Rolling out AI in an SME: provider, plan, license

Rolling out AI at company level looks like a nightmare of variables: pricing, regulation, internal processes, where the company is heading, and so on. Then you start looking at what the big providers actually offer and it gets worse. Team, Business, Enterprise, API-only… and inside each one, standard, premium, extra tokens, you name it.

Most people get lost in all of that. Honestly, it’s way simpler than it looks.

1. Which provider?

Just ask your employees first. Chances are some of them are already using one on the side. If people are secretly using ChatGPT or Claude at work, give them a proper corporate version of that same tool. Adoption basically takes care of itself: they pull in their teammates, and it snowballs from there.

Don’t lose sleep over OpenAI vs Anthropic. Pick whatever fits what your company and your people already use.

2. Which plan?

Here’s where it gets a bit trickier. You need a plan that keeps your data protected, especially if client info is going in there, and one that matches your size and how you work.

If you want to see exactly who’s using what and you don’t mind the cost, go Enterprise: you pay per token, so the more you use the more you pay. If you don’t care much about that level of detail and just want a good deal, a Team or Business plan gets you plenty of usage for a fixed price.

3. Which license?

Depends on the user.

Your heavy users? Premium, no question. Don’t kill their flow and make them sit around for two or three hours before they can keep going.

Regular users are fine on standard: they’ll never come close to hitting the limits.

And if someone suddenly needs a ton of usage for a big push, just bump them up to premium for a bit. Paying for extra tokens will cost you more in the long run than a quick upgrade.