More than 70% of marketing and sales professionals say that the use of artificial intelligence increases productivity. With time optimization, 67% of users can save two to five hours weekly. This is what the sixth edition of the annual report on the sales and marketing market (State of Sales and Marketing Report 2024/2025) by Pipedrive, an easy and effective sales CRM for small businesses, reveals.
The survey interviewed 1,060 professionals in 82 countries, including Brazil. The research shows that AI adoption is higher in medium-sized companies, while large companies are progressing more slowly due to the complexity of current systems, challenging approval processes, and other factors related to data collection, norms, and regulations. Regarding user profiles, professionals between 18 and 35 are twice as likely to adopt AI tools compared to those aged 65 and over.
“Like any powerful tool, AI opens up endless opportunities to save time, simplify workflows, and even boost creative thinking. But real success comes from using it with measured confidence, a healthy dose of critical thinking, and a consistent, scalable, strategic approach to adoption. Much of this success starts with us, building awareness, asking better questions, and fostering a culture that balances innovation with responsibility, both as individuals and as companies,” says Paulo Cunha, CEO of Pipedrive.
See the main findings of the research (State of Sales and Marketing Report 2024/2025) from Pipedrive:
1- Use of AI in sales: communication tasks predominate
When analyzing the use of AI in sales, it is possible to observe a clear trend: most professionals who have adopted AI in their processes use the tool mainly for communication tasks, such as content creation (76%), summarizing existing content (56%), and preparing sales materials (46%).
On the other hand, less than one in four respondents use AI for activities more related to data, such as pattern analysis or forecasts. This reveals a yet underexplored potential of AI.
2- AI is mainly used to create marketing content
Marketing professionals also use the technology mainly to create content and perform other communication tasks. The most common uses of AI include generating posts for social media (62%), advertising content (58%), and blog articles (56%), followed by content summaries (53%).
3- Time savings is one of the main benefits of adopting AI
For the majority of users (67%), AI helps save between two and five hours per week. Sales and marketing professionals working in micro and small businesses (with up to 100 employees) have implemented AI more successfully than those in larger companies, reporting greater time savings.
Marketing teams use AI mainly to generate new content. The tool has been particularly efficient in this area, with professionals estimating greater time savings compared to people in sales roles.
4- AI has a positive impact on employee productivity and overall performance
More than 70% of respondents who implemented AI say it has contributed to increased productivity. AI tools are also recognized as
useful for performance improvements.
Marketing managers are the most engaged group in adopting AI in workflows. At least 41% of sales managers and 75% of marketing managers have adopted AI, compared to 34% of salespeople and 54% of marketing professionals.
5- Large companies are slower to adopt AI
Adoption is higher in mid-sized companies (44%). Large companies are slower to progress (30%) due to the complexity of current systems, challenging approval processes, and other factors related to data collection, standards, and regulations.
“AI seems to be everywhere, creating the illusion that it’s already being used by everyone, but the data tells a different story. Large organizations, in particular, face significant obstacles: legacy systems, complex internal processes, and stricter compliance requirements often slow down adoption. Small and medium-sized businesses, on the other hand, tend to be more agile as they have simpler structures and can make decisions more quickly, giving them a clear advantage when testing and integrating AI into their workflows,” explains Viktoria Ruubel, CPO of Pipedrive.
To download the full report, click here.
