2026-10-15 · StrategyMarketingCustomer service
The barrier is expertise, not cost
Bookipi surveyed 2,121 small business owners across 17 industries. Lack of expertise was the #1 challenge (32.1%), followed by unclear ROI (23.1%), integration (18.4%) and data privacy (12.3%). Marketing (36.2%) and customer service (36.1%) lead adoption; finance (16.4%), inventory (10.9%) and HR (6.4%) lag.
So what for your business: Start where others already get value: customer replies and marketing drafts. Track minutes saved to answer the ROI question.
Source: Bookipi 2026 AI Adoption Report