🇷🇴 Citește articolul în română: Creștere IMM 26% cu AI: Automatizare Next iSolutions

How an SME from Bucharest Grew 26% Through AI Automation: The Next iSolutions Story

Automating processes with artificial intelligence is no longer a future option – it is the present reality for companies that want to remain competitive. Next iSolutions, an SME from Bucharest in the IT and consulting sector, has demonstrated that a well-structured digitalization and AI implementation strategy can generate 26% growth in just 12 months. In this article, we will analyze in detail how the entrepreneurs behind this company managed to transform operations through intelligent automation and what lessons other similar businesses can learn.

What is AI Automation and Why is it Critical for SMEs

AI Automation does not just mean introducing robots to the factory. For an SME in the services sector, this translates to optimizing workflows, reducing the time allocated to repetitive tasks, and increasing operational efficiency.

Next iSolutions identified that approximately 35% of their team’s work hours were consumed by administrative activities and data processing. This includes sending emails, synchronizing data between platforms, generating reports, and managing client requests.

Implementing AI automation solutions allowed the company to redirect resources to high-value-added activities: client strategy, specialized consulting, and innovation. The result? A 26% increase in revenue over the course of a year.

Digitalization Strategy: From Identification to Implementation

Phase 1: Complete Audit of Existing Processes

Any digital transformation must start from a deep understanding of the current situation. Next iSolutions invested two weeks in mapping all internal processes.

They documented:

The workflow of the sales and marketing department
Administrative and back-office processes
The client service cycle and post-sale support
Project management and reporting

This phase allowed them to identify precisely where most time is lost and where they can achieve the fastest ROI (return on investment) through AI automation.

Phase 2: Selection and Testing of Appropriate Tools

After the audit, Next iSolutions chose a technology stack tailored to their needs. Here are the tools they implemented:

1. ChatGPT API and GPT-4 for generating client responses and drafting documents

2. Make (formerly Integromat) for connecting different platforms and workflow automation

3. Zapier for data synchronization between CRM, email, and other applications

4. HubSpot CRM with native automation implementation

5. Notion AI for documentation and automatic knowledge base

Each tool was tested over a period of 2-3 weeks with a small subset of processes before full implementation.

Measurable Results: What Changed in 12 Months

Reduction in Processing Time and Costs

Next iSolutions rigorously measured each impact of implementing AI automation. In the first three months, they observed:

Reduction in response time to client emails from 4 hours to 15 minutes (26 times faster)
60% reduction in time allocated to manual reporting due to automated data extraction
Elimination of 8 weekly hours of administrative work through automatic synchronization between platforms

From a cost perspective, the reduction in hours spent on repetitive tasks equated to saving approximately 400 hours of work per employee annually. For a team of 12 people, that means over 4,800 hours reallocated.

Increase in Productivity and Client Satisfaction

The team was able to focus on high-value activities: personalized consulting, client strategy development, and service innovation.

The impact on clients was even more dramatic:

Client retention rate increased from 78% to 89% (11 percentage points)
NPS (Net Promoter Score) increased from 42 to 61, placing the company in the “leaders” category
Project implementation times decreased by 18% due to more efficient processes

Revenue Growth and Expansion

The 26% growth in revenue came from three main sources:

1. Operational efficiency that allowed taking on new projects without significantly expanding the team

2. Better client retention due to faster and more personalized services

3. Launch of new AI automation consulting services, where Next iSolutions became both a provider and consumer

These new services generated 23% of total revenue growth.

Specific Processes That Benefited the Most

1. Lead Management and Follow-up

AI automation allowed an automatic scoring system to classify leads by potential, and then send personalized automated emails based on behavior. Lead conversion to opportunities increased from 8% to 13%.

2. Report Generation and Summaries for Clients

A process that took 4 hours per client per month was reduced to 45 minutes thanks to an AI system that extracts data from multiple sources and generates formatted and personalized reports.

3. Onboarding and Internal Documentation

Using Notion AI and ChatGPT, the onboarding process for new employees decreased from 3 weeks to 5 days, and documentation was automatically updated.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Not everything was easy. Next iSolutions encountered several obstacles in the digitalization and AI automation process:

Initial resistance from some employees who feared change (resolved through continuous training and transparent communication)
Need to adjust prompts and workflows in the first few months (every company needs adaptation)
Initial implementation and training costs that were recovered in 4 months

Key lesson: Entrepreneurs must understand that AI automation does not replace people, but frees them to do more valuable work.

Conclusion: Why Next iSolutions is the Model Worth Following

The Next iSolutions story demonstrates that an SME from Bucharest, with a small team and limited budgets, can achieve remarkable results through AI automation when the strategy is well planned and executed consistently.

The 26% growth did not happen overnight – it was the result of a year of systematic work, continuous testing, and optimization. If your business also faces inefficient processes, wasted time, and overworked people, the solution is not just to hire more people, but to implement artificial intelligence and automation.

If you want to transform your company’s operations with AI automation and digitalization strategies, contact the consultants from the 50.ro AI-Studio team. We have helped dozens of SMEs from Bucharest and other cities increase efficiency and revenue through proper AI solution implementation.

Visit 50.ro AI-Studio to discover how we can help your business grow and digitalize.

SME Growth 26% with AI: Next iSolutions Automation