AI Business Moves in 2026

Juliana Yorio

Alright, so let’s just be honest about it—2026 feels like the year every founder is asking: do I have to keep up with every shiny new AI announcement, or is there actually a better way to grow my business?

Simon Carver

Oh, totally. I mean, the FOMO is real. I keep seeing folks spin up pilots with these wild, complex AI tools hoping for some magic bullet—and then all that momentum just sort of fizzles out by quarter two because none of it’s actually solving for what matters. I had this one client—I won’t name names, but, let’s say, he was basically collecting AI subscriptions like baseball cards.

Juliana Yorio

That totally tracks. The pattern I see, whether you’re talking small businesses or even bigger operators, is there’s this rush to try everything—be on the bleeding edge—but most of that energy? It just gets wasted. What actually drives growth every time is tight focus: picking one or two real bottlenecks, applying AI to those, and building consistency. It’s honestly less sexy, but always more effective.

Simon Carver

You know, that client I mentioned? What finally clicked for him wasn’t some fancy chatbot. It was just using a dead-simple AI to answer customers faster, like, within a minute after they reached out. Once he focused there—bam, revenue didn’t just “kind of” increase, it popped. It wasn’t about fancy bells and whistles, it was about actually fixing lag and friction in what mattered most. Funny how we all want complex, but simple wins.

Juliana Yorio

Yeah, and if you dig into the stories behind real success, that’s basically always it. Not chasing trends, but locking in on leverage—where a little automation multiplies outcomes. And yet every quarter, someone asks, “Should we pilot this new model?” instead of, “Are we following up fast enough on every lead?”

Simon Carver

I mean, guilty. I get nerd-sniped so easily, but—where was I going with this? Oh right, it really is about focus. Just ‘cause something’s new doesn’t mean it’s gonna move your numbers.

Simon Carver

Alright, so let’s get into voice AI because every time someone brings it up, the conversation veers into either wild, flashy demos or these robot nightmare scenarios. But on the ground, it’s not about cool tech for the sake of it. It’s just about, like, killing friction wherever you have high—what’s the word? High-frequency, repetitive calls. Sales, support, qualifying leads, that kind of stuff.

Juliana Yorio

Exactly. The interesting bit isn’t that the tech knows a thousand facts about your product—it’s that it quietly saves hours or even entire weekends for your team. I worked with this local service company who just let voice AI pick up every after-hours call, qualify the lead, answer basic questions, and—most important—queue up the hottest ones so their sales team could just, you know, focus entirely on closing.

Simon Carver

That’s so much more useful than trying to make it sound “just like a human” for bragging rights. I’ve seen it with product info calls too. People forget that maybe a third of those calls aren’t really for expert help—they’re for basic stuff. If you automate those, suddenly your team can actually breathe. To me it’s, like, the most practical ROI in the whole AI conversation.

Juliana Yorio

And for founders listening—it’s usually a question of “How quickly can we stop letting leads sit?” If it takes you until Monday morning to reply, you’re bleeding revenue. Voice AI fills that gap instantly, without turning your whole process upside down.

Simon Carver

Yeah, and despite all the noise, nobody’s really asking for more “wow moments.” They just want to stop missing out when a customer actually wants to talk.

Juliana Yorio

Honestly, that’s the only “wow” that converts. The rest? It’s just noise.

Juliana Yorio

So, if there’s anything that gets overlooked for 2026, it’s AI-powered SMS. Everyone’s talking voice and chat, but the reality is, text is still the fastest, lowest-friction way most people want to engage—and it works. Like, really works—especially now that inboxes are so noisy, and email feels ten times slower than a text.

Simon Carver

Oh man, I have a story about this. So, I accidentally ended up texting my lawn care guy back and forth for a week—not realizing it was all handled by their AI bot. It asked questions like, “Hey, want us to edge the path this time?” and even followed up later to book out the next visit. I didn’t catch on until I sent a weird Sunday request, and the “AI” replied with, “We’ll take care of that!” I kinda felt outsmarted by a bot, honestly.

Juliana Yorio

And that’s the point: If you can automate those ongoing conversations, keep them feeling personal, and actually be timely—especially tying SMS to what’s happening with missed or after-hours calls—you just never leave a deal on the table. In retail, I’ve watched AI SMS and voice together chase down missed calls, send instant follow-ups, and turn “missed” into “booked” without human lag. Stuff that would’ve just vanished before.

Simon Carver

The combo is huge. You blend AI voice for the instant pick-up with a smart SMS follow-up. Suddenly, nobody’s getting lost just because you didn’t have staff around at the right time. You close more deals, and honestly, you sound way more present to your customers—even if it’s all running in the background.

Juliana Yorio

If listeners take anything from today, it’s that getting practical with AI means doubling down where communication and speed are still everything. Voice and SMS—done well—are still way ahead of most of what’s trending. Simon, anything else for our “practical AI” believers out there?

Simon Carver

Just keep it simple and actually useful. Tune out the noise, find the lever you need, and work that. We’ll dig into even more specifics next time. Thanks, Juliana. This was a blast.

Juliana Yorio

Love that. Thanks for tuning in to Prosprus: AI Insights. We’ll be back with more practical conversations on where AI actually drives results. Until next time — stay focused, stay fast, and keep it practical.