Over 70% of marketing and sales professionals claim that using artificial intelligence increases productivity. With time optimization, 67% of users can save two to five hours weekly. This is revealed in the sixth edition of the annual report on the sales and marketing market (State of Sales and Marketing Report 2024/2025) conducted by Pipedrive, an easy and effective CRM for small businesses.
The survey interviewed 1,060 professionals across 82 countries, including Brazil. The findings show that AI adoption is higher in medium-sized companies, while larger companies progress more slowly due to the complexity of existing systems, challenging approval processes, and other factors related to data collection, norms, and regulations. Regarding user profiles, professionals aged 18 to 35 are twice as likely to adopt AI tools compared to those aged 65 or older.
“Like any powerful tool, AI opens endless opportunities to save time, simplify workflows, and even boost creative thinking. But true success comes from using it with measured confidence, a healthy dose of critical thinking, and a strategic, consistent, and scalable 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 businesses,” says Paulo Cunha, CEO of Pipedrive.
See the key findings of the survey (State of Sales and Marketing Report 2024/2025) by Pipedrive:
1- AI use in sales: communication tasks dominate
When analyzing AI use in sales, a clear trend emerges: most professionals who have adopted AI in their processes primarily use the tool for communication tasks, such as content creation (76%), summarizing existing content (56%), and preparing sales materials (46%).
On the other hand, fewer than one in four respondents use AI for more data-related activities, such as pattern analysis or predictions. This reveals an underutilized potential of AI.
2- AI is mainly used to create marketing content
Marketing professionals also primarily use the technology to create content and perform other communication tasks. The most common uses of AI include generating social media posts (62%), advertising content (58%), and blog articles (56%), followed by content summarization (53%).
3- Time savings is one of the main benefits of AI adoption
For most 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 primarily use AI to generate new content. The tool has proven especially efficient in this area, with professionals estimating greater time savings compared to those in sales roles.
4- AI has a positive impact on productivity and overall employee performance
Over 70% of surveyed professionals 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 highest in medium-sized companies (44%). Large companies progress more slowly (30%) due to the complexity of existing systems, challenging approval processes, and other factors related to data collection, norms, and regulations.
“AI seems to be everywhere, creating the illusion that everyone is already using it, but the data tells a different story. Large organizations, in particular, face significant obstacles: legacy systems, complex internal processes, and stricter compliance requirements often delay adoption. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized businesses tend to be more agile, as they have simpler structures and can make decisions faster, 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.
