Blog · AI & automation guides
The AI for small business blog, minus the jargon.
What AI can really take on in your software, what it costs, and what to check before you start. Practical guides, written by the person who builds the tools.
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- Planning & costs · 10 minCustom software: what a business application costs in 2026, price ranges and hidden costsCustom software ranges from €10,000 to over €150,000 before tax among providers in France that publish their rates. Here’s why two quotes for the same need can differ threefold, what the tool costs over three years, and how to read a quote without getting it wrong.Read the article
- Automation · 11 minSage 100 API (France): connecting AI and your other software to your ERPThere isn’t one Sage 100 API, but several ways in, and the right one depends on your version and your hosting. Here’s a neutral map of those paths, what each one lets you read or write, how to plug AI into them, and where Odoo, EBP, and Cegid stand.Read the article
- Data & security · 10 minShadow AI: your team already uses ChatGPT. How to manage it without banning itShadow AI is the use of ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot at work with personal accounts, outside any framework. The risk isn’t AI, it’s the account: here’s what the numbers, France’s CNIL, and ANSSI say, which accounts to choose, and a one-page AI policy template.Read the article
- Agents & chatbots · 11 minAI agent, chatbot, or automation: what’s the difference, and which one fits your business?An AI agent decides the next step on its own and acts in your software, a chatbot answers questions, and an automation follows a path written in advance. Here’s how to tell them apart, six examples from a small business’s day-to-day, and five questions so you don’t pay for an agent where a rule will do.Read the article
- Agents & chatbots · 10 minAI receptionist cost: what an AI voice agent really costs a small business in 2026An AI receptionist costs anywhere from a few cents to half a dollar per minute, depending on whether you assemble the building blocks or buy a packaged offer. Here’s the full calculation, with vendor prices, and what really weighs on an AI voice agent’s budget: connecting it to your software.Read the article
- Planning & costs · 11 minBpifrance Diag Data IA: cost, eligibility, and other AI grants for businesses in France in 2026Bpifrance’s Diag Data IA costs at most €10,000 before tax, 40% of it covered: €6,000 before tax left to pay for 8 days of expert work. Who qualifies, what it really delivers, the other AI grants for small businesses in France in 2026, and the question nobody asks: who builds it next?Read the article
- Agents & chatbots · 10 minAI in customer service: what a chatbot should do, and what the EU AI Act requires in 2026A customer service AI handles recurring questions well, as long as it relies on your documents and hands off at the slightest doubt. Since August 2, 2026, the EU AI Act mainly requires one thing of it: to say clearly that it’s an AI. The rest, and what not to do.Read the article
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