Small businesses need AI support, not awareness

Small businesses need AI support, not awareness

Australian small and medium-sized businesses are already embracing AI, but many lack the time, expertise and support to embed it across their operations. RMIT experts discuss the barriers to AI adoption and what governments can do to help. 

Professor Kok-Leong Ong, Dean, School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain, and founding Director of the RMIT Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Research Hub:

“Australian small businesses don’t have an AI awareness problem. They have an AI implementation problem, and no amount of awareness sessions or training courses will close that gap on their own. 

“We’ve seen the same pattern through data warehousing, dashboards and analytics. Businesses lack the capacity and guidance to plan the next step. What closes the gap is someone on the ground – council, university and business working together to pick the right problem, get the data in order, run a pilot and measure whether it worked. 

“Even if every university in Australia were mobilised to help small businesses, we’d hit a capacity limit. Funding schemes need to move at the pace small businesses live at. They can’t wait a year for a grant process when the problem is urgent today.” 

Kok-Leong Ong is a Professor of Business Analytics in the College of Business and Law at RMIT University. 

 

Associate Professor Chao Chen, Director, RMIT Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Research Hub: 

“Many businesses are already using AI tools. Nearly all businesses that attend our AI workshops in Melbourne’s west have access to tools like ChatGPT or Claude, about half used them daily, and some were already building their own AI agents. 

“But very few have a clear pathway for embedding them into their operations.

“The people best placed to identify where AI can create value are usually the same people running the business day to day.  

“That’s why support needs to meet businesses where they are, through programs that focus on implementation, helping businesses identify opportunities, test solutions and measure results.”  

Dr Chao Chen is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Research Hub at RMIT University. 


The RMIT Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Research Hub runs Wyndham AI for Business, a partnership with Wyndham City Council that has delivered AI workshops and co-funded implementation sprints for businesses in Melbourne’s western growth corridor. 

Professor Kok-Leong Ong and Associate Professor Chao Chen appeared before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne last week.

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General media enquiries: RMIT External Affairs and Media, 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au

14 October 2026

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14 October 2026

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