Having the chance to try DALL-E 2, the new AI system from OpenAI that can create realistic images from natural language, was pretty extraordinary. There's no question the system is still in its infancy, but it's clear the technology is moving quickly and we're already starting to see improved text-to-image models. Google Brain's Imagen, which can generate photorealistic images of a scene given a textual description and Meta's Make-A–Scene, which allows users to draw a freeform digital sketch to accompany a text prompt, are both promising examples. There are a number of ways small and midsize businesses can take advantage of text-to-image technology today. On average, it's recommended that small businesses spend 7–8% of their gross revenue on marketing.

Technology advancements and marketplace changes are making it far easier for any business to make bold moves quickly. This new reality is certainly not lost on midsize companies, as they watch their larger contemporaries start to embrace speed and agility in their new business initiatives. In response to this new environment, growing companies are facing a pivotal question: how can they keep their edge in innovation and customer service by tapping into intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation? One solution is the adoption of a business technology platform that simplifies and accelerates the delivery of new experience-centric applications, processes and systems to keep ahead of the pack. IDC predicts that this will be one of the top trends for midsize companies in the 2020s.

Around this time for the past three years, I've posed a question to executives at a number of CRM vendors related to how small and midsize businesses are using CRM. In 2016 I asked why CRM adoption wasn't higher. In 2017 I asked what SMBs really wanted from them. And last year I wondered which CRM features SMBs weren't using fully. This year I partnered with Small Business Trends, a popular site dedicated to providing advice and information to SMBs, on a poll asking people to select their biggest CRM challenges.

Within the next two years, artificial intelligence (AI) will touch every business process, every employee, and every customer in some way. Without a doubt, this new reality will make our world easier and faster through process automation. But more transformational is the opportunity to elevate our ability to make decisions, deliver outcomes, and complete tasks in a more human way. For growing companies, this is becoming the moment when they push past the boundaries of traditional decision-making capabilities to intrinsic intelligence that is trusted, real-time, accurate, and continuously learning. In fact, according to an IDC study, over half of best-run midsize businesses view AI, machine learning, and digital assistants as critical enablers and necessities for staying competitive, compared to approximately 13% of digital laggards. Source: "Becoming a Best-Run Midsize Company: How Growing Companies Benefit from Intelligent Capabilities," IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by SAP, 2019.

Every leader has a unique perspective when it comes to the secret to business success in today's highly digitalized marketplace. Some say it's a matter of visionary digital investments or a combination of perspiration and inspiration. Meanwhile, others claim a sense of purpose as a key driver. But according to the IDC infobrief "Becoming a Best-Run Midsize Company: How Growing Companies Benefit from Intelligent Capabilities," certain attitudes are associated with higher performance. Based on insight from 1,957 executives leading midsize companies (100–1,000 employees), IDC identified the fundamentals behind business success and progress toward becoming best-run, digitally engaged organizations.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning – these emerging technologies are making headlines with publicity stunts and preliminary breakthroughs for industry giants with deep pockets. While most CEOs and senior leaders are quick to dismiss the next level of predictive analytics as more parlor trick than business case, a growing segment of midsize businesses is beginning to prove them wrong. "Making the Most of Machine Learning: Lessons from 5 Fast Learners," an SAP study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), reported that small businesses (32%) and midsize companies (42%) are using machine learning for at least one business process. This finding is a stark difference compared to the adoption rates of large enterprises (26%), which traditionally have the resources (that their smaller competitors don't have) to implement such intelligent technology. Contrary to the hype surrounding machine learning, the progress that small and midsize businesses are making in this area is deeply rooted in future growth.