AI Adoption in Danish SMEs: What the New Data Means for Strategy

AI adoption among Danish businesses has moved faster in the past year than at any point since Statistics Denmark began measuring it. On 15 September 2026, new figures reported by Ritzau showed that 59 percent of Danish companies with ten or more employees now use at least one form of artificial intelligence, up from 42 percent in 2025 and 15 percent in 2023. The following day, Danmarks Nationalbank published an analysis of what this shift means for hiring. Taken together, the two releases offer a useful, evidence-based view of where AI is heading for smaller firms, and what it asks of their strategy.

What the new AI adoption numbers show

According to Statistics Denmark, 88 percent of companies with more than 250 employees used at least one AI-based technology in 2026, compared with 55 percent of companies with 10 to 49 employees. The IT and media sector leads, with 89 percent of companies using AI. The technologies counted include text analysis, speech-to-text, image and video generation and workflow automation. Statistics Denmark notes that a category for generative AI that creates images, video and audio was added in 2025, so year-on-year comparisons should be read with that change in mind.

The gap between large and small firms is narrowing, but it has not closed. A year and a half ago the picture was very different: in a release from 12 March 2025, Statistics Denmark reported that only 25 percent of companies with 10 to 49 employees used AI in 2024. Among companies that had considered AI but not adopted it, around 80 percent pointed to a lack of knowledge or expertise as a barrier. The September 2026 coverage suggests that the barriers have not changed much. Business organisations quoted by Ritzau named insufficient employee skills, knowledge gaps and lack of time as the main obstacles.

AI is changing how firms hire, not yet how many people work

On 16 September 2026, Danmarks Nationalbank published a firm-level analysis that combined Statistics Denmark data on AI use with register data on employment and wages. Its central finding is that Danish firms hire fewer new employees after they start using AI than comparable firms that do not. The effect is concentrated among younger employees and people with higher levels of education, while wages have not been affected. The central bank also stresses that it sees no clear signs yet of an effect on overall Danish employment, that people who would previously have been hired by AI-using firms have found jobs elsewhere, and that it does not expect employment to fall over the next few years.

Not everyone reads the data the same way. In a September 2026 analysis, the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) found that companies using AI systematically had around 6.5 percent higher revenue growth from 2021 to 2025 than matched comparison firms, with the largest difference, 8.5 percent, among companies with fewer than 20 employees. DI also found that employment growth in these firms rose in step with revenue, and notes that this means there are not yet clear signs that AI has lifted productivity. A DI vice director told A4 Medier on 16 September 2026 that the central bank's analysis should not be read as evidence that AI costs jobs. The two analyses use different methods and answer different questions, so they are best read side by side rather than as a contest.

Why it matters for a small business

For owners and managers of smaller firms, the main message is that AI is becoming a normal part of how Danish companies operate. When more than half of firms with 10 to 49 employees use some form of AI, it stops being a differentiator on its own. Advantage is more likely to come from how well AI is applied to specific processes, how it is governed, and how it fits into a firm's overall plan for growth.

The hiring findings matter too. If firms using AI are recruiting fewer junior and highly educated profiles, small businesses should think carefully about which roles they will need over the next two to three years, how they will train people who are already on the team, and how they will keep building future talent. A workforce plan that assumes yesterday's mix of roles may not fit a business that is quietly automating parts of its admin, analysis or content work.

Finally, the evidence on results is still developing. DI's figures point to a link between systematic AI use and growth, but neither DI nor the central bank claims that AI on its own explains that growth. A small business should therefore treat AI as an investment that needs clear goals and follow-up, not as a guaranteed return.

Practical next steps

A sensible starting point is to map where time is actually spent in the business today. Recurring tasks in sales, customer service, finance and reporting are often where AI tools can be tested with limited risk. Choose one or two of these areas, define what success looks like in hours saved, quality or response time, and review the results after a fixed period before scaling further.

At the same time, put basic guardrails in place. That means deciding which tools staff may use, what data may and may not be entered into them, and who is responsible for checking AI-generated output. Questions about data protection and regulation are among the barriers businesses have reported, and companies should get advice that fits their own situation where personal data or regulated activities are involved.

It is also worth revisiting the people side of the plan. Consider which skills the team will need, how to build AI literacy across roles rather than in one person, and how recruitment of junior staff fits into the longer-term picture. Linking these decisions to the firm's commercial strategy, rather than treating AI as a separate IT project, makes it easier to judge what is working.

Brenvard's perspective

For Brenvard, the numbers cut both ways. On the upside, more smaller firms are now asking how to use AI well rather than whether to use it, which is the kind of practical question our strategy work is built around. On the downside, some of the routine analysis and first-draft work that businesses once bought from advisers can now be done in-house with AI tools, so the value we add has to sit in judgement, prioritisation and follow-through rather than in producing documents. The Nationalbank findings also apply to us as an employer: as a small team, we have to think about how junior people build experience when entry-level tasks are increasingly automated. Our view is that firms of our size gain most when AI frees time for client contact and quality control, not when it is used to cut corners.

Closing perspective

The September 2026 figures confirm that AI has become a mainstream business tool in Denmark, including among smaller firms. What they do not yet show is a clear productivity breakthrough, which leaves room for well-planned businesses to pull ahead. Brenvard works with startups and smaller businesses on exactly this kind of question through its strategy and consulting services, helping them connect technology choices to growth plans. For most firms, the next step is not a large programme, but a clear decision about where AI should support the business and how progress will be measured.

Sources

Ritzau via DKNyt – Danske virksomheder bruger i stigende grad kunstig intelligens (15 September 2026)
Danmarks Statistik – Digitalisering: Kunstig intelligens (2026)
Danmarks Statistik – Flere virksomheder anvender kunstig intelligens (12 March 2025)
Danmarks Nationalbank – Firms hire fewer people when they start using AI (16 September 2026)
Dansk Industri – AI-virksomheder har øget både vækst og beskæftigelse (September 2026)
A4 Medier – Dansk Industri: Kunstig intelligens koster ikke arbejdspladser (16 September 2026)
Version2 – Danske virksomheder bruger stadig mere AI: Men effekten på jobtallene udebliver (16 September 2026)