AI Surge: Germany’s Mittelstand Companies Embrace Technology

Germany's small and medium-sized enterprises, often considered the backbone of Europe's largest economy, have significantly increased their adoption of artificial intelligence over the past year. The DMB lobby group, representing approximately 30,000 'Mittelstand' companies, revealed this in a recent survey conducted with Salesforce.

The survey, involving 700 companies, indicated that 51.2% of the firms were either using or testing AI, a substantial rise from 33.1% the previous year. The adoption of agentic AI, a sophisticated form of artificial intelligence that operates autonomously, also saw a notable surge, with usage growing from 8.7% to 16.6%.

Businesses are primarily leveraging AI to enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and reduce costs. Notably, 37% of the surveyed companies intend to expand their existing AI applications or initiate new AI projects, up from 25% at the end of the previous year.