Last month, an SME owner told me they’d spent £8,000 on an AI-powered customer service platform. Three months later, their team had abandoned it completely, citing that it was inhuman, gave incorrect advice and didn’t actually save any time.
This week, I spoke with another business owner who’s saving 12 hours a week using free AI tools they found in less than 10 minutes.
The difference between these two businesses isn’t budget, technical expertise, or team size.
It’s that one asked the right questions before implementing AI. The other didn’t.
The Problem with How Most SMEs Approach AI
Here’s what typically happens:
You read an article about ChatGPT or see a competitor posting about their “AI transformation” on LinkedIn. You panic slightly. You start Googling “best AI tools for small business.”
You end up on a listicle recommending 47 different tools. You pick one that sounds impressive. You buy a subscription. You tell your team to use it.
Six months later, nobody’s using it, and you’re wondering why AI “doesn’t work” for your business.
The issue? You started with the solution instead of the problem.
The 3 Questions Framework
Before you implement any AI tool, technology, or strategy, you need to answer these three questions in order. Skip one, and you’re likely wasting time and money.
Question 1: What specific, measurable problem am I trying to solve?
Notice the word “specific.”
“We need to be more efficient” is not a problem. It’s a vague aspiration.
“Our sales team spends 8 hours per week manually entering data from enquiry forms into our CRM” is a problem.
“We take 24-48 hours to respond to customer enquiries because we’re manually triaging emails” is a problem.
“Our marketing manager spends 6 hours a week creating social media graphics” is a problem.
Why this matters: AI is a tool, not a strategy. If you can’t articulate the specific problem you’re solving, you can’t measure whether AI actually solved it. You’ll end up with shiny technology and zero ROI.
Action step: Write down the top 3 time-draining or cost-heavy tasks in your business. Be specific. Quantify the time or money involved if possible.
Question 2: What would success actually look like?
This is where most SMEs get lazy. They implement AI and hope for the best.
Instead, define success upfront:
- “Reduce data entry time from 8 hours to 1 hour per week”
- “Cut customer enquiry response time from 24 hours to 2 hours”
- “Reduce graphic design costs by 50% while maintaining quality”
Why this matters: Without a clear success metric, you’ll never know if your AI implementation worked. You’ll just keep paying for tools you’re not sure are helping.
Even better, define what failure looks like too. What would tell you it’s not working?
This forces you to be honest about whether AI is the right solution, or whether you actually need better processes, more staff, or different tools entirely.
Action step: For each problem from Question 1, write down what measurable success would look like in 30, 60, and 90 days.
Question 3: Who will own this, and what happens when it breaks?
This is the question 80% of SME owners skip. It’s also the reason most AI implementations fail.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI tools require ongoing management. They need:
- Someone to set them up correctly
- Someone to train the team on how to use them
- Someone to monitor whether they’re actually working
- Someone to troubleshoot when things go wrong
- Someone to optimize and improve them over time
If you implement an AI tool without assigning clear ownership, it becomes “everyone’s job,” which means it’s nobody’s job.
The tool sits unused. Your team reverts to old habits. You’ve wasted money and time.
Why this matters: The businesses succeeding with AI aren’t necessarily the ones with the best tools. They’re the ones with clear ownership and accountability.
This doesn’t mean you need to hire an AI specialist. It means you need to assign responsibility.
Maybe it’s your operations manager who’s good with tech. Maybe it’s you for the first 90 days until you understand it well enough to delegate. Maybe it’s an external consultant for the setup, then a trained team member for ongoing management.
But it needs to be someone’s actual job, with actual time allocated to it.
Action step: For each AI implementation you’re considering, answer:
- Who will set this up?
- Who will train the team?
- Who will monitor results weekly?
- Who will troubleshoot issues?
- How much time per week will they need?
If you can’t answer these questions, you’re not ready to implement AI yet.
The Real Cost of Getting This Wrong
When you skip these questions, you don’t just waste money on unused tools.
You waste your team’s time learning systems they’ll abandon. You create cynicism about new technology. You fall further behind while your competitors pull ahead.
But when you get it right? You free up hours every week. You cut costs significantly. You improve customer experience. You give your team time to focus on high-value work that actually grows your business.
What Happens Next?
If you’ve read this far and you’re thinking “this makes sense, but I still don’t know where to start with my specific business,” you’re not alone.
Understanding the framework is step one. Applying it to your unique situation is step two.
That’s exactly why we created our AI Commercial Training for SME Owners – a practical, 1-day course that helps you:
- Demystify AI, machine learning, and automation in plain English
- Identify immediate opportunities specific to your business
- Separate realistic applications from hype
- Build your own 30-60-90 day AI roadmap
No technical background required. Just a willingness to ask the right questions before jumping into solutions.
Ready to stop guessing and start implementing AI strategically?
Learn more about our AI Commercial Training here.