AI continues to offer plenty of potential for SMBs. That includes everything from marketing to operations. It’s all about automation for time-starved and tech-challenged SMBs. AI can help them scale their time and output by offloading rote tasks and non-core administrative tasks.
For all those reasons, AI could be embraced by SMBs faster and more pervasively than past emerging tech waves, and we’re already seeing evidence of that. Meanwhile, SMB SaaS players continue to blitz AI in their software offerings – an arms race that’s quickly ratcheting up.
One of those companies is Vendasta. The longstanding leader in SMB marketing platforms has begun to roll out agentic AI capabilities that are purpose-built for various roles. These include things like receptionists to schedule appointments and answer incoming customer queries.
But it’s not stopping there, with several functional roles to follow. Vendasta tells us that it will include everything from sales agents to IT. To further break down the company’s rationale, market insights, and product road map, we recently had the chance to catch up with Vendasta founder & CEO Brendan King.
After Part I of the interview, we continue the action here with Part II, where King goes deeper into what’s next for Vendasta.
What’s next in terms of the agentic functions we can expect to follow?
The Receptionist was just the start — we’re building an AI workforce. Next up are AI Employees that take on more of the repetitive, measurable, “always-on” jobs SMBs struggle to staff. AI has changed the game with integrations, and we are able to build jobs to do work across all functions.
The next set of AI Employees includes custom employees that will allow our users to easily do jobs in most of the software they use today. Today, we already have over 100 integrations into things like Shopify, with more coming across all categories. Some of the pre-made employees will include :
- AI Content Creator — manages social posts, blogs, and email campaigns automatically.
- AI Reputation Specialist — requests, monitors, and responds to reviews in real time.
- AI Sales Assistant — qualifies leads, follows up, and keeps the CRM updated.
- AI Sales Manager – provides coaching and identifies sale insights
- AI Search Specialist — optimizes a business’s online presence across Google, Maps, and directories, ensuring listings accuracy, keyword performance, and visibility.
We are also very excited about what happens when these agents start working together, becoming a coordinated AI Workforce that runs your marketing, sales, and customer engagement around the clock.
How do these expanding agentic functions deepen current relationships and expand Vendasta’s reach?
For our existing partners — agencies, franchises, media companies — these agents expand their capacity without expanding headcount. They can serve more clients, deliver measurable ROI, and strengthen retention with proof-of-performance.
For new customers, especially SMBs, it removes the barrier to technology adoption. They don’t need a tech stack — they need outcomes. With AI Employees doing the work, they can get enterprise-grade execution at a small-business price.
Ultimately, this platform helps both sides win. Partners scale profitably, and SMBs compete at a level that used to be out of reach.
Are there verticals or horizontal functions that represent exciting growth opportunities?
Absolutely. A few stand out:
Channel partners with scale & expertise. Large agencies, media companies or software companies that want to provide a single pane of glass to their SMB customers to work across their software stack. Our configurator provides them a way for them to distribute, configure and manage AI Employees at scale.
Franchises and multi-location brands. These businesses live and die by consistent lead response and customer engagement. Automating that at scale — across hundreds of locations — is a game-changer.
Trades and service industries. Contractors, home services, healthcare, and automotive all deal with heavy inbound volume and appointment-based conversions. AI Receptionist and AI Sales Assistant are already proving high ROI here.
We are focused on providing SMBs with AI Employees that do work. If it’s high-value, frequent, and data-driven, it’s a candidate for automation.
Any final thoughts on Vendasta’s positioning or what to expect through the end of 2025?
2025 is about acceleration.
We’ve moved from building software to delivering outcomes. AI now does the work, and humans orchestrate it. That’s the foundation of our platform and the future of SMB growth.
We’ll keep expanding our AI workforce — each agent designed to save time, cut costs, and capture revenue that used to slip through the cracks.
And we’ll keep pushing forward on our founding promise: to democratize technology so every local business can get more customers. And keep them.
Header image credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash
