Read our latest articles featuring the most recent insights in the SME landscape.

Especially among SMEs, outsourcing is becoming more commonplace; here, Michelle O’Connor – Chief People Officer at Hive Support Services – discusses the benefits of doing so, alongside some of the challenges her team is seeing across the UK business sect

Many small businesses run on spreadsheets longer than they should. In private healthcare, the same pattern often appears inside prescribing operations. At the start, a spreadsheet can feel practical. It helps a small team track patients, prescriptions, payment

A practical guide to the Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner Apprenticeship Most SMEs have already tried AI. Staff use ChatGPT or Copilot, someone has built a useful prompt, and a few tasks take less time. What usually hasn’t changed is the process

A spreadsheet can serve a small UK brewery when the product range is limited and a few people know what is stored where. As the brewery grows, more batches, seasonal lines, customer orders and storage locations mean more stock information has to be kept accura

For many people, their tools are their livelihood. Plumbers. Electricians, carpenters, gardeners, mechanics; without their tools, their jobs become impossible. And if things go wrong, it’s often not a case of simply buying more.

In this exclusive interview with the AI Speakers Agency, Maarten explains why AI programmes fail, which foundations determine whether a company is AI-ready, how leaders can test value before committing to large projects, and how his AI Navigator Framework move

That’s the paradox of small business. You’re very good at generating demand. Google Ads, SEO, social media, directories, local advertising, and digital sales funnels. But once you make the phone ring, you don’t have the capacity to answer it.

As the UK continues its push towards net-zero carbon emissions, we’re seeing a transformation when it comes to clean energy. It was once a nice-to-have, but now it’s becoming a key component of commercial growth. Rising energy overheads and stringent envir

Think about the last time a company won a significant new customer. The sales process, the demo, the proposal, the negotiation. The onboarding. The first few months of the relationship, where every team is on their best behaviour, every response is prompt, eve

Developers building in Berkshire who need a new water main have a choice most do not realise they have. Rather than requisitioning the main from the water company and waiting for it to be built on the water company’s programme, you can appoint your own a

Based in Stockport, Redstart Northwest is an employee-owned company providing ground remediation services to clients nationwide.  Its professional team is headed by experienced Managing Director Steve England, who has steered the company through diversificati

Flexible workspace provider, Clockwise, is expanding its offering for start-up and scale up businesses across the UK following a significant rise in demand for flexible office space from regional SMEs.

For small to medium-sized businesses, keeping costs down and processes efficient is crucial for staying competitive, especially in the current economic climate. And one of the most common areas for inefficiency in the workplace is HR. Many HR-related tasks are

Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses, has revealed that UK SME profits grew by 7.4% in the year to Q1 2026, up from 5.5% the previous quarter.

Growth is a welcome challenge for any small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). More customers, suppliers, and transactions often mean higher revenue and greater opportunities. However, growth also increases administrative workloads, particularly within finance

Running a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) keeps you incredibly busy. Between handling operational tasks and managing customer relationships, there is rarely enough time to sit back and map out a complex digital marketing strategy. However, trying to gro

For many people, their tools are their livelihood. Plumbers. Electricians, carpenters, gardeners, mechanics; without their tools, their jobs become impossible. And if things go wrong, it’s often not a case of simply buying more.

AI in fintech isn’t experimental anymore — it’s running in production. Banks, payment providers, lenders, investment platforms, and fintech startups are now leaning on it for fraud detection, customer support, credit decisions, analytics, com

UK consumers and businesses made 48.8 billion payments in 2024, according to UK Finance’s Payment Markets report. That volume doesn’t move through one processor. It moves through card networks, Faster Payments, and a growing list of local acquirers

Across many small and medium businesses, the story is similar. Revenue goes up, the client list expands, the team is busier than ever. Yet when month-end comes, the margin is flat or thinner than last year. The business looks like it is growing and feels like

AI has made it possible to build a business faster than ever. A founder can research a market, create a working product, launch a website and begin supporting customers with a much smaller team than would have been required only a few years ago. However, while

Every salon owner knows how long a service takes and which products it requires. However, how much energy goes into delivering it is something that not everyone will know. That’s a gap worth closing.

Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses, has revealed that UK SME profits grew by 7.4% in the year to Q1 2026, up from 5.5% the previous quarter.

