Who signs off on AI SDR tools at a mid-market company?

Who usually owns the decision

The head of sales, VP of sales or chief revenue officer usually owns the decision, because the tool changes how their team fills the pipeline and the cost sits in their budget. In smaller mid-market companies the founder or chief executive may still sign anything that sends email on the company's behalf.

The owner is not always the person who found the tool. An SDR manager or a RevOps lead often runs the evaluation and brings a recommendation upwards.

Who else has a say, and what does each person check

Several functions review an AI SDR purchase, and each looks for a different risk. Knowing what each one checks lets you answer it before they ask.

• Revenue operations: integration with the CRM and inboxes, data quality, and who will own the setup.
• The SDR or sales manager: daily usability and whether the drafts are good enough to send.
• Finance: the pricing model, contract length and what happens when usage grows.
• Security or IT: access to inboxes and the CRM, sign-in methods and the vendor's security evidence.
• Legal or data protection: personal data handling, the lawful basis for outreach and the data processing agreement.
• Marketing: brand voice and the reputation of the sending domain.

Why do AI SDR tools get more scrutiny than other sales software

AI SDR tools get more scrutiny because they act for the company rather than only storing data. They read inboxes, process personal data about prospects and may write to buyers in a rep's name. A mistake is visible outside the company, not only in a report.

That is why approvers ask about controls: which actions need a person to approve, whether there is an audit trail, and whether customer data is used to train models.

How do you get an AI SDR purchase approved faster

Get it approved faster by running a short, bounded pilot that answers each approver's question in advance. Pick one segment, one team and a fixed period, and agree what a good result looks like before you start, such as drafts that reps send with light edits and meetings with the right roles.

Send the vendor's security material to IT and data protection in the first week. Approvals usually stall at that step, and it can run in parallel with the pilot.

What should the business case include

The business case should state the problem in your own terms, the scope of the tool, the controls and an exit plan. Describe the work it takes off the team, such as research and first drafts, rather than promising an outcome you have not measured.

• The problem: where SDR time goes today and what is not getting done.
• The scope: which segments, channels and actions the tool will handle.
• The controls: approvals, sending limits and who reviews output.
• The cost and the contract terms.
• The exit plan: how you get your data back if it does not work.