![\"Anthropic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779623108_863_0x0.jpg\")
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Close-up of phone screen displaying Anthropic Claude, a Large Language Model (LLM) powered generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Lafayette, California, June 27, 2024. (Photo by Smith Collection\/Gado\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Gado via Getty ImagesLet\u2019s Recap:ERP software provider Epicor announces new AI offerings and services at its annual conferenceGoogle\u2019s I\/O conference reveals AI advancementsMicrosoft rolls out a new Surface tabletA robot lifts 100 poundsUsing Claude to forecastEpicor Debuts Agentic AI Platform And Promises 90-Day Cloud ERP Deployments<\/p>\n
This week at its annual Insights conference in Nashville, software company Epicor made two major announcements: A new \u201cagentic AI stack\u201d built on its Prism generative AI platform; and a 90-day cloud deployment program to accelerate ERP cloud migrations for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. The former entails AI agents that are embedded into ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) workflows such as finance, supply chain management, and customer service \u2013 to automate tasks and coordinate actions. (Source: Modern Distribution Management<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n Companies like Epicor are realizing that just offering AI capabilities isn\u2019t enough: users -particularly SMBs \u2013 need education, coaching, handholding and perhaps a shot or two of bourbon to move them into the AI world. A cloud deployment commitment is a fast way to get up and running and start learning about the AI and other features that can increase a company\u2019s productivity and profitability.<\/p>\n Is Google Making Too Many Announcements At It\u2019s Annual Conference?<\/p>\n This year\u2019s Google I\/O 2026 was a major statement of the company\u2019s aggressive development of AI. Gemini Spark was introduced and described as \u201ca personal 24\/7 agent that will manage your digital life\u201d for $100. Spark will monitor and organize Gmail, complete complex tasks, and manage workflows across apps \u2013 and that\u2019s just scratching the surface. Google is also transforming Search from an informational tool to a conversational, AI-driven experience. Users can interact with Search as they would with a chatbot as the AI will offer multi-layered responses that combine text, images, video, and live data. Search will also proactively offer recommendations, functioning as a dynamic companion when sourcing from the web. Raising the competition in chatbot technology, this is largest overhaul of Google search in almost three decades. (Source: Tom\u2019s Guide<\/a>; PCWorld<\/a>; Axios<\/a>) <\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n If you’re feeling like you’re drinking from a firehouse you’re not alone. The challenge facing Google is that the company is so big and has so many products that it’s almost possible to keep up with all the developments and how they’ll impact you and your business. They’ve upgraded search. They’ve introduced a personal agent. They’re rolling out better AI glasses. There’s a better video creation platform and a shopping car tool and a better way to find videos on YouTube. It’s a lot. My advice is to read a few of these articles and pick out the low hanging fruit AI offerings that you think can benefit your business and just focus on that.<\/p>\n Microsoft Unveils Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 for 2026<\/p>\n Zac Bowden of Windows Central reported on Microsoft\u2019s<\/a> announcement of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 in the company\u2019s latest appeal to business customers. Powered by Intel\u2019s Core Ultra 3 processors, the devices focus on AI performance, display upgrades, security, and premium features. Surface Laptop 8 incudes higher resolution, improved touchpads and security features tailored for businesses. Surface Pro 12 boasts better AI processing, updated display and 17-hour battery life. Both models start at $1,949 and available for business customers. \u201cThe flagship Surface Laptop 13.8- and 15-inch are the stars of the show, featuring the most notable upgrades with new display options,\u201d Bowden said. (Source: Window\u2019s Central<\/a>) <\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n I never would have predicted this but Microsoft has done a great job with the Surface. I have clients that swear by this advice. The product tends to trend a little more expensive than some of its competitors but the difference isn\u2019t substantial enough to put you off of considering this excellent laptop.<\/p>\n Boston Dynamics Reveals How Its Atlas Robot Lifts 100-Pound Industrial Loads at Scale<\/p>\n Atlas \u2013 Boston Dynamics\u2019 humanoid robot that first debuted in 2013 \u2013 can lift and carry heavy loads as much as one hundred pounds, the company reported. Atlas was trained through a reinforcement process where it practiced the same lifting task in varying simulations. As shown in a demo on the company\u2019s blog, Atlas rotates its torso 180 degrees and squats down to lift a mini refrigerator \u2013 weighing over 100 pounds \u2013 and carries it across the laboratory floor while adjusting itself to the weight. To achieve this, Atlas uses \u201cproprioception, or internal body awareness,\u201d which is a significant leap toward robots that can perform intense physical work in factories and warehouses. \u201cYou cannot lift a fridge just by looking at it and using your hands,\u201d Boston Dynamics said. \u201cYou have to prepare for it to anticipate the weight, lean into it, and let your body do the work.\u201d (Source: Interesting Engineering<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business: <\/p>\n The videos are fun to watch but \u2013 as I write here<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019re still a long way off from affordable, walking and talking robots that are significantly impacting businesses, particular SMBs.<\/p>\n How to Run a Monthly Reforecast with Claude Using CFO Skill Stack<\/p>\n When gauging their organizations economic health, most CFOs run reforecasting as a repetitive, \u201copen-loop\u201d process \u2013 rebuilding forecasts from scratch every month or quarter. Here\u2019s a helpful tip: Install the Closed-Loop CFO Skill Stack in Claude.ai. Claude\u2019s CFO Skill Stack includes a \u201cCFO Brain\u201d for analysis, a memory layer that tracks recurring patterns, and an Audit Trail system to document decisions. Users upload financial datasets and forecasting models into Claude Projects and uses prompts to analyze quarterly data, update forecasts and track historical reasoning. Not only is the time-consuming open-loop process eliminated, over time forecasts become smarter and more informed, improving financial decision making. (Source: AI CFO Office<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why this is important for your small business:<\/p>\n There is not a client I work with that doesn\u2019t need forecasting help and I feel like the help has arrived. I haven\u2019t personally tried this yet, but I\u2019m asking some clients to this Claude Skill a go. Using AI to predict sales and complete forecasts seems to make sense for me.<\/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":"Close-up of phone screen displaying Anthropic Claude, a Large Language Model (LLM) powered generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Lafayette,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7973,24,53,3154,7917,182,28125,132,320,3045,3178],"class_list":["post-49597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anthropic","tag-agentic","tag-ai","tag-anthropic","tag-anthropic-claude","tag-boston-dynamics","tag-claude","tag-epicor","tag-google","tag-microsoft","tag-robots","tag-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49597","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=49597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}