More than 70% of marketing and sales professionals say that using artificial intelligence increases productivity. With time optimization, 67% of users manage to save two to five hours per week. 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 ) by Pipedrive , an easy and effective sales CRM for small businesses.
The research surveyed 1,060 professionals in 82 countries, including Brazil. The survey shows that AI adoption is higher in medium-sized companies, while large companies are advancing more slowly, due to the complexity of current systems, challenging approval processes, and other factors related to data collection, standards, and regulations. Regarding user profiles, professionals between 18 and 35 years old are twice as likely to adopt AI tools compared to those aged 65 or older.
“Like any powerful tool, AI opens up endless opportunities to save time, streamline 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 that 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.
Here are the main findings from Pipedrive State of Sales and Marketing Report 2024/2025 ) :
1. Use of AI in sales: communication tasks predominate.
When analyzing the use of AI in sales, a clear trend can be observed: most professionals who have adopted AI in their processes use the tool primarily for communication tasks, such as creating content (76%), summarizing existing content (56%), and preparing sales materials (46%).
On the other hand, less than one in four respondents uses AI in more data-related activities, such as pattern analysis or forecasting. This reveals a still largely untapped potential of AI.
2- AI is primarily used to create marketing content.
Marketing professionals also use technology primarily 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 summaries (53%).
3- Saving time is one of the main benefits of adopting AI.
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 people in sales roles.
4- AI has a positive impact on employee productivity and overall performance.
Over 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 their 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 medium-sized companies (44%). Large companies are progressing more slowly (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 delay adoption. Small and medium-sized enterprises, 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 .
