Most SMEs in the South Midlands are using AI. Very few have moved past the experimenting stage.
That is the headline from From Curiosity to Capability: The State of AI Adoption Among SMEs Across the South Midlands, the white paper published after the June Accelerating AI conference in Milton Keynes. It draws on a pre-event survey of 27 businesses, a live poll of 53 delegates on the day, and the talks and case studies from the conference.
Below are the main findings for SME owners, and what the white paper recommends doing about them.
Most businesses are still experimenting
In the pre-event survey, 63% of businesses said they were either just exploring AI or running early experiments. The live poll told the same story: 30 of the 53 delegates put their business at the early experimentation stage, and only 1 described their use of AI as mature.
Confidence is middling too. Businesses rated their organisation’s understanding of AI at about 3 out of 5, and their personal confidence only slightly higher.
National figures show the same pattern. Office for National Statistics data from December 2025 put AI use at around a quarter of UK businesses, up 15 percentage points since September 2023.
Someone owns AI, but nobody has time for it
22 of the 27 businesses surveyed had someone responsible for AI. Only 2 had set aside regular time or projects for it.
The white paper puts it plainly: responsibility without protected time becomes good intention. If AI is added on top of someone’s day job, it’s the first thing to slip when the week gets busy.
Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index backs this up. It found that organisational factors, such as culture, manager support and talent practices, accounted for more than twice the reported impact of AI as individual mindset and behaviour did.
Lionel Naidoo of Dragon Information Systems said the same to the room in June: “The blocker is the organisation. It is the leaders in this room that are ultimately responsible for the adoption of AI within their own businesses.”
What businesses are using, and what worries them
ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini were the most mentioned tools. Businesses mainly use them for strategy work, data analysis, marketing content, internal productivity and image or video generation.
Delegates described their mood as excited, motivated and curious, but also cautious, anxious and overwhelmed. The concerns raised in the survey fell into six groups:
- Keeping up with the pace of new tools
- Skills and confidence
- Data, privacy and safe use
- Accuracy and trust
- Cost and return on investment
- Getting AI to understand the business’s own context
AI speeds up whatever is already there
The core message of the white paper is one line: “AI will not fix broken workflows. It is just going to accelerate them.”
Poor data, unclear ownership, weak processes, loose permissions and vague objectives all become bigger problems once you add automation and AI agents. The white paper’s answer is to redesign the work with care, rather than treating AI as a shortcut around management.
Local public-sector examples show what is possible when the work is set up properly. Milton Keynes City Council’s social care team is saving around 60 hours a month with AI transcription. The council’s new chatbot was answering 96% of questions asked after eight days live.
What the white paper recommends for SMEs
The white paper sets out eight recommendations:
- Name an AI lead and give them time
- Start with friction, not tools
- Choose one workflow for 30 days
- Map the current process before adding AI
- Use secure, governed environments where possible
- Keep humans in the loop where it matters
- Measure usefulness, not novelty
- Build AI fluency across the team
A 90-day plan to get started
For businesses ready to act, the white paper includes a 90-day plan in four stages.
Days 1 to 15: choose the problem. Name your AI lead, pick one workflow, map how it works today and decide what success looks like. Check what data is involved and who should have access. You should end up with a one-page problem statement, a baseline and a short risk note.
Days 16 to 30: prototype narrowly. Test one tool or agent in a controlled setting, using approved data and keeping a person reviewing the output. Aim for a working prototype used by one or two people.
Days 31 to 60: measure and refine. Compare results against your baseline. Record errors, time, quality and feedback, and tighten prompts and permissions as you go.
Days 61 to 90: decide and scale. Choose whether to stop, repeat, integrate or scale. If it’s worth keeping, document the workflow, train the people who’ll use it and give it an owner, a review process and an agreed metric.
The white paper also includes an AI readiness scorecard. It rates your business from 0 to 3 on ownership, workflow focus, data and permissions, people and skills, governance, measurement and scaling.
Funding to help
SMEs in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Luton and Northamptonshire may be able to get help with the cost. The South Midlands Growth Hub’s Capital Growth Grant offers £5,000 to £25,000, 50% match-funded, and eligible projects can include AI implementation and software development.
Read the full white paper
The full white paper includes the survey data, the conference talks, recommendations for local government and the complete readiness scorecard. Download it from the Accelerating AI website.
If you’d like help picking your first workflow, talk to us.
Join us at Accelerating AI in October
The next Accelerating AI conference is on Tuesday 13 October at Unity Place, Milton Keynes. It’s free, lunch is included, and speakers include Canva, Microsoft, NatWest and FreeAgent, with Qoob covering AI in marketing.
Book your free place or visit acceleratingai.co.uk.