Hello {{first_name | Reader}},

I’ve been speaking to more and more small businesses in our community about AI, and there’s a clear pattern in the conversations.

People are interested. They can see the opportunity. But sooner or later, someone asks the same question: “How do we adopt AI safely without creating problems for the business?”

It got me thinking about what’s happening locally, what small businesses actually need, and why I think we need to make it easier for them to figure this out together.

Here’s what I think.

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In the UK, the British Chambers of Commerce, working with Atos, found that 54% of UK SMEs are now actively using AI, up from 35% in 2025 and 25% in 2024.

That's a significant acceleration.

But the government's UK Business Data Survey, using a narrower definition, found that around 15% of SMEs have at least one AI application built into their operations, up from 7% in 2022.

Both numbers can be true.

The difference tells us something important: a lot of AI use in small businesses is happening informally.

Someone is using ChatGPT to write emails. Someone else is generating product descriptions or summarising meetings. Another employee may have connected an AI tool to a workflow after watching a YouTube video.

It works, so they keep doing it.

But nobody necessarily asks:

What information are we putting into this?

Is the output accurate?

What happens when the AI gets it wrong?

That's what is often described as "shadow AI".

It's one reason small businesses can move faster than large organisations. But it can also create problems quickly.

The biggest barrier isn't necessarily cost either. Across UK surveys, knowledge gaps, rather than price, are holding small businesses back.

Most owners know AI exists. The harder questions are where to start, what to automate, what not to automate, and how to use these tools without creating unnecessary risk.

The AI stories that get the most attention tend to be venture-backed companies raising millions.

But some of the more interesting examples are much smaller.

Take SignWell, a document e-signature company that has maintained roughly $714,000 in revenue per employee with a team of seven generating $5 million, while using contractors for marketing rather than full-time hires.

Or Sonora, an online guitar school, where the founder used newer AI models to rebuild the customer relationship, scheduling, video and e-signature software the business depended on.

The result was roughly $250,000 in annual savings and a reduction in the team from 48 to 30 people, without losing revenue.

These businesses didn't need huge budgets to experiment.

They found processes that weren't working particularly well and rebuilt them around what AI could now do.

That's a genuine advantage for small businesses.

If you're a ten-person company, you don't need a three-year transformation programme to change how you handle customer enquiries, sales follow-ups or invoice chasing.

You can change the process next week.

The flip side is that a serious AI mistake can hit a small company particularly hard.

A data leak, incorrect AI-generated information sent to a customer, or an automated decision that turns out to be wrong can have a significant impact when there's no large compliance or legal team behind you.

That doesn't mean SMEs should slow down.

It means they need a simple way of being sensible about AI.

At a minimum:

AI can make a bad process run faster. It doesn't necessarily make it a good process.

This is where I think the local ecosystem matters.

Small businesses don't necessarily need another 100-page AI strategy document.

They need practical examples.

“Here's what we tried.”

“Here's what worked.”

“Here's what didn't.”

“Here's what data we wouldn't put into the tool.”

“Here's how much time it saved us.”

That kind of knowledge is often more useful than another generic AI presentation.

And we're starting to see some of that support develop locally.

For example, Townstead AI is a Broxbourne business helping SMEs, charities and service businesses adopt AI safely, with a focus on practical AI use, data privacy, customer trust and responsible adoption.

Applications are currently open for the Emerging TEC AI incubator at Broxbourne Enterprise Centres, based at Theobalds Enterprise Centre.

It's a Google-sponsored programme, alongside Google's investment in the area, with access to Google for Startups resources including mentoring, events and cloud tools.

I'm taking part myself.

I want to be clear about that because I don't want to present this as neutral reporting.

I'm joining because I run digital businesses myself and have spent years working with technology, product development and digital transformation. I want to bring that practical experience into the cohort, learn from other entrepreneurs, and contribute where I can.

There will also be people further ahead than me. That's one of the things I'm looking forward to.

Some of the best learning happens when you're sitting with other people solving similar problems, not listening to another presentation about what AI could do.

If you're a small business owner or founder in Hertfordshire building with or around AI, and you've found yourself trying to work it all out alone, this could be worth looking at.

Applications close 21 September.

You can find the details and application link on the Broxbourne Enterprise Centres site, under the Emerging TEC AI incubator call.

You don't need to have everything figured out.

You just need to be doing something.

Sometimes the biggest advantage isn't having a bigger budget.

It's having the right people around you while you're figuring it out.

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Wishing you a fantastic rest of your day!

Cheers,
Editor-in-chief | Emeka Ogbonnaya

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