Can AI Really Help UK Small Businesses Get Their Time Back?

New research from Google shows that 59% of UK small business owners have paused ideas they believe could change their businesses because they don’t have enough time. These are ideas that owners think could increase their revenues by 30%.

Google believes that small businesses could gain an extra working day each week if they adopted AI tools such as Google Workspace with Gemini. An analysis from Public First found that AI could take up productivity by 20%, giving business owners more time to turn those paused ideas into reality.

This productivity rise could help unlock an estimated £198 billion boost for small businesses across the country. Google says that many of these business owners are working 6 days a week, averaging 49 hours and often lack the headspace to innovate.

To deal with this, Google has teamed up with the Department for Business and Trade and NatWest on a nationwide AI Works for Business tour. The tour will teach small business owners how AI can help them save time and run their businesses more efficiently.

What Will The AI Tour Actually Do?

The roadshow will stop in Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff, giving entrepreneurs a chance to see how AI tools can be used in real business settings. The goal is to help small businesses understand how to use technology to handle everyday work more easily.

These sessions are based on findings from Google’s AI Works Report, which involved pilots with educators, unions and small businesses earlier this year. Those pilots looked at the best ways to introduce AI tools and training across workplaces in the UK.

To make the project more inspiring, Google has also launched a campaign called “10 Stories.” The campaign features ten small businesses using AI in their daily operations. It showcases businesses like Peregrine, Roly’s Fudge, and Kent Brushes and how they use AI in Google Workspace to handle tasks faster and work smarter.

Google says the campaign’s message is that AI doesn’t have to be complicated or reserved for large corporations. Even small family-run shops can use it to save hours each week and make better decisions.

How Much Can AI Change For SMEs?

Public First’s analysis shows that AI could have a deep financial effect on small businesses. The £198 billion boost means new productivity gains that could come if UK SMEs collectively used AI tools to save time and make quicker decisions.

For many businesses, this could mean more hours for product development, customer service or marketing. The data shows that if productivity improved by 20%, many small firms would effectively add another full working day to their week without hiring more staff.

Google believes that AI tools can take away repetitive work such as scheduling, invoicing, or summarising emails. That saved time could then be used for growth ideas, the kind many small business owners say have been sitting untouched.

You’ll remember that in July, Google and NatWest joined forces for the NatWest Accelerator Pitch competition, a £1 million initiative to find the next wave of UK innovators. That partnership is also meant to help small businesses get onto AI through training, cloud technology and digital marketing sessions.

Is AI The Missing Link For UK Small Businesses?

Many small business owners have ideas they believe could take their operations to new levels but simply don’t have the time to act on them. Google’s research shows how deep that problem runs, and how AI could give back that missing time.

The next few months of Google’s AI Works for Business tour will be a test of how willing small business owners are to bring AI into their work. If successful, it could seriously change how Britain’s small businesses use technology to grow, save time and compete more effectively in the digital economy…