For the third consecutive year, Winnerge is attending AI Week. Not simply as an observer of a technological trend, but as an M&A operator looking at artificial intelligence from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Over the past few years, the debate around AI has changed significantly.

At first, many companies looked at it as a tool: something to test, add to a process, use to automate repetitive tasks or improve specific operational functions.

Today, that interpretation is no longer enough.

For an SME, artificial intelligence can no longer be seen only as software, a platform or a solution to purchase. It is becoming an operational and strategic ally. A form of support that can work alongside the entrepreneur and the organisation in daily management, information analysis, relationships with customers and suppliers, the ability to anticipate needs and the way more informed decisions are made.

This evolution also changes the way companies need to think about growth.

From tool to ally

A tool is used when needed. An ally becomes part of the way a company works.

This distinction is essential.

If AI is seen only as a tool, the risk is to adopt it superficially: a few automations, some faster activities, a few reports produced with less effort. These are useful benefits, but limited.

When AI becomes an ally, its role changes. It does not simply execute tasks. It helps the company understand more clearly what is happening inside and outside the organisation.

For an SME, this means having support that can:

• help organise scattered data and information;
• make weak market signals more visible;
• support the monitoring of recurring activities;
• reduce the burden of some operational decisions;
• improve continuity between people, functions and processes;
• bring greater discipline to management.

It is not about replacing the entrepreneur, management or internal skills. On the contrary, artificial intelligence becomes useful when it amplifies what the company already knows how to do, making it more organised, more readable and more scalable.

Why this matters for SMEs

Italian SMEs are often businesses built on expertise, relationships and experience. Much of their value lies in people, product knowledge, the ability to respond quickly to customers, operational flexibility and the company’s connection with its market.

These elements are a competitive advantage, but they can also become a limit when they remain too implicit.

Many SMEs work because certain people know what to do, know the customers, remember the exceptions, anticipate problems and make decisions based on experience. This model has supported the growth of many businesses, but it becomes more fragile when the company needs to scale, enter new markets, integrate new skills or manage a generational transition.

AI can help precisely at this point: by turning part of the company’s knowledge from individual experience into shared corporate assets.

It does not remove the value of people. It makes that value more transferable.

Building AI skills internally or finding them outside the company

When artificial intelligence becomes an ally, the way companies think about skills also changes.

An SME needs to ask itself:

• which AI skills are truly useful for our business model?
• can we develop them internally?
• how long would it take to build them?
• how important are they for our future competitiveness?
• does it make sense to look for them externally through partnerships, integrations or acquisitions?

In some cases, the answer will be to build an internal path. In others, it will be more effective to work with technology partners. In others still, acquiring a specialised company may become a growth lever.

This is where AI meets M&A.

Not because every SME should acquire a technology startup, but because acquiring skills can become a concrete response when the market moves faster than the company’s internal ability to adapt.

In this context, an extraordinary transaction is not only a way to increase turnover or market share. It can become the means to integrate skills the company does not yet have, but which will be decisive to remain competitive.

Not every technology acquisition creates value

Acquiring AI skills does not automatically mean buying innovation.

A technology company may be interesting, but that does not mean it is suitable for every buyer. The risk, especially for SMEs, is to be attracted by novelty without verifying real industrial compatibility.

Before starting an acquisition process, very concrete questions are needed:

• does the technology solve a real problem for the company?
• can the target’s team be integrated?
• is the corporate culture compatible?
• is there a clear plan for using that expertise?
• does the acquisition strengthen the business model or add complexity?

AI creates value only when it becomes part of a coherent industrial project.

Without this coherence, it risks becoming a decorative element: interesting in communication, but not very relevant in results.

AI makes organisational quality more important

One aspect that is often underestimated is that artificial intelligence does not automatically solve organisational problems.

In many cases, it makes them more visible.

If data is disorganised, AI produces fragile results.
If processes are confused, automation amplifies the confusion.
If responsibilities are unclear, AI cannot replace governance.
If there is no strategy, technology accelerates without knowing in which direction to move.

For this reason, in SMEs, talking about AI also means talking about organisation.

Artificial intelligence can become a powerful ally only when the company is willing to become more readable: in its data, processes, roles and objectives.

In this sense, AI is not only a technological issue. It is an entrepreneurial issue.

Why Winnerge looks at AI Week

Winnerge’s presence at AI Week is based on the belief that artificial intelligence will become increasingly relevant in the way SMEs build value, present themselves to the market and evaluate growth paths.

For those operating in M&A, observing the evolution of AI means understanding how the skills required by companies are changing, which business models are becoming more attractive and which companies will be more prepared to face extraordinary transactions.

An SME that integrates AI with method does not automatically become more sellable or more acquisitive. However, it becomes more aware of its data, its processes and its growth levers.

And in an M&A process, this makes a difference.

Because a more readable company is also a more assessable company.
A more structured company is also a more integrable company.
A more aware company is also better able to decide whether to grow, acquire, open up to new shareholders or prepare for a future sale.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool to adopt. For SMEs, it can become an ally in management, growth and value creation.

But an ally must be chosen, understood and integrated with method.

The point is not to chase AI because everyone is talking about it. The point is to understand where it can make the company stronger, more readable, more autonomous and better prepared for the future.

For some companies, this will mean developing internal skills. For others, building partnerships. For others still, evaluating targeted acquisitions.

In every case, the decisive question remains entrepreneurial before it is technological: what kind of evolution do we want to build for our company?

AI can help answer that question. But the direction, once again, must remain in the hands of the entrepreneur.