Ramp just dropped their quarterly benchmarking report. The data points to interesting takeaways on AI adoption, successful enterprise implementation patterns, and builds a case for what market-beating AI applications will need to solve for.
Market Dynamics and Adoption Trends:
As expected, the price per token is plunging––down 75% YoY. Great news for businesses; as inference costs fall, adoption surges.
We’re on a steep J-Curve of AI adoption across the economy, but we’re still early––only 38% of businesses are spending on AI today. SMBs are growing the fastest, signaling a shift from early adopters to the mainstream.
Interestingly, most dollars are flowing to OpenAI. Whether through ChatGPT subscriptions or direct API usage, early adopters prefer OpenAI’s all-in-one workbench over bespoke embedded solutions.
OpenAI vs. Google: Lessons from the Frontline
At their core, Google and OpenAI represent two different visions for enterprise AI:
- Google’s focus on embedding AI quietly into existing tools like G-Suite–low friction, minimal disruption.
- OpenAI’s play is offering a flexible, multipurpose workbench––enable businesses to rapidly create custom AI solutions.
While both have merit, OpenAI is winning decisively as customers are voting with their wallets. Even with 250m+ paid subscribers across Alphabets vast ecosystem, and arguably better frontier models (Gemini 2.5 outperforms OpenAI’s models on several dimensions), Google is failing to proliferate their AI strategy effectively.
Why?
Google’s AI feels bolted-on, not transformative. Businesses trying these plug-and-play solutions clearly aren’t getting the material ROI they desire since the dollars aren’t flowing into this approach. Meanwhile, OpenAI is winning decisively––not only in consumer applications but also in the Enterprise––because it offers a “multipurpose workbench”—users build whatever they want, rapidly. The challenge for SMBs here is that they do not have the technical talent in-house to accomplish this approach.
The Lesson: AI adoption isn’t about whose model is shinier. It’s about meeting workflows where they live, and giving teams tools that feel natural to use.
What Great Looks Like
Smart businesses aren’t choosing sides between Google and OpenAI, they’re building choreography between tools—bringing the right AI to the right task with the right context.
Take inspiration from your team’s workflow today: you already combine purpose-built apps (CRM, ERP) with general-purpose ones (Excel, Slack). AI will layer in the same way.
If you’re not getting ROI yet, ask yourself:
Are you routing your users to new tools, or routing their context into better workflows?
Winning organizations structure the right data and route it to the right interaction mode:
- In-Line Assist: Quick edits and micro-actions inside apps.
- Universal Workbench: Cross-app workflows requiring reasoning and judgment.
- Digital Autonomous Workers: Bots that execute repetitive, high-volume, or ambiguous tasks.
Route context, not users. That’s how you slash task cycle-times, boost multi-step success rates, and generate defect-free outputs.
A Practical Playbook for SMBs
At Intrinsic Labs, we work with SMBs at every stage of their AI journey. We’ve found that simple, practical approaches win—not starting with massive transformation projects.
Here’s the high level playbook:
- List Pain Points. Where do you bleed time, margin, or customers? Email chains, data re-entry, customer service bottlenecks?
- Match Each Pain to a Lane.
- Tiny, repetitive edits → In-App Helper
- Messy, multi-step work → Chat Workspace
- High-volume, rules-driven jobs → Task Bot
- Tiny, repetitive edits → In-App Helper
- Run Derisked Pilots. Turn on Gmail’s free AI writing prompt. Spin up a free ChatGPT account. Build an automation bot that consumes a narrow, low-level task.
- Track One Metric Per Pilot. Minutes saved. Tasks completed. Errors removed. If the number moves ≥15%, double down.
- Scale Only What Pays for Itself. Scale implementation efforts only after wins are real, visible, and on your books.
Where Are You on Your AI Journey?
If you’re still figuring out your first moves—or you’ve stalled after early experiments—we’d love to help.
📈 Book a free 15-minute AI Quick Win Diagnostic with Intrinsic Labs.
We’ll identify your highest-ROI pilot opportunities—no obligation.