(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Here are five things in tech that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
This Week in Small Business Technology News
Small Business Technology News #1 – 15+ free Google Docs tools that can supercharge your workflow.
ZDNet’s Cesar Cadenas highlighted 15 free Google Docs add-ons that many overlook. These tools significantly improve productivity, ranging from grammar checkers and citation generators to workflow automation and writing aids. Some of the features Cardenas mentioned include Voice Typing – a handy go-to tool when you want to express ideas verbally. Writing and editing tools include an integrated dictionary that stores personalized names and industry-specific terms, a citations manager that will handle the tedious task of manually formatting sources, and an editing tool that converts PDFs into edit-ready documents. Collaboration tools allow users to email documents directly from Google Docs, a version history records every stage of a document’s creation allowing users to retrieve earlier versions, and a compare documents tool is a quick way to view two different versions – or two separate documents – and highlight differences. Cardenas shows readers where to access and activate each add-on. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your small business:
All of these great tools – and this is just for Google Docs. What about Sheets? Meet? Drive? What about all the tools for Microsoft Office 365. There’s no way you’re aware of most of these, and yet picking and use some of them could significantly increase your employees’ (and your company’s) productivity. Should you hire a consultant who’s familiar with all of these technologies? Yes, you should.
Small Business Technology News #2 – ChatGPT has 1 million business customers
OpenAI announced that over 1 million businesses worldwide are now using its products, making it the fastest-growing business platform in history. Adoption spans industries like finance, healthcare, retail, and technology, with companies such as Cisco, Lowe’s, Morgan Stanley, and Target already onboard. The company has experienced massive adoption with more than 7 million ChatGPT for Work seats, up 40 percent in just two months. Enterprise seats grew 9x year-over-year, and consumer-driven momentum has reflected 800 million weekly ChatGPT users. To support this substantial growth OpenAI has developed new tools and capabilities such as Company knowledge that allows ChatGPT to reason across tools like Slack, SharePoint, Google Drive, and GitHub. Agent Kit enables rapid deployment of enterprise agents; and Codex for code generation and automation showed usage up 10x since August. A Wharton study found 75 percent of enterprises report positive ROI, fewer than 5 percent negative. OpenAI lists examples of how companies are using the technology, illustrating a significant shift where AI is becoming the backbone of business operations. (Source: OpenAI)
Why this is important for your small business:
This is similar to my last advice: you’re probably using ChatGPT (or some other AI Assistant). And yet, you’re probably only scratching the surface. As you can see from the above these AI Assistants come with many features and the ability to integrate with dozens of business applications and platforms that your company uses so that you can leverage generative AI on your own data, not just data on the internet. Another reason to find a consultant who will train you and your team.
Small Business Technology News #3 – 3 in 10 firms plan to replace workers with AI next year: survey.
Resume writing firm AI Resume Builder released results from their survey about AI’s impact on employment. Results showed that 3 in 10 U.S. companies plan to replace workers with AI in 2026, with manufacturing among the industries most likely to see layoffs. Results show that 59 percent of leaders anticipating layoffs said AI will replace at least 10 percent their workforce, while 10 percent of respondents expect AI to replace half or more of their workforce. According to the report the industries most at risk are information technology, software, financial services, accounting, HR, manufacturing, and retail. Placing the data into context, U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October 2025, a 175% increase year-over-year, with AI cited as the second leading cause after cost-cutting. Among private sector employers, cost cutting was the primary reason for job cuts leading to 50,437 announced layoffs. AI was the second-most cited factor in the private sector, triggering 48,414 job cuts. (Source: Manufacturing Dive)
Why this is important for your small business:
I don’t believe this survey. Big companies are finding ways to replace some – some – employees with AI specifically in customer service and software development. Short of that, I don’t predict AI getting so much better in 2026 that employers will literally be relying on this technology to do work in lieu of workers. It’s just not that great…yet. A year from now I do think things will change and certain parts of agentic AI will start competing with workers. But saying that 30 percent of companies (that’s about 10 million businesses) are going to going to replace workers with AI is a bad bet. If you don’t believe me, just read the next item.
Small Business Technology News #4 – McKinsey releases new AI in the workplace report.
Management consultant company McKinsey has released its State of AI 2025 – a comprehensive study on AI adoption among organizations and which industries are seeing positive ROI from AI integration. The big picture conclusion is while AI adoption is nearly universal – 88 percent of organizations reporting the use of the technology in at least one business function – most companies remain stuck in pilot phases rather than scaling enterprise wide. The findings also show a growing interest in agentic AI with 62 percent of respondents saying their companies are “experimenting” with AI agents – 23 percent are scaling agents in IT and knowledge management. Regarding financial impact, 39 percent of respondents link AI to Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) – while most respondents say that less than 5 percent of their company’s EBIT is a result of AI usage. The data also shows that organizations with the “most ambitious AI agendas” are seeing the most benefit but only six percent of respondents are described as “high performers,” those who have ambitions to transform their business by employing AI. (Source: McKinsey & Company)
Why this is important for your small business:
Point made. I refer you to the item before this one.
Small Business Technology News #5 – LinkedIn launches integrations to help boost LinkedIn events.
LinkedIn has introduced new event management integrations with ON24 and Cvent – a third-party event manager – along with enhanced ad tools, to help businesses boost engagement and lead generation from LinkedIn-hosted events. Per LinkedIn, event ads on average fuel 31 percent more viewership. ON24 will allow event creators to manage webinars directly in ON24 while simultaneously launching LinkedIn events. Users of Cvent can synch their event data with LinkedIn, enabling retargeting of high-intent audiences and personalized messaging based on event engagement. “Regardless of whether the event is hosted on LinkedIn or not, marketers can now go to the Company or Event Page … to reach more people,” LinkedIn said. (Source: Social Media Today)
Why this is important for your small business:
Helpful tools for businesses working with these event platforms. I don’t see why you wouldn’t get this setup, right?
Each week I round up five small business technology news stories and explain why they’re important for your business. If you have any interesting stories, please post to my X account @genemarks