The Tech Industry is Still Ignoring What Small Businesses Really Need

OPINION, May 12, 2025 — The tech industry thrives on noise. Every month brings a new app, API, or automation tool, most heralded as the next essential piece of business infrastructure. But when you sit down with the average small business owner—whether they’re running a family-owned HVAC operation or a two-person creative agency—the message is consistent: the basics are still broken.

The tools small businesses need aren’t necessarily powered by artificial intelligence. They aren’t delivered through predictive analytics dashboards or buried in subscription models with 14 pricing tiers. They’re not in beta and don’t require a Slack channel to report bugs. What small businesses want—what they’ve always wanted—are simple, affordable digital tools that solve old problems without introducing new ones.

It’s not a radical ask. But it’s one the market keeps ignoring.

Complexity is Pushing Out the Core User

Walk into any tradeshow geared toward software or SaaS today, and you’ll find walls plastered with terms like “machine learning,” “hyper-automation,” and “intelligent pipelines.” That might excite investors, but it alienates those trying to manage a growing client list, invoice on time, or maintain a digital storefront with limited staff. Most small business owners aren’t chasing innovation. They’re chasing reliability.

“We're not trying to build the next Amazon,” says Linda Cortez, who runs a small specialty food distribution company in Aurora, Illinois. “We just want invoicing that doesn’t crash on the 29th of every month.”

That quote, said half in jest, encapsulates a broader truth: small business needs are neither mysterious nor excessive. They require software that runs on time, integrates well with basic tools like spreadsheets and email, and doesn’t force them into cycles of mandatory retraining with every version update. Yet many digital products aimed at small businesses are anything but small-business-friendly.

Once a company receives a round of funding, the incentives shift. Product teams begin optimizing for enterprise contracts. Midmarket becomes the target. And before long, the original user base—the barbershop, the wholesaler, the bakery—finds itself priced out or functionally stranded.

Tech Fatigue is Replacing Tech Adoption

This isn’t a theoretical problem. In a 2024 report by the National Federation of Independent Business, 61% of small business owners said they had stopped using at least one major digital service in the past year due to increasing complexity or cost. That’s a staggering number. When small businesses pull away from digital products, it’s not because they’re technophobic. It’s because they’re practical.

And practicality is sorely undervalued in tech circles. The obsession with disruption means steady, dependable tools—those that quietly support the country’s 33 million small businesses—don’t get the attention they deserve. But these tools are the digital backbone of America’s economy. Not enterprise cloud infrastructure. Not blockchain pilots. Not chatbots writing HR memos.

There are, of course, exceptions. Some developers—usually smaller outfits themselves—understand that simplicity isn’t a compromise; it’s a feature. A billing software company in the Midwest, which has grown almost entirely through word-of-mouth among local tradespeople, offers one plan. No upsells, no AI dashboards. Just solid reporting, consistent updates, and email support that actually responds within 24 hours.

These companies don’t win awards. They don’t get write-ups in TechCrunch. But they stick, because they solve real problems for real businesses.

Infrastructure, Not Innovation, Remains the Barrier

Digital adoption still depends on factors the tech industry tends to overlook—access, cost, and capacity. Many rural and semi-urban businesses struggle with stable internet connections. Others operate with limited budgets where an added $59 per month can’t be justified. A software’s feature list means little if it fails to load in the first place or pulls resources away from core operations.

Customer support—or lack thereof—has only worsened this divide. While startups talk about “self-serve” onboarding and “scalable” support models, what they’re really offering is the slow death of real assistance. Chatbots might respond in real time, but their answers are rarely helpful. Email queues stretch for days. Phone support, once a baseline expectation, has all but disappeared from many vendors targeting the SMB market.

The result is a trust gap. Business owners, especially those outside urban tech corridors, are tired of being told they’re lagging when the tools themselves are moving further out of reach. They don’t lack the will to digitize. They lack the tools built with them in mind.

The Market for Simplicity is Still Underserved

There’s a quiet but growing return to basics underway. Some developers—often bootstrapped, unglamorous, and under the radar—are focusing again on clarity, consistency, and cost control. They’re releasing tools that don’t rely on jargon to justify their existence. Their roadmaps are dictated not by investor pressure, but by user feedback. Their updates are rare and intentional.

This isn’t nostalgia—it’s necessity. The further the mainstream SaaS ecosystem drifts from its roots, the more opportunity exists for focused builders who remember that software is a tool, not a talking point.

If there's one principle to follow here, it’s this: usefulness beats novelty. Software doesn’t have to be clever. It has to be correct. It has to be responsive. It has to be intuitive. For small businesses, every hour lost to troubleshooting, waiting for support, or navigating needless complexity has real cost implications.

The winners in this space won’t be the ones deploying the most aggressive AI or expanding into verticals that no one asked for. They’ll be the ones who stay close to the ground, who understand that most businesses don’t need reinvention—they need reinforcement.

Because when it comes down to it, the most powerful digital tool is one that actually works.

Most of us don’t need the next big thing. We just need the right thing that works consistently.