Small Business (SMB) stories

ESET survey finds North American SMBs increasingly buying cyber cover, with insurers shaping controls and managed detection services after repeated breaches.

Atomgate's Renee Lovell says education, testing and partnerships are helping the South African MSSP turn SonicWall upgrades into measurable business gains.

Apple rolls out unified business hub in 200 markets as signs mount that local ads in Maps will debut across North America this summer.

Canva and Constant Contact add a one-click route from design to campaign, letting small firms and nonprofits publish across email and social media.

Emergent unveils Wingman, an always-on AI agent for email, scheduling and sales support as Australian firms seek to ease admin pressure.

Dext launches AI Assist in Canada as accountants warn that plausible automated tax advice can still understate liabilities and trigger filing issues.

Emergent's Wingman puts autonomous AI agents to work across email, calendars and chats, with human approval for higher-risk actions.

Rockwell's Plex wins Major Player status in six IDC MarketScape reports as AI-enabled ERP and finance tools gain ground among manufacturers.

Splashtop bets on AI-assisted patching and security alerts in a single console as it targets lean IT teams and MSPs with a new endpoint platform.

N-able widens Cove Data Protection with cloud-hosted Disaster Recovery as a Service for MSPs and IT teams facing cyberattacks and outages.

8x8 unveils AI Studio to let customer experience teams build agents with natural language, aiming to cut integration delays and costs.

Canada sets out cyber checks for defence suppliers, with annual self-assessments due from 2026 and tougher levels to follow in stages.

Employment Hero rolls out AI recruitment tool in Canada as small businesses seek faster screening, with human managers keeping final hiring decisions.

Xero's Anthropic tie-up deepens finance software AI split as groups weigh integrated platforms against agent tools that work across multiple systems.

Nmbr and Paiday join forces to embed payroll into Canadian accounting software, targeting compliance headaches and multi-client workflows for firms.

PayPal brings payment links into Canva for 265 million users, letting creators, entrepreneurs and small firms sell from designs with QR codes and checkouts.

Cloudflare and GoDaddy team up to give site owners more control over AI crawlers while backing open standards to verify agent identity.

Canada's patent filings have flatlined for years despite a surging population, with experts blaming investment barriers, brain drain and weak IP strategy.

Synology extends BeeStation Plus with local camera monitoring for homes and micro-businesses, offering AI alerts and no subscription fees.

AI agents prompt accounting firms to redesign bookkeeping and tax workflows as junior staff tasks are automated and human oversight stays central.