UKBusiness.AI
Get our free newsletter

Deploying Enterprise AI Without the Enterprise Price Tag

Major investment, including eBay’s £3 million gift, is making enterprise-grade AI instantly accessible to all UK SMEs, forcing leaders to simultaneously manage the rising cyber threat and make critical governance choices for secure productivity.

The National Picture

UK SMEs are being invited into the AI infrastructure conversation, with major investments and roadshows focused on practical business impact.

Overview

  • eBay has invested £3 million to give 10,000 SMEs free, enterprise-grade AI access.
  • AI-driven cyber threats necessitate AI-driven defences; malicious scans are up 300%.
  • Embedded financing, proven successful in the UK, is now expanding to European markets.

eBay is investing £3m to give 10,000 UK SMEs free access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise and tailored AI training to boost their productivity.

BT launched a new AI-powered cybersecurity service for UK small businesses, called “BT Business Antivirus Detect and Respond,” in partnership with CrowdStrike.

Global embedded financing platform YouLend and business management platform Tide have expanded their successful SME financing partnership from the UK to the German market.

“The issue is no longer whether businesses should adopt AI. It is how quickly they can start before their competitors do.” – Eve Williams, General Manager, eBay UK

The Takeaway 🚀

The national focus has shifted to putting advanced AI in the hands of all UK businesses, particularly those lacking large IT budgets. While cyber threats escalate, enterprise-grade tools are becoming more available. Major providers often offer them for free or at low cost. Smaller UK firms should seize this moment to adopt these embedded solutions for an immediate, protective and productive advantage.

Tool Comparison: Capita Catalyst Stack vs OneAdvanced Private AI 🤝

Overview

This week’s comparative review looks at two UK-based AI platforms helping businesses automate internal processes. Both aim to boost efficiency, but they take different routes: Capita focuses on flexible, scalable rollout, while OneAdvanced puts data privacy and compliance front and centre.

Key Takeaways
  • Value & Features:
    • Capita Catalyst Stack: Modular and scalable, Capita’s system enables workflow automation across departments with minimal disruption. It’s designed for phased rollouts and quick wins, especially in public sector and BPO environments.
    • OneAdvanced Private AI: Engineered for data-sensitive industries, OneAdvanced offers private AI architecture with strong internal governance. Ideal for finance, legal, and healthcare teams needing full control over data and model behaviour.
  • Price Point:
    • Capita: Starts at £2,500/month for modular deployments, with pricing scaled by workflow complexity and integration scope. Suitable for pilot programmes or phased automation strategies.
    • OneAdvanced: Typically begins at £10,000/month, reflecting its privacy-first infrastructure and compliance-grade features. Best suited for organisations with strict regulatory obligations and long-term data governance needs.

The Bottom Line ✅
Capita’s Catalyst Stack is a strong fit for teams seeking flexible, cost-effective automation with room to scale. OneAdvanced is the safer bet for compliance-heavy sectors where data control is non-negotiable. Choose based on your risk appetite and compliance needs—either way, you’re not picking a dud!

Quick Review: Notion AI 🗂️

Notion AI is an add-on for Notion workspaces that turns your internal documents into a searchable, conversational assistant. Tested in a UK SME environment with over 50 documents, it proved especially effective for summarising meeting notes and extracting insights from stored content.

Key Takeaways

  • Value & Features: The standout feature is Q&A. You can ask questions like “summarise our Q3 marketing results” and get instant, accurate answers based on your own data. It also excels at turning messy meeting notes into clear summaries and action items.
  • Impact on Your Business: If your team already uses Notion as a central knowledge base, this add-on saves time and improves clarity. It helps SMEs turn static documentation into a dynamic, usable resource.
  • Price Point: £6.65 per user per month, available as an add-on to the Notion ‘Plus’ plan.

If your workspace is rich with internal content, Notion AI is a smart upgrade. For UK service-based SMEs, it offers sector-agnostic value and immediate productivity gains.

Events & Opportunities

Upcoming Events & Conferences 📅

A HEPI and University of Southampton webinar exploring GenAI’s impact on higher education, graduate careers and academic strategy.

A joint event examining AI adoption in banking, investment, and regulation, with panels and networking lunch.

A business-focused event co-located with the Digital Transformation Conference, offering case studies and strategic insights.

  • AI Adoption Accelerator 🧠
    • Date: 20 & 26 November 2025
    • Location: Online (Microsoft Teams)
    • Cost: Free (for Greater Lincolnshire businesses)

A hands-on programme guiding SMEs through AI fundamentals, automation and proof-of-concept development.

Training & Award Opportunities 🎓

A fully funded program for UK business leaders exploring digital, data-driven and AI technologies to build a practical digital-readiness action plan.

A high-impact bootcamp covering AI, digital twins, cybersecurity, and smart factory systems.

Innovate UK’s £1m prize fund supporting AI projects in manufacturing, health, and creative sectors.

What’s Next? 💡

Build a First-Draft AI for Customer Service Emails

If you handle repeat customer enquiries, this setup creates a simple AI assistant to draft clear, professional replies ready for you to edit and send.

Steps:

  • Gather: Copy 10–15 common customer questions into a document.
  • Teach: Open a GenAI platform like Claude, Gemini or ChatGPT and prompt something like: “Act as a customer service agent for a UK SME. Below are 10 common customer questions. I’ll give you a new one. Please draft a polite, professional reply. Don’t send it, just draft it. Here they are: [Paste your list].”
  • Test: Paste a new customer email. Review the draft, edit and send.
  • Save: Bookmark the chat. You now have a tailored assistant for future replies

Once set up, you’ll spot other repeat tasks that can be streamlined just as easily! ⚡