AI TRAINING
AI Priorities for SME Founders and Owner-Operators
Walk away with a clear 90-day AI action plan tailored to your team size and constraints.
What it covers
A focused one-day workshop designed for founders and owner-operators of 5-50 person businesses who need to cut through AI hype and identify the two or three highest-leverage use cases for their specific context. Participants work through a structured prioritisation framework, evaluate tooling options against SME budgets and capabilities, and leave with a concrete roadmap they can execute without a dedicated tech team. The format combines short teaching segments with hands-on exercises using real scenarios from participants' own businesses.
What you'll be able to do
- Apply a structured prioritisation framework to select the 2-3 highest-leverage AI use cases for your specific business
- Evaluate at least five AI tools relevant to your operations against cost, ease of use, and data privacy criteria
- Write effective prompts for at least two recurring founder tasks such as drafting proposals or summarising customer feedback
- Produce a written 90-day AI roadmap with defined owners, milestones, and success metrics
- Identify the top data and compliance risks your business faces when adopting AI tools
Topics covered
- Mapping your biggest operational bottlenecks to viable AI use cases
- Prioritisation framework: effort, cost, and time-to-value for SMEs
- Evaluating and selecting AI tools within SME budget and skill constraints
- Prompt engineering basics for everyday founder tasks
- Identifying quick wins vs. longer-term automation opportunities
- Data and privacy considerations for small teams
- Building a 90-day AI roadmap with accountability checkpoints
Delivery
Delivered in person or as a live virtual session via Zoom or Teams. Materials include a pre-workshop business audit template, a use-case prioritisation canvas, and a curated SME AI tool directory. Approximately 40% instruction and 60% hands-on exercises and peer discussion. A follow-up 60-minute group check-in call at the 30-day mark is recommended to review roadmap progress.
What makes it work
- Starting with one well-scoped use case that produces a visible result within 30 days to build internal confidence
- Assigning a single internal owner for each AI initiative rather than making it everyone's vague responsibility
- Allocating a small but explicit monthly budget for AI tools to avoid ad-hoc and unsanctioned tool sprawl
- Scheduling a recurring monthly review to assess what is working and drop what is not
Common mistakes
- Choosing AI tools based on hype or peer pressure rather than specific bottlenecks in their own workflow
- Attempting too many AI initiatives at once, leading to low adoption and wasted spend
- Underestimating the time needed for prompt iteration and team onboarding even with simple tools
- Ignoring GDPR and data residency implications when feeding business or customer data into third-party AI platforms
When NOT to take this
This workshop is not suitable for a founder who already has a dedicated data or engineering team and is looking for technical implementation guidance on a specific AI system — they need a practitioner-level programme, not a prioritisation framework.
Providers to consider
Sources
This training is part of a Data & AI catalog built for leaders serious about execution. Take the free diagnostic to see which trainings your team needs.