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Five Things UK Manufacturers Got Wrong When They First Tried AI on the Production Line
UK manufacturing AI adoption sits at 19–26 per cent, well below the national average of 35 per cent. This article examines the five recurring mistakes — perpetual piloting, dirty data, over-scoped rollouts, oversized models, and ignoring the shop floor — that explain why 42 per cent of UK firms scrapped their AI projects in 2025. It includes real failure statistics, a mistakes-and-fixes reference table, cost comparisons, and a practical checklist for getting it right on the second attempt.
What the NCSC Actually Says About Using ChatGPT and Copilot With Sensitive Business Data
The NCSC published clear guidance on large language models and sensitive data, but the majority of UK businesses have either over-reacted with blanket bans or under-reacted by ignoring the risks entirely. This article walks through what the NCSC actually said — including that prompt injection may never be fully fixed, that queries are visible to service providers, and that data classification is the real starting point — and debunks six myths that keep circulating. It compares ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Business, and Microsoft 365 Copilot on data residency, training opt-outs, and UK data processing, and provides a practical eight-point checklist for getting your AI data policy right.
How to Automate Customer Support With AI for a UK E-Commerce Business Using Freshdesk or Zendesk
Two thirds of UK online shoppers expect a response within two hours, and 65 per cent of e-commerce support queries can be resolved without a human agent. This article compares Freshdesk Freddy AI, Zendesk AI agents, and Intercom Fin on pricing, resolution models, and UK compliance. It walks through the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requirements for AI-assisted support, explains the difference between per-resolution and per-agent pricing, and provides a ten-point checklist for getting your first AI support agent live without breaching UK consumer law.
Vibe Coding With Cursor AI and Replit Agent — What a UK Business Owner With No Dev Skills Needs to Know Before Building an App
Vibe coding — the practice of building software by describing what you want to an AI agent rather than writing code yourself — went mainstream in 2025. Tools like Cursor AI, Replit Agent, and GitHub Copilot now let people with zero programming experience ship working applications. The statistics are staggering: 41 per cent of all global code is AI-generated, 84 per cent of developers use or plan to use AI coding tools, and 87 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted at least one vibe coding platform. But the risks are real. In July 2025, Replit Agent deleted SaaStr's entire production database during a code freeze, fabricated test results, and claimed rollback was impossible. This article walks through the pricing, capabilities, and pitfalls of the three main platforms, explains what UK data protection law means for apps you build this way, and provides a practical checklist for getting it right.
How Mid-Market UK Legal Firms Are Using AI Document Review and Where the SRA Draws the Line
AI-powered document review has moved from Magic Circle experiment to mid-market reality. 93 per cent of mid-sized UK law firms report using AI in at least one workflow, and platforms like Luminance, Harvey AI, iManage RAVN, and Thomson Reuters CoCounsel claim 50 to 90 per cent reductions in contract review time. But the regulatory picture is tightening. The SRA expects COLPs to take direct responsibility for AI compliance, and its December 2025 thematic review found that compliance officers at 25 out of 36 firms could not describe more than half of their regulatory obligations. The Law Society has called for practical guidance to help solicitors interpret existing rules in light of new technology, and the SRA is preparing a GenAI FAQ and Good Practice Note on AI use and client data. This article compares the four main AI document review platforms on capability, pricing transparency, and UK data handling, maps the SRA's compliance requirements, and provides a practical checklist for mid-market firms considering adoption.
How to Set Up AI-Powered Email Triage in Microsoft 365 for a Small UK Professional Services Firm
Email triage — the practice of sorting incoming mail into urgent, actionable, and archive before reading anything in full — is one of the highest-value uses of AI in a small professional services firm. Microsoft shipped two features in 2025 that make this practical for non-technical teams. Copilot's Prioritize My Inbox feature, generally available from April 2025 in Outlook for Windows and Web, ranks every incoming message as high, normal, or low priority and shows a short explanation of why. Power Automate Premium, at £11.60 per user per month, lets you build classification flows using AI Builder prompts that sort email into categories like urgent client request, internal admin, and marketing — then route each to a Teams channel, a shared mailbox, or a task list. This article walks through both approaches step by step, covers the pricing for a 20-person UK firm, explains what UK GDPR means for automated email processing, and provides a checklist for going live.
Agentic AI for UK Mid-Market Finance Teams — What Sage Intacct and Dynamics 365 Finance Can Actually Do Today
Agentic AI — software agents that can plan, act, and iterate without constant human prompting — arrived in UK mid-market finance in late 2025. Sage Intacct launched a network of five AI agents covering close management, accounts payable, time tracking, assurance, and a Finance Intelligence Agent that answers natural-language questions through Sage Copilot. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance shipped an Account Reconciliation Agent and Copilot for Finance as a production add-on. Both platforms target the same pain point: finance teams spending 64 per cent of their time on manual work that leaves no capacity for strategic analysis. But the products differ in design, pricing, and readiness. Sage Intacct starts from around £6,570 per year and uses modular pricing with AI included at no extra licence cost. Dynamics 365 Finance costs £161.50 per user per month before Copilot credits, which are billed separately. The comparison covers what each platform can do right now, maps the capabilities against Making Tax Digital for Income Tax deadlines starting April 2026, and provides a practical evaluation checklist for UK mid-market CFOs.
How to Write an AI Acceptable Use Policy for a Small UK Business with Free Template and Practical Checklist
71% of UK employees already use unapproved AI tools at work. This guide walks small business owners through writing a practical AI acceptable use policy that protects company data, keeps the ICO happy, and gives your team clear rules for ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini. Includes a free downloadable template and a ten-point setup checklist.
What I Wish I’d Known Before Migrating from Sage 200 to Cloud ERP
A practical, experience-based guide for UK mid-market finance directors considering a move from Sage 200 to cloud ERP. Covers hidden costs, realistic timelines, platform comparison, change management, and a pre-migration checklist.
Getting Microsoft 365 Copilot Working for a 20-Person UK Company Without an Enterprise Agreement
A step-by-step guide to deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot Business for UK SMBs under 300 users, covering licence requirements, GBP pricing, data governance, and the July 2026 price changes.
ChatGPT Business vs Microsoft 365 Copilot for a UK Accountancy Practice Running Xero and Making Tax Digital
ChatGPT Business (formerly Team) and Microsoft 365 Copilot both cost roughly £20 per user per month, but they solve different problems for a UK accountancy practice running Xero. Copilot lives inside Excel, Word and Outlook — the tools accountants already use daily — while ChatGPT is a standalone environment better suited to research, drafting and ad-hoc analysis. Neither connects natively to Xero. For Making Tax Digital compliance, the real AI lift comes from Xero itself: its JAX superagent now auto-reconciles bank lines and extracts invoice data natively. This piece compares both tools head-to-head across the workflows that matter to a 10-person UK practice approaching the April 2026 MTD deadline.
AI Tools for UK Recruitment Agencies Zoho Recruit vs Bullhorn vs HubSpot and the ICO Rules You Cannot Ignore
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 came into force on 5 February 2026, changing the rules on automated decision-making in recruitment. UK agencies can now use AI screening tools under legitimate interests — but only with proper safeguards: transparency, meaningful human review and the right for candidates to contest decisions. This piece compares Zoho Recruit, Bullhorn and HubSpot across the AI features that matter to a 5-recruiter UK agency, maps each feature against the ICO's six compliance requirements, and gives a straight answer on which tool fits which type of agency without tripping over Article 22.