Three practical ways small businesses are using AI
External business examples, reviewed 25 October 2026
It is easier to judge AI when you can see a specific job it helps with. These three published examples show possible starting points for small businesses: customer communications, paperwork and useful website tools.
The accounts below were published by the technology suppliers. They are not SkipFuss projects, independent performance audits or promises of the same results for your business.
1. Preparing customer emails and meeting notes
UK mobile-charging business Joos described using Microsoft Copilot for customer email drafts, meeting summaries and onboarding information.
The practical lesson is to start with information your team already understands. AI can help prepare a first version, while someone checks the facts, tone and any promises before it is used.
Source: Microsoft customer story, 18 April 2024.
2. Organising repetitive paperwork
An OpenAI Academy story describes how Beach Cities Builder, a Californian contracting business, used ChatGPT to help build a script for organising subcontractor invoices by project.
For another business, a sensible first test might be much narrower: extracting agreed details from sample invoices for someone to check. Payment decisions, account changes and uncertain figures should remain under human control. A useful trial should measure errors and correction time as well as speed.
Source: OpenAI Academy, 8 May 2026.
3. Helping customers find information
The Original Tamale Co., a family food business in California, used ChatGPT to help create a searchable farmers-market locator, according to an OpenAI story.
The wider idea is straightforward: identify a question customers repeatedly ask and make the answer easier to find. Depending on the business, that might mean clearer service information, a location finder or a better enquiry form. Any generated website feature still needs testing, accessible design and someone responsible for keeping its information current.
Source: OpenAI, 4 February 2026.
What could work for your business?
Start with one repeated task. Agree what a good result looks like, use fictional or appropriately protected information for testing, and compare the result with your current approach.
Check the work needed to correct mistakes, the software costs and whether your team can confidently use the result. Some tasks will suit AI; others may need a simpler change or should stay with a person.
SkipFuss is inviting Jersey SMEs to apply for a selected free AI trial. Tell us about your problem through the application questionnaire at skipfuss.com. We will review whether it fits a clearly defined trial before agreeing the work.
Where suitable, the goal is a useful result you can continue using in your own tools, supported by clear instructions and training.