What should an AI strategy for a small or mid-sized business include?

---
title: "AI Strategy for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses"
description: "A practical AI strategy should identify a small portfolio of valuable workflows, the data and permissions they require, where people must approve actions, how results will be measured, and what can be done with existing AI products before custom software is considered."
url: https://lidvizion.ai/answers/ai-strategy-for-small-and-mid-sized-businesses/
site: Lid Vizion
index: https://lidvizion.ai/llms.txt
---

[Direct answers](https://lidvizion.ai/answers/)

# What should an AI strategy for a small or mid-sized business include?

A practical AI strategy should identify a small portfolio of valuable workflows, the data and permissions they require, where people must approve actions, how results will be measured, and what can be done with existing AI products before custom software is considered.

## What this means in practice

- Prioritize workflows by value, feasibility, risk, and frequency.
- Define approved knowledge, permissions, owners, and stop rules.
- Configure existing tools before building custom software.
- Measure against a baseline and expand only when results justify it.

## How Lid Vizion approaches it

We start with the business decision and operating context, define ownership and measurable milestones, then use configuration, integrations, automation, or custom software only where each earns its place.

## More on AI leadership, governance & ROI

- [What should a practical 90-day AI plan include?](https://lidvizion.ai/answers/what-should-a-90-day-ai-plan-include/)
- [What does AI governance look like for a small or mid-sized business?](https://lidvizion.ai/answers/what-is-ai-governance-for-a-small-business/)
- [How should a company measure ROI from AI?](https://lidvizion.ai/answers/how-to-measure-ai-roi/)

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