It’s inevitable: artificial intelligence tools are becoming a part of everyday life and everyday business practices. Companies in the wider GTA are likely to already be using AI for summarising meetings, drafting emails, organising information or sorting through large sets of data.
An example of these sorts of modern AI tools is Microsoft Copilot. Copilot has been built into a number of applications in the broader Microsoft 365 environment, meaning that it can function within applications like Word, Excel and Teams, which have uses in just about every business.
But these new AI tools don’t mean that the traditional technological challenges that many businesses face are in the past. Some of those past challenges might even be more central to everyday operations now. For instance, engaging in correct cybersecurity practises around password management, data security and access is crucial when AI tools are being used.
Everyday Work Is Increasingly Using AI Tools
Even for relatively small businesses, AI tools are useful. The appeal of these tools is rarely, if ever, to replace or supplant workers or make a dramatic shift in the overall operations of a company. They are often used in relatively small ways, to gain a slight benefit and make work a little easier or more efficient.
An AI assistant could be used to turn notes made from a meeting into a summary, write the draft of an email or to highlight the important parts of a lengthy document for review by an employee. Many small businesses might even find that using managed Microsoft Copilot services can elucidate where exactly AI tools can provide benefits, as not every business process can be, or needs to be, enhanced with AI tools.
It is important to remember that while these tools can be useful, they are not useful in every situation. A hammer is great for nails, but it’s useless if the tool you actually need is a screwdriver. It is also important that employees are still present and checking tasks that are completed using AI or helped by AI, and that they understand the limits that AI tools can have.
Security is Still Relevant
While AI tools are great and can be real-time savers, their use does not remove cybersecurity risks from the workplace, and they can even introduce new ones.
Some cybersecurity concerns for small businesses include things like: who can access which files and accounts, whether former employees have been correctly removed from access, whether important information is properly backed up, and how sensitive files are shared.
According to information from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, there were 1.10 million employer businesses in Canada in December 2024, with 98.2% classified as small businesses. That’s a whole lot of small cybersecurity environments.
For a large proportion of these businesses, it is unlikely that they have an internal technology department. Even so, they must manage employee devices, cybersecurity, data protection, cloud applications and AI tools as well, even without having a specialist on the books who understands each of these concerns.
What Happens When Credentials Are Exposed?
A cybersecurity concern that many businesses may struggle to grapple with, or even understand that it should be considered, is what needs to happen when sensitive information escapes from the company’s control.
Things like passwords, employee usernames or other sensitive business information can become exposed and turn up in online criminal communities or in data breaches. Sometimes, it can be years before a company even realises that some of its sensitive information is exposed in this way.
For companies that want to ensure they do not have exposed information, making use of dark web monitoring and scans can make it clear what information, if any, might be exposed. It is much simpler to conduct scans and monitor for exposed information than to carefully question every employee, as employees may not realise, or even be responsible for, information that becomes exposed.
Using scans and keeping an eye on the dark web is not a replacement for using security controls like employee training, strong passwords and multifactor authentication. It should be used as one part of a layered cybersecurity approach.
Keeping Technology Practical
The Durham Region has a special relationship with innovation and technology. It was named the 2025 Intelligent Community of the Year for work around workforce development, digital inclusion, innovation, and related areas. Emerging AI tools and cybersecurity are surely part and parcel of this focus that the region enjoys.
But local businesses should remember that embracing innovation and digital transformation does not mean that every new technology should be adopted willy-nilly. When new technologies can help to improve existing systems, boost security profiles or give new useful tools to employees without creating extra complexity, that is the time that these new technologies are at their best.
Businesses that engage in basic principles like secure data management, reasonable access controls and responsible cybersecurity implementations will be best placed by their engagement with such fundamentals to make use of new innovative technologies like AI, without opening themselves to unnecessary risks while they do so.