Why Base Hits Beat Home Runs in AI Automation for SMEs
AI dominates the headlines, promising breakthroughs that will transform entire industries overnight. If you run a small or mid sized business, the reality is more practical. It is not the home run projects that drive success. Consistent base hits are what improve how your team works every day.
The State of AI in Business 2025 report from MIT NANDA backs this up. Businesses have invested billions in AI, yet only about 5% of pilots scale to meaningful impact. The companies that see results are not betting everything on a single grand automation. They are stacking small, measurable improvements across back office workflows, customer communications, and routine tasks (MIT NANDA, 2025).
Why Big Bets Stall
Large scale home run projects, such as trying to replace an entire department’s workflow in one push, often stall. The study finds that the biggest roadblock is not technology or regulation. The issue is simpler and closer to the frontline. Tools often fail to adapt to the messy realities of business work.
Employees lose trust quickly in tools that:
Do not learn from feedback
Require heavy manual setup every time
Struggle with exceptions and edge cases
When trust drops, staff return to the old way of doing things, and the transformational project never leaves the pilot stage.
The Power of Base Hits
By contrast, targeted and narrow applications of AI deliver repeatable ROI. Examples include:
Automatic summaries of customer calls
Data extraction from invoices
First pass drafts of marketing emails
Routine code generation for IT tasks
These use cases rarely make headlines. They do, however, save time immediately, free managers to focus on growth rather than busywork, and build trust that fuels the next improvement.
The report also notes that many firms direct about half of their AI budgets to sales and marketing because results are easy to measure. Yet back office automation often provides the fastest payback, since it tackles repetitive tasks that touch everyone.
How SMEs Can Win with AI
We always give three practical steps for owners and operators:
Find everyday bottlenecks. Look for work that burns hours, such as reformatting spreadsheets or chasing missing information.
Start narrow and measure. Choose one process, track time and cost savings, and celebrate the win.
Build on what works. Let early results guide the next investment instead of betting on a sweeping transformation from day one.
Takeaway
AI in business is not about swinging for the fences. It is about stacking base hits. Each small automation compounds into real competitive advantage. As highlighted in the State of AI in Business 2025 report, the winners are not those who spent the most. The winners are those who deploy AI in the right places, step by step, where it makes daily work easier and faster.
For SME owners, this is good news. You do not need a massive budget to benefit from AI. You need to focus on the plays that move runners forward, one base at a time.