ERP vendors in 2026 are all selling AI, copilots, and “agentic automation”. Every demo promises self‑driving finance, zero‑touch operations, and predictive everything.
But if you’re an SMB, most of that noise is a distraction.
What’s actually real today
1. Modern cloud ERPs now ship with embedded AI: forecasting, anomaly detection, and assistants that answer questions like “show me my best‑selling items last month”.
2. Some platforms even offer AI agents that monitor workflows, trigger approvals, and update records without manual input.
3. For SMBs, the promise is simple: less manual work, faster decisions, and the ability to scale without adding headcount.
What really matters for SMBs
When you strip away the hype, these are the things I’d tell any SMB CEO or CFO to focus on:
1. Concrete use cases, not buzzwords:
ask: “Which 3 processes will your AI improve in my business in the first 90 days?” Examples: invoice matching, late‑payment chasing, demand forecasting, ticket routing.
2. Time saved per role:
make vendors quantify impact: “How many hours per week will this save my finance clerk, warehouse supervisor, and sales coordinator?” AI that doesn’t measurably reduce repetitive work is just a demo feature.
3. Data quality and readiness:
AI in ERP is only as good as your data: messy item masters, inconsistent customers, and half‑used modules will kill its value.
A mid‑sized company is often better off funding data cleanup than another fancy AI pilot.
4. Governance and human control:
agentic automation sounds powerful, but you still need clear guardrails: who approves what, which actions can agents take autonomously, and how exceptions are handled.
The winning pattern is “human‑led, agent‑accelerated ERP”, not people out of the loop.
5. TCO, not AI add‑on pricing:
many vendors now bundle AI into higher editions or charge per “AI consumption unit”.
Look at total cost over 3–5 years and compare it to the value of a few very specific, high‑impact automations.
A simple evaluation checklist for your next demo
Next time you sit in an “AI‑first ERP” presentation, try these questions:
1. “Show me an end‑to‑end scenario where AI or an agent saves my team at least 30 minutes a day.”
2. “What happens when the AI or agent is wrong? How do we review and override?”
3. “What data and configuration do we need in place before this works reliably?”
4. “Which customers like us are actually using this in production today, and what results did they see?”
5. If they can’t answer in concrete, operational terms, you’re not looking at a solution – you’re looking at a slide.