Key points
- When choosing AI help for your business, a key question is whether a supplier can really help you. The best evidence is how they tackle your own problem, not their pitch.
- Look for suppliers used to firms your size, ideally in your field or a related one. Directories, trade bodies, local business groups and recommendations from firms like yours are sensible places to start. Talk to at least three.
- A strong supplier first asks about your firm, the job and how you'll judge success, before suggesting any tool. Note who gives unwelcome news, such as that the task isn't ready for AI, or your information needs sorting first. That honesty beats eagerness.
- Ask if something you already pay for would do, if they'll show their idea working on your real information, and its monthly cost. Strong answers are specific, admit limits and fit your situation. Weak ones are vague or promise certainty.
- Judge each proposal by your brief, not its presentation, and check the full cost, including your team's time. If you lack technical skills, ask a trusted person who has them to read the proposals. An hour from an independent adviser can save a lot of money.
- Talk to a reference client of similar size or sector about failures as well as successes. Search the Companies House register to check a UK company is real. Then consider a short, fixed-price paid trial on your real information, which tests both supplier and idea.
- Be wary of a supplier who promises a result before seeing your information, won't say what happens to it, can't explain the AI plainly, or won't let you talk to a past customer.
Transcript
When choosing AI help for your business, a key question is whether a supplier can really help you. The best evidence is how they tackle your own problem, not their pitch. Look for suppliers used to firms your size, ideally in your field or a related one.
Directories, trade bodies, local business groups and recommendations from firms like yours are sensible places to start. Talk to at least three. A strong supplier first asks about your firm, the job and how you'll judge success, before suggesting any tool.
Note who gives unwelcome news, such as that the task isn't ready for AI, or your information needs sorting first. That honesty beats eagerness. Ask if something you already pay for would do, if they'll show their idea working on your real information, and its monthly cost.
Strong answers are specific, admit limits and fit your situation. Weak ones are vague or promise certainty. Judge each proposal by your brief, not its presentation, and check the full cost, including your team's time. If you lack technical skills, ask a trusted person who has them to read the proposals.
An hour from an independent adviser can save a lot of money. Talk to a reference client of similar size or sector about failures as well as successes. Search the Companies House register to check a UK company is real. Then consider a short, fixed-price paid trial on your real information, which tests both supplier and idea.
Be wary of a supplier who promises a result before seeing your information, won't say what happens to it, can't explain the AI plainly, or won't let you talk to a past customer.