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CANADA – 2025\/03\/01: In this photo illustration, the Microsoft Teams logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLet\u2019s Recap:Microsoft is giving more controls over AI back to humansAI actor Tilly Norwood lands a starring roleAI dictation tools are on the rise in the officeVibe-coding may be threatening Salesforce.comCost-per-clicks increased 15% this yearMicrosoft Makes Major AI U-turn Following User Revolt \u2013 Will Let Teams Users Turn Off Copilot, Facilitator and Recap<\/p>\n
Microsoft<\/a> is heeding the objections of its Teams user base \u2013 the company has introduced new controls that lets Teams meeting organizers turn AI-powered meeting features on or off during live meetings. This latest decision was made after customer backlash to Microsoft\u2019s aggressive push of AI features \u2013 most recently Microsoft\u2019s Teams Facilitator designed to monitor meetings. Privacy concerns have been raised as users questioned the tool\u2019s privacy and security limits. The response from Microsoft\u2019s has been to try to quell those concerns as it expressly stated in a recent post, \u201cMicrosoft Teams will add an in-meeting toggle for licensed organizers and presenters to turn Meeting AI \u2026 \u201cRollout starts early July 2026, with no changes to existing compliance or licensing requirements.\u201d (Source: TechRadar Pro<\/a>) <\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n The typical pattern is this: a tech company releases new features (i.e. AI) in a tidal wave of options. Users get inundated. They complain. Tech company rolls back features. This is what\u2019s happening here. AI and Copilot (in Microsoft\u2019s case) is being jammed down our throats the minute we launch teams. It\u2019s all great stuff, but human are the ones who should decide where and when to use AI, not AI. Microsoft is doing the right thing by turning off these features in lieu of humans turning them on at their discretion.<\/p>\n AI ‘Actor’ Lands First Starring Role<\/p>\n It was only a matter of time for AI to have a starring role in a Hollywood film, and \u201cher\u201d name is Tilly Norwood<\/a>. Last year, Tilly made headlines when Newser reported on the dissent from professionals in the film industry who were \u201cbristling at Tilly\u2019s arrival.\u201d Now Tilly has been cast as the lead in a comedy-drama titled Misaligned \u2013 the first feature film to star an entirely AI-created actor. The story follows a self-aware AI navigating fame, identity, and autonomy in a surreal world called the “Tillyverse.” Not surprisingly, the project is drawing a lot of buzz and pushback as many in the industry argue AI-generated performers could replace human talent. As for the producers of the film, they assert that Tilly is not intended to be the catalyst of replacing human actors \u2013 it\u2019s an exploration into new forms of storytelling. (Source: Newser<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n Stop fighting this. AI actors are here to stay and I think the smartest human celebrities should be campaigning hard to license their images for AI creations before the AI-generated actors become even more famous. One thing I love about Till Norwood is that her \u2013 and digital creations like her \u2013 can be used by creators with minimal budgets to tell their stories, something that would have been impossible just a short time ago. I\u2019m looking forward to hearing those stories!<\/p>\n The Rise of AI Dictation Tools at Work<\/p>\n Matthew Finnegan of Computerworld reported on the increasing use of AI-powered dictation tools in the workplace. Because of the advances in large language models (LLMs) workers can now speak naturally while the AI automatically cleans up grammar, punctuation, and formatting, making voice input much more practical than older dictation software. And it\u2019s not just a matter of practicality, these tools help complete tasks like coding, document creation, emails and brainstorming much faster, allowing workers to get more done in a single workday. AI dictation tools can also understand spoken language with higher accuracy. One example cited in the article is the AI dictation tool Wispr Flow \u2013 used by Thumbtack\u2019s chief technology officer Chris Patalano who said, \u201cIt\u2019s becoming the primary interface that I have for any AI tools. It\u2019s just so much more effective and efficient than having to type.\u201d (Source: Computerworld<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n Voice recognition is becoming a significant way to implement AI, particularly in a small business. I\u2019ve written about AI virtual receptionists<\/a> but now I\u2019m seeing AI apps being developed for office use such as recording phone calls, meetings, client and prospect visits and then using those recording to create transcriptions and from those transcripts generate quotes, correspondence or simply update CRM and accounting systems. I predict this will grow even more in use over the next few years.<\/p>\n Salesforce SMB Customers Switch to Vibe-Coded CRMs<\/p>\n SMBs are reevaluating the cost-benefit of traditional CRM platforms. There\u2019s been a growing trend of some SMBs replacing CRMs like Salesforce with custom built CRMs using vibe coding (prompting AI assistants to generate code.) According to a Salesforce admin survey, nearly 59 percent of admins said that the CRM is \u201cbecoming increasingly complex to work with.\u201d Cost is another concern as smaller companies are using AI coding tools to quickly build lightweight CRM systems tailored to their own workflows. This trend is also showing up in the usage of other tools like Anthropic\u2019s Claude Clode. According to The Information, SMBs are cutting software costs by 40 to 80 percent after replacing Salesforce with custom applications. Claude Code allows small engineering teams and nontraditional developers to build business applications in months. Companies are creating custom CRMs, billing systems, ticket management platforms \u2013 rather than paying for extensive functionality of CRMs like Salesforce they rarely use. (Source: Salesforce Ben<\/a>; The Information<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n I\u2019m not so sure that \u201cvibe-coded\u201d applications are going to replace platforms like Salesforce. Sure, I can see people using AI to develop integrated or maybe off-shoot applications that\u2019s within the Salesforce environment. But c\u2019mon\u2026you\u2019re going to trust your company data to some kid vibe-coding an app? Businesses need to work with technology providers that offer secure, private, scalable platforms with a large ecosystem of support, partners, experts and developers. Salesforce \u2013 and other big technology platforms \u2013 do this in a way that far outpaces anything a small business can do on their own.<\/p>\n Cost Per Click Increased by 15% in 1 Year<\/p>\n Digital marketing is getting more expensive. A new CPC report from Dutch ecommerce platform Channable found that the average cost-per-click (CPC) on Google Ads increased 15 percent year over year between June 2025 and June 2026 \u2013 while advertisers saw a sharp decline in advertising efficiency. According to the report, the return on ad spend decreased by more than 40 percent. The data was drawn from analysis of 1.38 billion Euros in verified ad spends by more than 10,000 advertisers in European commerce. The results are an alert for businesses to find new ways to acquire customers as paid advertising becomes less efficient while the web domain becomes more competitive. Businesses may need to improve campaign targeting and diversify into other marketing channels. (Source: Ecommerce News<\/a>) <\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business:<\/p>\n This is completely understandable what with all the supply chain issues caused by the war in the Mideast and other world hot spots. Or the inflationary pressure of government spending. Actually\u2026I\u2019m kidding. None of the usual inflationary triggers impact the cost of a click, do they? And yet, that cost has risen at rate of 5x of inflation. It\u2019s yet another way online advertisers \u2013 yes I\u2019m looking at you Google \u2013 reaps profits. And as a small business owner there\u2019s little we can do, until AI replaces Google search with something more affordable. I\u2019m looking forward to that day.<\/p>\n Note: Have a technology story that small business owners should know about? Don\u2019t mind me sharing my opinion? Share it with me on X @genemarks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CANADA – 2025\/03\/01: In this photo illustration, the Microsoft Teams logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[53530,24,420,7829,132,320,7828,14414,2942,3178,1631],"class_list":["post-103149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-microsoft","tag-adwords","tag-ai","tag-azure","tag-azure-ai","tag-google","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-ai","tag-microsoft-teams","tag-salesforce","tag-small-business","tag-vibe-coding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}