We reached out to expert analyst Sanj Bhayro, SVP EMEA Commercial Sales at Salesforce, to highlight the urgent need for SMEs to be primed for automation and build a future-proof IT infrastructure. Like me, you may have recently read that fintech provider iZettle has received €30 million in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to increase its use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). This part of the EIB's strategy, one element of its Investment Plan for Europe, aims to provide funding to start-ups and SMEs that will help boost the region's tech economy. I'm particularly excited to see how this funding can help small businesses innovate and grow rapidly. Over the years I've worked with hundreds of small companies across Europe and, more often than not, I find they make tech investment decisions based on what they need right now, rather than what they will need in the future.