Switchboard Connect

Every other week, I curate a few relevant pieces of AI & Automation news and insights.

We’ll send these every other Friday again but I wanted to say hi to you on a Tuesday as I’m visiting Missouri this week to attend Main Street Summit.

Let’s dive in.

HBR and Notion partnered for an interesting study on powering company knowledge and collaboration with AI.

If it feels overwhelming on knowing where to start but you know you need to, this study shows you’re not alone.

What’s the opportunity? Most companies know AI can improve efficiency (86% agree), but only a small fraction (3%) are using it. That gap means a big com

petitive edge for early adopters.

How do you get started? Here’s 3 key takeaways from HBR:

1. Start with knowledge management: Fragmented information is a huge barrier to efficiency. 73% of businesses struggle with scattered knowledge across tools and systems. AI can centralize and organize that data, making it easy to find and use.

2. Leverage AI for smarter decisions: AI can uncover insights hidden in your data. 86% of companies agree that AI can simplify managing knowledge, but only 3% are actually using it. The opportunity is wide open for first movers.

3. Don’t wait—small steps lead to big gains: You don’t need a massive overhaul. Start with one department, centralize your knowledge, and introduce AI to assist. It’s a fast way to boost efficiency and make better decisions without adding complexity.

The takeaway: Focus on solving specific pain points—like fragmented knowledge or repetitive tasks—and integrate AI tools in phases. Small steps can lead to big results.

🔗 Check out the full study here.

I’m excited to share a new case study that shows how we helped a fast-growing agency automate their sales and client onboarding process, empowering them to scale without adding more headcount.

⚙️ How It Works:

• Automated lead enrichment and follow-ups with Hubspot and Clay, ensuring no leads fall through the cracks

• Seamless project creation in Notion triggered by deal status in Hubspot, using custom templates for different engagement types

• Stripe integration for instant client billing and automated payment processing

• Airtable as the single source of truth for project, financial, and team data, allowing intelligent resource allocation and planning

🔍 Results:

• 30+ new leads enriched and followed up on weekly, automatically

• 8+ new projects created per month without manual effort

• 80+ collective hours saved across sales and service delivery teams monthly

• Execs could keep a real time pulse on the business with simple dashboards

💭 Smarter Scaling: This case study highlights the potential of automation to remove friction from key business processes, freeing up your team to focus on what matters most—delivering exceptional service to clients.

👀 Check out the full case study →

At Switchboard, we’re proud to be sponsoring Main St. Summit happening this week in Missouri.

I’m here to attend as well so if you’re around, say hi!

And if not, I’ll share a recap in the next newsletter as it’s exciting to see and chat with so many SMB leaders first hand using automation to give their teams time back.

Zapier is the automation platform of choice for most SMB’s and they recently announced a ton of exciting updates across automation and AI.

Check them all out here or check out our recap below.

What’s new at Zapier Connect 2024:

🆕 AI by Zapier: Automate complex workflows with natural language prompts—no coding needed. Pull the power of GPT-4o mini into your Zaps for free—without your own ChatGPT API key. Extract data, generate content, and analyze information using AI. Check it out.

💻 Zapier Functions: Code-first automation: Power users can now build custom automations using code, making workflows even more flexible. Check it out here.

🤖 AI Bots Enhancements: Chat with your personal AI assistant and have it do work across 7,000+ apps. Central works great for tasks like analyzing data, drafting emails, and pulling reports—all on its own. Bring it anywhere on the internet with our Chrome extension to scrape web pages or delegate work to one of your assistants from any screen. Check it out here.

🏢 Enterprise enhancements: Better security, admin controls, and tailored solutions for scaling large teams efficiently.

Check out all the announcements here → 

That’s all for this week.

Seeing all this AI Automation news out there and not sure where to start? Feel free to reply with any questions you may have – happy to chat!

Chat soon 👋