The term small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) belies the significant contribution these organizations make to economies and employment markets. According to World Economic Forum, “Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which represent about 90% of all firms globally, provide approximately 70% of all employment and, by some estimates, contribute up to 70% of global GDP .” They are also involved in their communities, providing innovative products and services that play a crucial role in accelerating economic development.

However, doing all this while remaining competitive requires SMBs to perform a fine balancing act between three primary goals. They need to accelerate the speed to market for their products and services, they need to build customer trust and at the same time, they need to work for reduce costs. So how are these small but mighty SMBs doing it? And – most importantly – how can they make it easier and make it better? The answer, supported by a recent report from Accenturelies in adoption cloud services and technologies.

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Using cloud tools to unlock billions of benefits

The report estimates that by 2030, cloud-enabled SMBs in healthcare, education and agriculture will have unlocked $161 billion in productivity gains. These cloud-enabled SMBs will support 95.8 million jobs, equivalent to 8% of total employment on average across the 12 countries studied. Meanwhile, SMBs in these sectors in the US will earn a projected $79.8 billion, a 26% increase in actual productivity gains. Within cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are expected to have the most significant effect: 78% of surveyed businesses identified these technologies as the most important in creating social impacts in 2030.

Many businesses have already migrated services and computing to the cloud. Approximately 63% of all businesses in the US (and 44% globally) now use cloud technology. Most of these will be large enterprises with the digital savvy and resources to make the move. This means that there are many SMBs that are, therefore, missing out. First, to be able to achieve that fine balancing act between the three main goals. Second, in the opportunity to build on current achievements and continue to drive positive change across communities and economies.

By using on-demand services and products, SMBs will have access to the kind of tools and approaches historically limited to large enterprises. This means they can take advantage of emerging trends by being first to market with new products (addressing the number one primary goal). They can also provide secure, high-quality products and services, protect customer data, and provide reliable customer support to help build customer trust (addressing key goal number two). Finally, as a result of introducing more efficient processes and better distribution of resources and supply chain managementthey can streamline operations and ensure they are financially resilient (key goal number three).

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AI, ML and advanced adoption

The OECD's definition of cloud adoption levels includes core adoption, such as web-based email services or cloud-based storage solutions, and intermediate adoption, such as Customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning tools. The average core adoption rate in the countries surveyed in the Accenture report stands at 44%, and that of intermediate adoption stands at 19%. It's clear that a large portion of SMBs are missing out, but it's in their adoption advanced technologies that hold the greatest untapped profits. Within this third level of cloud adoption, the OECD includes AI and ML tailored for sophisticated tasks. The average advanced cloud adoption rate is currently 13%, yet 78% of respondents to the report identified AI and ML as the technologies that will have the most transformative impact on society.

To realize this vision, this gap must be closed. As it does so, what can we expect to see and experience in critical sectors by 2030? In education, SMBs can help make learning more accessible and provide personalized content and individualized feedback to students. In healthcare, they can enable more doctors to analyze results more accurately and synthesize high volumes of data for R&D: Generative AI is expected to play a role in developing up to 30% of all new drugs by 2025. In agriculture, we would see greater use of AI and ML technologies for precision, data-driven agriculture that uses fewer resources and delivers greater results.

Reducing costs, enabling scalability and gaining expertise

This vision and the prospect of adopting cloud technologies will be important to many SMBs who want to start small. Fortunately, cloud nature supports this. Instead of investing heavily in new infrastructure, SMBs can use cloud services and virtualized resources in a pay-as-you-go model. Moving from traditional fixed costs to a variable cost model means organizations only pay for what they use – which can be scaled up and down to meet demand – reducing operating costs and freeing up capital. Starting small also means working with a cloud service provider that understands the needs of each SMB it works with and offers tailored support and training.

Of course, just because we start small doesn't mean we can't think big. When it comes to migrating to new cloud technologies, SMBs should adopt a business-wide cloud migration strategy and leverage the knowledge and expertise of other organizations that have already made the move. For businesses operating in any market, these benefits will be attractive – especially on the bottom line. Finally, the achievement of this vision for 2030 cannot be achieved without the acceptance of markets and other sectors of society. Moving toward that goal—and leveraging the necessary cloud technologies—means continued coordination between governments, educators, and other industries.