„Brains on Silicon“: Expertin: KI soll Umsätze im Mittelstand ankurbeln

Expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) suggests that middle-sized companies should see it primarily as a growth engine, rather than merely a cost-saving tool, according to industry insider Thuy-Ngan Trinh. Speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur ahead of the "Brains on Silicon" conference in Dresden, Trinh, co-managing director of consultancy A11, emphasized that AI offers a significant boost to productivity and, consequently, sales.

Employing new technologies solely to slash expenditures or downsize staff risks stalling business growth. To truly expand, Trinh stressed, businesses must make their existing teams work harder. By offloading time-consuming office and documentation tasks from employees, more capacity would be available for direct customer interaction and developing novel offerings.

Moreover, new products could reach market readiness more swiftly. She urged traditional firms to rethink their entire business model and consider a green-field approach, designing processes from the ground up to be largely autonomous and self-sufficient. The biggest obstacle to the adoption of future technologies in small and medium-sized enterprises, Trinh argued, is not technical limitations or fear, but rather a lack of resolve from leadership.

What is required is courage and simply doing it. She argued that workforce shortages should not be an impediment, but rather a compelling reason to delegate routine tasks to intelligent software. Moreover, companies should not resort to expensive foreign models, as simpler, freely available alternatives could suffice for the majority of operational workflows.

They would also have the added benefit of keeping sensitive company data on-site rather than transmitting it abroad. The conference, which is set to take place on Monday in Dresden, highlights the region's status as a leading European hub for microelectronics, thanks to recent large-scale semiconductor industry acquisitions and expansions.