Augmentic BV
Haaswijkweg east 12B
3319 GC Dordrecht
The Netherlands
Something crazy is going on in Dutch SMEs.
On the one hand: personnel shortages, rising costs and business owners awake to workloads, customer satisfaction and financial uncertainty. On the other: optimism. The vast majority of SMEs expect increasing or stable sales and profits in 2025. There is plenty of investment in technology, automation is becoming a priority, and AI is increasingly being deployed - now at one in three companies, up from just 6% last year.
The latest Exact SME Barometer 2025 shows it crystal clear: the will is there, so is the momentum. But the question remains: how do you deploy AI really well? Because there is a world of difference between writing some texts with ChatGPT and cleverly supporting business processes.
AI and automation in SMEs: ambition grows, but application lags behind
The Barometer shows that SMEs are at a crossroads. 94% of entrepreneurs think their business is not yet automated enough, while 78% have budgeted to improve it. AI is growing rapidly in use - a third of SMEs now apply it - but mainly in simple applications such as writing text or generating images.
This leaves the potential largely untapped. Only 34% are using AI to gain real insight into business performance. At the same time, 60% of entrepreneurs say they don't really know how AI fits into their business operations. So there is not a lack of will or resources - but of direction and concrete examples.
The good news: the motivation is there. Companies want to automate in order to save costs, gain time and improve quality. And although there is skepticism about AI, entrepreneurs are open to solutions that directly contribute to less workload, better reporting and more grip on processes. That is exactly where the opportunity lies.
Technology as an amplifier of people, not a gimmick
Many SMEs are searching. They see opportunities, have even set aside budgets, but don't know where to start. Logical: AI is complex if you approach it as a "project" or technology investment. But if you link it to identifiable tasks, it suddenly becomes tangible.
Think of the colleague who compiles reports in Excel every month. Or the team that sorts and answers customer questions. Or the administrator who checks invoices, prepares VAT returns and encounters the same exceptions every time.
There, in the midst of work, lies the opportunity. Not to replace people, but to give them space for work that matters. For that, you don't need an all-encompassing platform, but small, purposeful digital assistants that improve your workday.
Five ways AI is already helping SMEs today
Here are five concrete applications that every SME can already deploy today. No hype, no revolution - just practical improvements that can be felt in the workplace.
1. Smart support for your financial administration
Many SMEs struggle with their financial administration, especially with recurring tasks such as VAT returns, booking invoices or checking payments. Here lie repetitive, error-prone processes that are time-consuming but at the same time crucial to sound financial management.
AI can help by partially taking over these recurring tasks and actively thinking along with them. Consider a system that automatically classifies incoming invoices, links them to the correct cost item and calculates the VAT directly. At the beginning of each quarter, it automatically prepares an overview of VAT received and paid, including discrepancies, with suggestions for checking.
It is always possible to intervene yourself - but you get a head start. No endless Excel sheets, no last-minute surprises, and much less chance of something falling between the cracks.
Not automation for automation's sake, but to get a grip on a process that is always important - and often underestimated.
2. Help with customer communication - without losing your customer touch
In many SMEs, customer inquiries come in via e-mail, Web forms or chat. The content is often surprisingly predictable: delivery statuses, login problems, explanations of a service. Yet each query is manually read, sorted and forwarded.
AI can act as a filter and accelerator in this process. A smart application reads incoming messages, recognizes the question or topic and suggests a response. Not an automatically sent response, but a suggestion that an employee can review and send.
For many organizations, this is a relief: the initial triage no longer takes time, and your people are left with space for the questions that really need attention.
The difference is in the nuance: not a chatbot experience, but an assistant in the background that helps prioritize and prepare.
3. Automatic reporting without collecting everything yourself
Reports are the memory of the organization - but creating them is often a frustrating manual process. Extracting data from multiple sources, filtering it, making it visual, and then providing it with interpretation and context: it quickly takes half a day per report.
AI can be used to automate this cycle. Not only by retrieving data and putting it into graphs, but also by adding insights: why have costs increased? How does revenue compare to the average of past four quarters? Which customers are behind on payments?
By cleverly feeding AI with data from accounting systems, CRM and project software, a report emerges that is much more than an overview: it becomes a story.
Reporting changes from reactive obligation to proactive support - and that gives peace of mind and focus.
4. Making administrative processes run more smoothly
Administration is often the connecting layer between people and processes - and therefore also a source of frustration. Claims that remain outstanding, expenses that are booked incorrectly, sick notes that are not properly recorded: all small errors that end up costing time.
By deploying AI here as a watcher, you can greatly reduce this. Consider an application where employees easily upload receipts or invoices - via email, an app or Teams. AI recognizes the type of expense, checks for consistency, and automatically links it to the correct project or cost center.
If things are unclear, the system asks questions back or forwards the information for approval. Not a black box, but a collaboration: people remain in charge, but do not have to do everything themselves.
The real gain here is in removing friction. Less frustration for employees, less correction work for administration.
5. Information that comes up naturally
In every organization, knowledge slithers around. In PDFs, in contract folders, in emails and minutes. If someone knows where something is, it works - but when that person is sick or leaves employment, the big search begins.
AI can help by organizing documents intelligently, understanding content and adding context. Say you are looking for the most recent contract with supplier X. Instead of plowing through the folder structure, you can ask the system, "What are the agreements with supplier X about notice periods?"
The system then pulls up the appropriate document, highlights the relevant passages and refers to associated agreements if necessary.
Here it's not about speed, it's about certainty. You know you have the right version - and why.
You know you can do better - what more do you need to just do it?
Imagine if you could start with AI today, without complicated projects or skyrocketing costs. No months of preparation, just start in one place where work is already too cumbersome. Think of invoices that remain outstanding, customer inquiries that wait too long or reports that are compiled manually each time.
What if you could see immediately what such a smart solution really delivers? Not after the fact, but while you're working with it. Clear insights about time savings, error reduction or customer satisfaction. And at the same time keep the freedom to make adjustments, without being dependent on technology or external parties.
Therefore, we have Augmentic_OS developed: a platform that helps SMEs apply AI in a controlled and targeted way - step by step, with overview, flexibility and maximum grip.
Source: Exact SME Barometer 2025
