Chicago may be my kind of town, but when it comes to technology, the results are a bit... windy.  When we conducted the Connected Small Business Report last year, we also took a look at what’s hot for growing businesses in various cities around the country. The Chicago results — like the city itself — are old-school with a flash of modern.

Chi-town is a Heart-of-America classic known for Sinatra and baseball, yet also a forward-thinking business hotspot and international finance epicenter. The data shows a similar juxtaposition when it comes to technology: The city that’s so advanced in so many ways seems to have conflicting thoughts on things like artificial intelligence and the cloud. Fifty-one percent of Chicago entrepreneurs surveyed use the cloud to manage at least some part of their businesses (compared to 38% nationally), while 68% said they trust the cloud for their business applications, processes, and data. Yet only 28% of Chicago responders are using business analytics or business intelligence software to measure their results. When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), 56% of respondents said their business is not ready for the cutting-edge technology, citing it as too complex for their needs (compared to 61% nationally). Thirty-three percent of Chicagoans are still using spreadsheets to run their sales teams — while 23% use nothing at all.

When it comes to business process automation, more than half (51%) of Chicago respondents are taking advantage of these time-saving solutions, which is nice. Of those that are, automated billing and finance are far and away the most common (79%), followed by customer service (41%) and marketing (35%). Yet despite those positive signals, just 28% of Chicago entrepreneurs surveyed believe they could run their businesses from a mobile device (compared to 42% nationwide).

So while there’s willingness to accept new technology trends, there’s also a lag in adoption. But here’s the best news: Salesforce is coming to Chicago! Join us at our Small Business Basecamp popup event on April 11 and get hands-on advice for growing your business. Meet with experts from Salesforce, along with partners Facebook, Zenefits, Sage, Chase for Business, RelationEdge, and more for a powerful half-day growth extravaganza. You’ll get hands-on advice for running your business, working more efficiently, and building close connections with customers. And best of all, it’s FREE. Learn more and register here.

Salesforce can help you find customers, win their businesses, and keep them happy so you can grow your business faster than ever. Learn more about our small business CRM solutions or join the conversation with #SalesforceGROW.