Small Business Saturday is more than a day for ringing up sales. It’s a celebration of grit, creativity, and the relentless drive to deliver for customers. But for small and medium-sized businesses, the real challenge often lies behind the scenes: getting products where they need to go, on time, every time.
That can be a tall order in a world where volatility is the new normal. When tariffs change almost as quickly as they are announced, freight rates bounce and supply chains are forced to adapt overnight, small businesses need to be as nimble as ever. The old playbook—manual spreadsheets and many phone calls—just can’t keep up.
Luckily, there’s new technology to help keep your enterprises competitive: Agentic AI. And for small businesses, it’s a lot more accessible than you may think.
How to use AI in small business
Unlike basic automation, agentic AI doesn’t just assist, it acts. These intelligent systems process data and execute tasks autonomously. For small businesses, it’s a huge power-up.
How do we know agentic AI can make a real difference for small and medium-sized businesses? Because it already is—when you work with C.H. Robinson. We’ve deployed more than 30 AI agents across our network, performing millions of tasks that used to rely solely on humans.
Here are some of the things agentic AI can do:
- Quotes in seconds: Our quoting agent reads incoming email requests, works with our Dynamic Pricing Engine to create a price quote and emails it back within 32 seconds. That speed can help you avoid spending 23-35% extra on your shipment.
- Automated orders: Once your freight is ready and you send us a shipping request, our orders agent processes your email, including attachments, and creates a shipping order within 90 seconds.
- LTL classification: Small businesses ship a lot of less-than-truckload (LTL) freight. You simply email us your freight specs, including dimensions and weight, and our AI agent determines the correct National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) class and codes, avoiding delays and extra costs.
AI levels the playing field
Big companies have armies of analysts and custom tech stacks. Small businesses? Not so much. But with agentic AI, you can plug into an expert digital workforce without hiring a single data scientist. Here’s how you level up:
- Big data benefits: The same agents that serve Fortune 500 companies serve your small business, based on the same data and decision-making processes.
- Speed to market: The faster you get a price quote, the faster you get your order processed, the faster you get the ideal appointment times and carriers for your freight.
- Cost-savings: Agentic AI automates manual tasks, optimizes pricing and modes, and prevents costly errors—all without requiring you to have a dedicated logistics team.
The bottom line: Use AI to supercharge your business
Agentic AI frees up your people to get more productive. By automating repetitive tasks, small business owners and teams can focus on strategy, customer relationships, and innovation. You can let the agents do the busy work while you grow your business.
This Small Business Saturday, don’t just celebrate your hustle—supercharge it. Agentic AI is turning logistics from a bottleneck into a growth engine. Whether you’re a shipping novice or a supply chain pro, AI agents can be the next competitive edge for your business. Connect with one of our experts to see how AI can supercharge your supply chain.
