What “Preparing for AI” Should Mean in a Business With 26 People

American Express is reducing its workforce by 5% — roughly 3,800 people out of about 76,800 — as part of a restructuring tied to its plans for AI.

This was not presented as a response to weak results. Fast Company reported that the announcement came alongside record quarterly revenue. Chief Executive Stephen Squeri described the change in terms of becoming more agile and efficient. Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec connected the restructuring to the company’s plan to reduce organizational layers and make greater use of automation and AI in the coming quarters and years.

American Express was not alone that week. Barclays announced roughly 5,000 job cuts the day before, also pointing to AI as part of the reason.

For a company with tens of thousands of employees, “prepare for AI” can include removing layers of management and coordination. For an independent business with 20, 30, or 50 people, that version does not translate.

Small businesses do not have layers to spare

At American Express’s scale, one employee may spend most of the week coordinating work among departments. At a small business, the same person may coordinate the work, do the work, answer the customer, and solve the problem when something goes wrong.

The office manager is not an extra layer. She may be the person who knows the customers, the billing history, the schedule, and which details cannot be missed. The lead technician is not spare capacity. He may be the only person who can handle the hardest jobs and train the next hire. The owner is not sitting above the work. The owner is often carrying sales, purchasing, hiring, customer problems, and the follow-up nobody else has time to finish.

Removing one of those people does not remove one narrow function. It can remove knowledge, customer trust, and several jobs at once.

That is why a small business should start from a different question. Not “Which positions can AI replace?” but “Which repeated tasks are taking time from the people we cannot afford to lose?”

Preparation starts with the work, not the software

The most useful line in the American Express story came from its CFO: “You don’t want to automate processes that are not optimally structured.”

That warning matters more than the layoff headline. A confusing process does not become a good process because software is placed on top of it. If three people keep three versions of the same list, an agent will find conflicting answers. If nobody knows who approves a quote, an agent cannot settle the question. If a follow-up depends on one employee remembering to check a spreadsheet, the underlying problem is the process — not a lack of technology.

Fixing the work first means making a few basic things clear:

What event starts the task?
Where does the correct information live?
Who owns the next step?
Which exceptions need a person’s judgment?
What should the finished result look like?

Those answers do not require a large project. For one repeated workflow, they may fit on a single page. Once they are clear, an agent has something dependable to work with.

Four practical ways to prepare

1. Choose one repeated workflow

Start with work that happens every week and follows a recognizable pattern: customer status checks, inbox sorting, quote follow-ups, appointment reminders, meeting summaries, or routine document drafting. Do not begin with the hardest decision in the business.

2. Write down the current steps

Follow the work from the first request to the finished answer. Note every handoff, lookup, approval, and place where the work waits. This often shows that the problem is not effort. It is unclear ownership or information stored in too many places.

3. Clean up the obvious friction

Combine duplicate lists where practical. Name one source for current information. Decide who approves the result. Write down the exceptions that should stop the process and go to a person. These small corrections improve the work even before any agent is added.

4. Let the agent carry the routine parts

An agent can gather information, sort incoming requests, draft a reply, prepare a summary, or remind the owner when a follow-up is due. A person should still review customer-facing messages and anything involving money, safety, personnel, or a commitment to a customer.

The point is not to remove the person from the work. It is to remove the repeated searching, copying, sorting, and reminding from that person’s day.

The question for owners

Large companies may describe AI preparation as becoming leaner. A small business should describe it as becoming clearer: clear information, clear ownership, clear handoffs, and support for the people who already know the business.

So when you hear “prepare for AI,” which version are you picturing — fewer people, or your people better supported?

At Piedmont IT Advisors, we help small teams take the second path. Equip the team you have with AI agents — not more hires.

First shared on LinkedIn on October 23, 2026. Source: Fast Company.

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