced allowed them to stay competitive. Fourteen percent reported it let them catch up to the competition, and 11% reported it put them ahead of the competition.
• Most small business owners evaluate themselves as more or less in-line with their competitors in terms of technology usage. Nearly half (48%) of small employers believe they have no overall technological advantage over their primary competitors, while only 22% report an advantage and 10% report a disadvantage.

Website Usage and Operations

• Overall, 82% of small employers have their own website.
  • Of businesses surveyed, 75% with 1-9 employees had a website, along with 90% of businesses with 10-24 employees, 96% of businesses with 25-49 employees, and 97% of businesses with 50 or more employees.
• Of those small businesses that have a website, about a fifth (19%) accept payments through their website, while 81% do not.

Methodology

The survey was fielded by email to a random sample of 20,000 small business owners from NFIB’s membership database. The survey was in the field from March 6, 2025, to March 31, 2025, with an initial invitation on March 6 and a reminder on March 14. A total of 521 respondents completed the survey, representing a wide range of industries, including 21% in services, 16% in retail, 16% in construction, and 14% in manufacturing.

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