Business services represent a significant share of employment and revenue in France. However, the question of their actual effectiveness on growth remains open. Between the massive adoption of new tools and still modest productivity gains, which types of tailored business services produce measurable results, and which remain at the stage of promise?
Adoption of AI in B2B Services: Gap Between Usage and Productivity
One of the most revealing facts concerns the integration of artificial intelligence in service companies in France. According to a survey by the Banque de France published in September 2026, nearly two-thirds of companies with more than 20 employees are using generative AI. The figure is impressive.
In contrast, only about one-third of these companies report actual productivity or sales gains per employee. The gap is clear: the tool is adopted, but the operational return is slow to materialize.
| Indicator | Value (2026) |
|---|---|
| Companies with 20+ employees using generative AI | About two-thirds |
| Companies reporting real productivity gains | About one-third |
| Companies with 10+ employees using AI technology (2025) | 18%, up from 6% in 2023 |
| Main use of AI in user companies | Support functions (administration, marketing, finance, HR) |
This table illustrates a central point: the adoption of a service does not guarantee its impact on growth. The increase from 6% to 18% of user companies between 2023 and 2025 is rapid, but the confinement to support functions (over 70% of cases) limits direct impacts on revenue.
For tailored services to produce a tangible effect, they must go beyond the mere deployment of tools and integrate into the service production processes themselves. This is precisely what Nuxo’s business services offer, structuring support around the specific operational needs of each company rather than on a standardized offer.
Tailored Services and Growth: What Distinguishes Effective Support
Competitors in this market often offer catalogs: audit, consulting, HR management, digital strategy. The problem with this brick-by-brick approach is that it exactly replicates the pattern visible in the AI figures: a tool is deployed, but no one checks if it actually transforms the activity.
A tailored business service that generates growth is distinguished by three verifiable characteristics:
- A diagnosis rooted in the company’s financial data, not in generic market indicators. The audit focuses on actual margins, hidden costs, and bottlenecks specific to the structure.
- An integration into the production process of the service or product, and not just in support functions. If the consulting only touches marketing or HR, it reproduces the bias observed in AI adoption.
- A follow-up of results at short intervals (quarterly), with indicators defined from the start. Support that measures nothing cannot claim to generate growth.
This distinction may seem obvious. It is in theory. In practice, the majority of consulting services remain focused on one-off deliverables (reports, recommendations) without an operational follow-up mechanism.
The Trap of Generic Service Dressed as Tailored
An offer labeled “tailored” can boil down to an initial questionnaire followed by a predefined package. The term is overused. To assess the quality of support, one must check if the provider adapts its deliverables after the initial diagnosis, or if it applies a standard model with a few adjusted variables.
Specialized and technical service companies are those that have made the most progress in adopting AI between 2023 and 2025. This suggests that highly technical value-added structures invest more in tools and services suited to their activity, while generalist small businesses lag behind.
Development Strategy: Where to Focus Resources for Real Impact
The available data points to a pragmatic observation. Support functions absorb the majority of investments in external services and digital tools. Administration, digital marketing, financial management, and human resources capture over 70% of AI usage in French companies.
This imbalance raises a strategic question: should we continue to invest heavily in optimizing support functions, or reallocate some resources towards the core of the commercial offer?
For a B2B service company, the answer depends on its maturity. A startup needs support services (accounting, legal, communication). A growing company derives more value from support focused on:
- Structuring its commercial offer and pricing policy, two levers that the business services sector identifies as crucial for renewing growth.
- Diversifying into adjacent markets, relying on specific market data rather than general trends.
- Automating production processes (and not just administrative functions), so that productivity gains translate into additional commercial capacity.
Content and Social Media: Levers, Not a Growth Strategy
Online visibility, presence on social media, and content production are frequently presented as growth drivers. They are acquisition channels, not growth strategies in themselves. Without a structured offer, without sufficient margin, and without an adapted production capacity, multiplying digital channels amounts to accelerating without direction.
Companies that get the most out of tailored business services are those that address commercial strategy before communication strategy. The order of priorities changes the outcome.
The increase from 6% to 18% of companies using AI in two years shows that the adoption of tools is not enough. The key data remains this: only one-third report real gains. Before investing in an external service, the question to ask is not “which tool to adopt” but “which process to transform”.