Structural benefits that make spread betting particularly attractive are that there is no stamp duty to pay in the UK, you can trade long or short on thousands of markets and there is no commission on most spread betting platforms. However, these attributes do

One day, you enter your office and find out your director is charged with a criminal offence. The first thing that comes to mind is your company’s reputation and financial position. SME owners spend years gaining a competitive edge. Just in a moment, losing

Many small business owners in the UK think post-Brexit rules mean EU laws no longer apply to them. But the EU Data Act, which came into application in September 2025, changes things for British firms. If your company sells to European customers, processes data

If you have spent any significant time on the internet or spoken to those who have, you will know that digital scams are unfortunately on the rise. More and more fraudsters are using tactics to get money from people. In particular, older adults. Why Are Older

While temperatures reached as high as 30 degrees across parts of the UK on Friday 22nd May, many employees and employers questioned what the law says about working in hot weather, with further heatwaves expected as summer approaches.

As the new financial year begins, it brings with it a fresh wave of employment law changes - from additional compliance demands and increased costs to heightened risk for employers.

Securing a commercial lease is a major step for any business, particularly when entering premises for the first time. The terms agreed from the start can affect costs, flexibility, and long-term stability. Here are five legal essentials to keep in mind. Lease

Small and medium-sized enterprises strengthen workplace safety and security by applying structured risk management, regulatory compliance, physical protection systems, cybersecurity controls and workforce training. You protect employees, reduce liability expos

For SMEs investing in property, whether for owner occupation, portfolio growth, or development, risk management is essential. A commercial or residential acquisition may represent one of the largest capital commitments your business makes. While a property may

Especially among SMEs, outsourcing is becoming more commonplace; here, Michelle O’Connor – Chief People Officer at Hive Support Services – discusses the benefits of doing so, alongside some of the challenges her team is seeing across the UK business sect

In this exclusive interview with the Diversity & Inclusion Speakers Agency, Dustin explains how his grandfather’s positive mental attitude shaped his response to adversity, why psychological safety affects staff retention and how businesses can measure the i

In this exclusive interview with the Inspirational Leadership Speakers Agency, James explains why effort alone cannot sustain high performance, how fragmented attention damages productivity and which workplace habits prevent teams from doing their best work.

Most UK startups handle growth the same way. They hire a couple of salespeople, give them a target, and hope for the best. Sometimes it works. More often, it turns into a cycle of missed forecasts, finger-pointing between marketing and sales, and a customer su

In a busy work setting that involves key leaders, the question of what makes up the DNA of a perfect manager is a common one. But I believe there is no such thing.

Based in Stockport, Redstart Northwest is an employee-owned company providing ground remediation services to clients nationwide.  Its professional team is headed by experienced Managing Director Steve England, who has steered the company through diversificati

Savvy organisations understand that screens and software cannot entirely replace the power of human interaction. Investing in high-quality business events—whether they are grand industry conferences, intimate executive retreats, or dynamic corporate summ

Influencer Matchmaker says 68% of recent youth-facing creator briefs still place TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels at the centre of campaign planning

For twenty years, the small business search story was a story about money. Bigger competitors bought more links, published more content, hired bigger agencies, and occupied the first page. An independent firm could win a narrow local niche, but the broad comme

In this exclusive interview with the AI Speakers Agency, Maarten explains why AI programmes fail, which foundations determine whether a company is AI-ready, how leaders can test value before committing to large projects, and how his AI Navigator Framework move

Businesses across the UK struggle to maintain consistent contact with prospects who aren’t ready to buy immediately. Without a structured system, these potential customers can easily fall through the cracks. The right customer relationship management (CR

Across the UK’s small manufacturing sector, a quiet shift is underway. Metalworking shops, sign makers, joinery businesses and small-batch fabricators are increasingly replacing manual cutting and shaping processes with laser and CNC-driven equipment. Th

Creators and marketers do not struggle because they lack AI video tools. They struggle because most of those tools still think in short bursts. An eight-second product spin looks fine in a demo. A paid campaign, launch film, or founder explainer usually needs

Hannah Haworth, Head of Strategic Positioning & Enablement at Seventh State, explains why AI should be used to enhance people's thinking rather than replace it, why culture matters more than technology, and how SMEs can take a more deliberate approach to adopt

Think about the last time you made a traditional phone call or sent a standard SMS. For millions of people across the UK, those cellular functions have become a backup rather than the main event. Instead, a single app handles everything from quick family updat

HubSpot can become a powerful growth platform, but only when it is implemented around the way a company actually works. Many businesses buy HubSpot to achieve better alignment across marketing, sales, customer success, reporting, and revenue operations. The pl