Small Business Technology News This Week: AI Shopping Searches Surges, Thryv And Wix Partner…

Read this week's tech news items to keep you and your team informed.

(This column originally appeared in Forbes)

Let's Recap:

• AI agentic use in e-commerce is surging, creating challenges
• Thryv and Wix join forces to help small businesses
• Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) adds new features
• Freshbooks and Grasshopper announce a new partnership
• The steel industry leans into AI

AI Shopping Searches Surged 200% in One Year — And It's a Top Priority for Commerce Leaders Now

Salesforce chief digital evangelist Vala Afshar discussed the exponential growth of AI-assisted shopping. According to Salesforce's State of Commerce report, AI agentic use in shopping surged 200 percent in the past twelve months changing how people are discovering products and finding recommendations. This latest statistic is paired with the 86 percent of commerce leaders who believe that AI is raising the standard for customer experiences. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your small business:

With agentic AI going mainstream in the online retail space, scaling AI is a top priority for commerce leaders. Improving data quality is among the main challenges for companies who want to meet the demands of their customers — 61 percent said that has been difficult because of poor data integration. Companies are ramping up their efforts to expand AI capabilities and implementation as customers continue to rely on AI in their digital shopping experiences.

Thryv and Wix Announce Intent to Form Strategic Partnership to Power SMB Growth with Unified Commerce, Payments and Website Solutions

Customer management platform Thryv and website builder Wix have announced plans to join forces, combining their technologies into a unified platform for service-based small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Connecting Thryv's AI-powered marketing and business management platform with Wix's website-building, SMBs will have centralized access to websites, online scheduling, digital marketing, payments, and more. (Source: Business Wire)

Why this is important for your small business:

According to the announcement the goal is to make it easier for businesses to manage their online presence, bookings, and customer engagement from a single solution. On this announcement, Thryv CEO Joe Walsh said, "We can generate significant value providing a comprehensive technology suite to the service-based businesses we support, while creating new opportunities for these businesses."

Google's 'Gemini Notebook' Pro Gets Major Upgrade, Adds PDF and Spreadsheet Output

This week, Google announced its rollout of a significant upgrade to Gemini Notebook Pro (formerly NotebookLM) — enhancing its AI research and note-taking platform with new features aimed at helping users organize information, conduct research, and generate content more efficiently. Gemini Notebook is available to Google's Pro users. (Source: BigGo Finance)

Why this is important for your small business:

Google says the upgrade includes features that can automatically generate charts, PDFs, and spreadsheets from source materials — and enhanced summary reports. According to the update, each notebook has its own "dedicated execution environment" allowing the AI to write and execute its own code.

FreshBooks and Grasshopper Partner to Streamline Small Business Cash Flow and Digital Banking

FreshBooks and digital bank Grasshopper have announced a strategic partnership to give small business owners a more connected way to manage invoicing, payments, banking, and cash flow. By integrating their platforms, the companies aim to reduce financial administration and help entrepreneurs make better financial decisions by offering: Automated Cash-Flow with real time tracking giving business owners better control over their cash flow; an Integrated Financial Management system that connects FreshBooks' accounting, invoicing, and payment platform with Grasshopper's digital banking services. (Source: FinTech Finance News)

Why this is important for your small business:

The companies say that the partnership is also designed to lessen the burden for business owners with resolving complex financial issues and eliminates the task of managing separate applications for bookkeeping, invoicing, banking, and cash flow.

The Steel Industry Is Rapidly Embracing AI. Here's How.

In the past few years, the steel industry has been accelerating its deployment of large-scale AI that's revolutionizing steel production. This week I did a deep dive into steel manufacturers and how they're integrating artificial intelligence into their operations. For example: Steelmakers are using AI to analyze data from furnaces, rolling mills, and production lines to improve process control, reduce scrap, minimize downtime, and enhance worker safety. AI is also helping to forecast demand, optimize inventory, improve production scheduling, and coordinate logistics, allowing steel producers to respond more quickly to market changes. Robotics is making a huge impact in the steel industry with technology such as robotic dogs that inspect high-heat and hard to access areas, minimizing risk for workers; and a recycling robot that can pick out metal scrap through a whole shift without tiring. (Source: Forbes)

Why this is important for your small business:

To read more about the steel companies that are leveraging AI, visit the link.

Note: Have a technology story that small business owners should know about? Don't mind me sharing my opinion? Share it with me on X @genemarks.