UK small businesses want AI to win back time, not just write copy

UK small businesses are facing an emerging “AI productivity gap”, with confidence in using artificial intelligence running significantly ahead of the way businesses are utilising AI tools, according to new research from the Small Business Institute and Accio, Alibaba. com’s agentic AI platform for businesses.

Based on a study of 1,000 UK small business owners, the research found seven in ten (70%) are somewhat or very confident using generative AI, yet fewer than half (48%) are using it regularly, revealing a gap between confidence and measurable productivity impact.

Among small businesses using AI, nearly three quarters (74%) use it for content creation and marketing, while only a third apply it to data analysis or reporting, and just 5% use it for supply chain management.

The findings also show that while generative AI has become part of everyday working life for many entrepreneurs, businesses are yet to extend that use into AI that can tackle more complex, time-consuming and high-value tasks that come with running a business.

Six in 10 (60%) small business owners see improved work-life balance as a potential advantage of agentic AI specifically, and half (50%) believe it could free up more time for marketing their business and winning new customers.

AI has had a transformative effect on many small businesses across the UK, but when we look a little closer, much of the adoption today has been at a surface level.

We’re entering the era of agentic AI with tools like Accio, which can research markets, evaluate suppliers and manage day-to-day operations on a business’ s behalf, enabling small businesses to progress more business-critical workstreams at once, access more insightful information on suppliers, trends and market data and save more time day-to-day for greater work-life balance or other areas of their business.

– Michelle Lau, Managing Director, Alibaba. com We know small business owners wear many different hats when running their businesses, so it’s hugely encouraging to see growing confidence in AI as a critical tool. However, the research also makes clear AI’s – and particularly agentic AI’s – untapped potential.

There is a real opportunity for technology to completely revolutionise how small business owners manage their business, potentially freeing up more time to focus on the areas that can really take their business to the next level. – Michelle Ovens CBE, CEO & Founder, Small Business Britain Accio is Alibaba.

com’s agentic AI platform for businesses, providing a pre-configured agentic business team that supports the entire SME lifecycle end-to-end. Small Business and solpreneurs can use Accio to research markets, identify product opportunities, develop products, evaluate suppliers and manage daily operations.

Unlike generative AI tools that simply respond to individual prompts, Accio’s agents can carry out multi-stage, autonomous tasks including comparing supplier options and tracking pricing trends, reducing the repetitive, time-consuming work that takes up small business owners’ days.

Awareness of agentic AI is still developing, with 44% of small businesses having heard of it and just 5% using it regularly.

But there is a clear appetite to learn, with 68% of UK entrepreneurs wanting to find out more about what agentic AI can do, from researching options and comparing information to identifying potential solutions and helping move a task towards completion. Alibaba.

com is inviting UK and European entrepreneurs to put these findings into practice through CoCreate Pitch Europe, its startup competition designed to help small businesses move beyond the basics of AI adoption.

This year, all applications are submitted through Accio, giving entrants hands-on experience of the agentic AI capabilities highlighted in the research, from market research to supplier sourcing, before they even reach pitch stage. The European final takes place in London on 19-20 November. For more information, please visit the CoCreate Pitch event page.