Hello and welcome to AI Week’s session from The Coders Guild about AI for SMEs and where to focus your time. That figure, £94 billion, is huge. A study earlier this year showed that £94 billion could be added to the UK economy if SMEs became just 1% more efficient year on year. One percent might seem small—a bit of admin off someone’s plate, one fewer bottleneck, a smarter way of doing something—but AI and automation don’t stop at 1%. They can give 10, 20, even 30% efficiency gains. For the first time, the tools to do this are right in front of us, and they’re cheap or even free. You don’t need a huge tech team, a big strategy, or an army of consultants. You just need to start and ask yourself, could this be easier? That’s what this session is about.

We’re not here to showcase shiny tools or pitch an AI strategy. Instead, I’ll walk you through real examples that have worked for us, our teams, and other small businesses like yours. We’ll look at ways to use AI that are simple and easy to learn but give you back time, reduce stress, and help you do better work. I’ll share steps toward a practical approach rather than a finished product. While we can’t do live demos in this setting, The Coders Guild regularly shares follow-along demos that you can access later.

A little about us: The Coders Guild is a technical training firm with the motto “industry-led, community-driven.” Everything we do is created, delivered, and reviewed by people actively working in the industry. We focus on two areas: technical skills like software development, testing, UX, product, and data security, and operational uplift—helping non-technical SMEs bring in good tech practices, including AI, automation, and digital workflows. Our work is largely government-funded through apprenticeships, skills bootcamps, and leveling-up funding. We’re currently developing a Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship with Skills England, which I’ll return to later.

I’m Chris, CEO of The Coders Guild. Before this, I spent 20 years in software development and digital strategy, with a focus on accessibility and user experience. The Guild started as a volunteer effort to understand the key skills tech teams needed and how to teach them effectively. Peer learning is central to our culture, benefiting both apprentices and the teams they work with. I also sit on the Federation of Small Businesses tech committee. I’m passionate about SMEs, not just as economic drivers but as engines of social change, cultivating talent pipelines and elevating social mobility locally.

Here’s how the session will run: I’ll briefly explain why now is a good moment for SMEs to take AI seriously, walk through three real-world examples, and provide actionable takeaways. Overwhelm is a major barrier for SMEs. It’s not a lack of ideas, tools, or people; there’s just too much to handle with too few resources. There’s also a skills gap: not everyone feels confident using AI. Finally, no one has time to explore it as a side project. Yet AI can give back time and cut through the noise, helping you focus on the most impactful tasks.

AI adoption across European SMEs has surged in the past 18 months, with the UK seeing 55% of leaders believing AI could add value but 46% lacking the skills to use it. Microsoft’s survey shows 79% of SME leaders want to learn more. Most people now have some access to LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Deepseek, or Co-Pilot, often for searching information, creating short-form content, recommendations, research, or writing code. The key is human-in-the-loop: understanding your problem ensures AI delivers value. You don’t need to code to benefit; you just need to know your business.

Our mantra is people, process, tools. Start with the people involved, understand their process, then identify the tools that help. It’s easy to fall into shiny object syndrome—chasing the latest AI app without understanding the problem—but the tools alone won’t solve it. Focus on the process and the people first.

The first use case is setup. Explore the AI interface, look at tutorials and help files, and do some setup. In ChatGPT, use the latest model for most tasks. Projects let you group documents or client information so the AI references context automatically. For example, a marketing project might include branding guidelines or images, saving time on repeated explanations. You can also create SOP projects so the AI can refer back to procedural documents during every chat.

Next is personalization. In the user menu, you can set custom instructions that tell the AI how to respond, what tone to use, and what it should know about you or your company. This helps ensure consistent, high-quality outputs. You can have the AI interview you to fill in these instructions, then refine them over time. Adding relevant files helps even further.

Another resource is GenAI Secret Source, a collection of prompts you can drop in to guide your AI and make it more productive. This is helpful for tasks like writing pitch decks or project reports.

The second use case is creating your own custom GPT. On a paid account, you can build specialized GPTs for tasks like process documentation. Using an interview approach, you define the instructions, add template documents, and the GPT will generate outputs aligned with your workflow. For example, a process document GPT uses a template to produce consistent steps from voice notes or text, which you can then refine in subsequent drafts. Think of the AI as a super-eager intern: you provide the structure and guidance, and it delivers faster and more accurately.

We also embed Loom video transcripts into these GPT-driven process documents. Record a process, grab the transcript, feed it to your SOP helper GPT with the template, and the AI organizes the steps into coherent, grammatically correct documents. This can produce a process document in about 10 minutes, including video and text, which is great for onboarding, reference, and standardization.

The third use case is AI as a copywriter. With proper customization, it can generate content aligned with your brand identity. Upload tone-of-voice documents, business overviews, goals, ideal customer profiles, product differentiators, and style guides into the GPT. The AI can then draft posts, blogs, or other content, iterating with your feedback to refine outputs. This approach ensures brand consistency and significantly reduces manual effort without replacing human creativity.

Looking forward, agentic AI is emerging, giving AI more autonomy for decision-making while keeping humans in the loop. For example, it could route messages, decide on responses, or automate tasks based on predefined parameters. The key is testing, starting small, automating repetitive tasks, and focusing on the problem rather than the tools. Data security should always be considered.

All of these practices informed the AI and Automation apprenticeship we’re developing with the DfE and Skills England. It’s designed to help SMEs identify automation opportunities, use AI to improve efficiency, and ultimately contribute to economic growth. The first cohort will start early next year, and businesses can use it to upskill their teams.

My final takeaways: start with use cases, not tools. Be cautious of shiny object syndrome. Communication is your superpower—if you can tell the AI exactly what you want, you’ll get better results. AI doesn’t replace people; it empowers them to do more efficiently. And always remember the mantra: people first, then process, then tools. Thank you, and I’ll follow up on any LinkedIn questions after the session.