Recently our Co-Founder, Ikum Kandola, was featured in an article by Business Connect Magazine. The article discusses how SME consultancies can implement AI and the advantages AI can offer SME consultancies.

Article Snippets:

Artificial Intelligence has gone from an emerging concept to a practical tool in the space of just a few years. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the pace of this technological change can feel relentless. But as AI technology becomes more refined and widely accessible, it’s starting to offer clear, tangible benefits to businesses of all sizes – especially those looking to work more efficiently, serve customers better, and bring new ideas to market with greater speed.

While it’s easy to be distracted by the headline-grabbing capabilities of AI, what’s perhaps more important is its growing usefulness in day-to-day business operations. Many of the early challenges – from confusing user interfaces to unreliable outputs – are being ironed out. Applied AI tools are maturing fast, and they’re increasingly designed with business users in mind.

One of the key advantages for SMEs is the ability to scale operations without needing to dramatically increase headcount. Tasks like customer onboarding, invoicing, reporting, and basic support can now be automated relatively quickly and with minimal technical expertise.

What’s changed is not only the power of these tools, but how quickly and easily they can be set up.

For smaller teams, this means less time spent on repetitive tasks and more time focused on growth and strategy. AI can also help with workforce optimisation. By taking on the more routine aspects of a business, it frees up employees to focus on areas where human input really matters – be it building client relationships, refining strategy, or developing new services. In some industries, this shift is prompting a rethink of how services are delivered. For example, consultancy firms are increasingly finding ways to ‘productise’ their knowledge, moving from traditional billing models to more scalable digital offerings. AI implementation in smaller firms, allows them to scale without having to increase their headcount.

An AI Consulting Platform - The AX

One example of these principles in action is at TheAX.ai – an AI consultancy platform built to help consultants manage their engagements end to end. It combines automation, intelligent research tools, and personalised customer support in a way that’s specifically tailored for SMEs. Consultants can use the platform to productise their expertise which produces repeatable and scalable frameworks- allowing consultants to attract and serve more clients at a faster rate. By bringing together different aspects of the customer journey and internal operations, it illustrates how AI can be used not just to accelerate tasks, but to rethink how services are delivered altogether.

The key for SMEs is not to feel they must ‘keep up’ with every new development, but instead to focus on where AI can make a genuine difference.

Start with small, practical improvements. Understand what problems you’re trying to solve. And above all, treat AI as a tool – not a silver bullet, but a new part of the kit that, used well, can help a business do more, with less.

Click HERE to read the full original article on Business Connect Magazine