AI Implementation for Small Businesses & Founders

AI is only useful when someone actually uses it.

Palmetto Group AI helps small businesses, solo founders, and mid-market teams turn AI from a buzzword into measurable work. Strategy, implementation, training, and automation. No tool reselling. No theater. Built on operator experience driving adoption in one of the harder change-management environments there is.

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86% Daily AI adoption building-wide as a school principal, in 15 months

10× Scaled a learning operation from 100 to 1,000 users over 6 years

21 Years operating in environments where change is hard

SC Based in Upstate SC, working nationally

Track record

Driving adoption is hard. The numbers show it can be done.

Before launching Palmetto Group AI, Dane spent 21 years inside organizations where the staff had every reason to resist change. AI rollout was one of several initiatives he led. The numbers below are real outcomes from that work, reframed for the kind of operational problems small businesses face.

86% Daily AI tool adoption across a full staff, from 0% awareness, in 15 months

10× Operation scaled from 100 to 1,000 users, with operations and tooling redesigned end-to-end

67% Reduction in failure-rate outcomes through data-driven intervention systems

55% Drop in incident volume through new tracking and protocol design

Read the full case studies

Services

Four ways we work with small businesses on AI.

Most small businesses don't need another tool. They need a plan, the training to follow it, and someone honest to tell them when an idea isn't going to work. We do all of that, and we build the work when it makes sense.

01 / Most engaged

AI Implementation Consulting

For businesses that know AI matters but don't know where to start. We assess where you are, identify the highest-leverage use cases, recommend a tool stack, and plan the rollout. Engagement shape varies by client.

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AI Training for Teams

Workshops and multi-session programs that get your team actually using AI in their daily work. Built on the same structured training design that drove 86% adoption across a full school staff.

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Done-for-You AI Workflows

When you know what you want automated and just need it built. Tight scope, fixed price. Common builds: customer service automation, content workflows, internal knowledge bases, lead qualification.

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Fractional AI Leadership

Monthly retainer for businesses that need ongoing AI strategy without hiring a full-time head of AI. Monthly cabinet check-ins, on-call advisory, vendor screening, and team coaching.

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Dane Bonnigson, founder of Palmetto Group AI

Why us

An operator who learned AI deeply, not an AI person who learned about your business yesterday.

Most AI consultants are tech people. Dane Bonnigson spent 21 years running operations inside K-12 schools, building courses, leading buildings, scaling a virtual academy from 100 to 1,000 users, and most recently driving structured AI adoption across a full school staff with measurable outcomes.

The K-12 background isn't the offering. Schools are not the target audience. But the discipline that drove those numbers, including change management, system design, and operator-level rigor about what actually moves outcomes, is exactly what small businesses need when AI hype turns into the real question of what should we actually do.

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M.B.A. Bowling Green M.Ed. Classroom technology + CS Google Workspace Admin, Gemini, Data Analytics 21 years operator experience

Who this is for

Built for the leaders who have to actually make decisions.

If you're running a business and AI keeps coming up in conversations you can't ignore anymore, that's our cue. See pricing for engagement size guidance.

Small business owners

Solo founders

Operations leaders

Mid-market CEOs

Marketing directors

Service business owners

Agencies & consultancies

Family-owned businesses

Where we work

South Carolina first. Remote everywhere else.

Palmetto Group AI is based in Taylors, SC and works with businesses across the Upstate (Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickens), the broader Southeast, and remotely across the US.

In-person preferred for the first meeting and kickoff. Most ongoing work runs over video and shared docs. Fractional engagements typically include occasional on-site days.

See if we're a fit

Common questions

What businesses usually ask first.

We're a small business. Is this affordable?

Probably yes. Standalone half-day and full-day training engagements start under $5,000. Implementation consulting and automation builds are scoped per project, with most engagements in the $5K-25K range. Send us your context and we'll tell you honestly whether the math works.

We've already tried AI and it didn't stick. Why would this be different?

This is the most common starting point. A tool got bought, a few people tried it, the rollout stalled. The fix is rarely a different tool. It's clearer use cases, structured training with practice, and someone who'll follow up at the 30 and 60 day marks. That's what we do.

Do you build the AI tools yourselves, or recommend off-the-shelf?

Mostly we use off-the-shelf tools that already exist (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Zapier, Make, n8n, etc.) and design workflows around them. For Done-for-You engagements we'll build custom automations on top of those tools. We don't sell our own software, so the recommendation isn't biased.

Why does your background mention schools?

Because 21 years of doing this work happened in K-12 settings, and the proof points come from there. Driving 86% adoption of any new tool building-wide is hard regardless of the industry, especially in environments where the staff have every reason to resist change. The skills transfer. We're not selling to schools.

Where are you based and how much travel is realistic?

Taylors, SC, just outside Greenville. Upstate SC is a same-day drive. The rest of the Southeast is a comfortable trip. Out-of-region engagements are scoped with travel built in. Most ongoing work runs remote.

What if we just want to talk through whether AI is right for us?

That's what the discovery call is for. 30 minutes, no charge. We'll ask what you do, where AI keeps coming up, and what you'd actually want to be different in six months. Sometimes the answer is "you don't need a consultant for this yet" and we'll say so.