AI consultancy for UK small and medium businesses.

exempli is an AI consultancy for UK small and medium businesses: we find where AI will genuinely save time in your business, then design, build and support the automations, agents and tools that do it.

Most AI advice for small businesses stops at a slide deck or a list of apps to try. We're different in one practical way: we build what we recommend. The same two founders who review your processes write the software, connect it to your systems, and stay on to keep it running.

We're Exempli Labs Ltd, based in Buckinghamshire and working with teams of roughly 5 to 250 people across the UK. One of us has built and deployed software and AI tools at scale for large UK organisations; the other spent years running operations and bringing new systems into a large business. Between us we cover the technology and the part most AI projects skip: getting people to use it.

What AI can realistically do for a small business

AI is good at a specific kind of work: reading, sorting, summarising and drafting things that follow a pattern but vary every time. That describes a surprising amount of a small business's week. In practice, the wins tend to come from:

• reading incoming documents, such as invoices, forms, orders and CVs, and pulling the details into your systems
• sorting and routing enquiries and emails, and drafting first replies for a person to check
• answering routine questions from staff or customers using your own documents and policies
• turning meeting notes, calls and job reports into summaries, tasks and records
• spotting what needs attention in data you already hold, instead of someone checking by hand

What AI is not good at is anything that needs to be right every time with no one checking, or work where the rules are simple enough that ordinary software would do it more cheaply. Part of our job is telling those apart before you spend anything.

AI automation and AI agents, in plain English

AI automation means adding an AI step to a workflow you already run. An email arrives, AI reads it and extracts the order details, and the order lands in your system ready for a person to approve. The workflow is fixed; AI handles the messy part in the middle.

An AI agent goes a step further. It's given a goal and a set of tools it's allowed to use, such as searching your records, checking stock or drafting a quote, and it decides which steps to take. Agents are powerful but need tighter limits, so we build them with clear permissions, logging, and a person approving anything that matters.

For most small businesses the right starting point is automation, not agents. It's easier to trust, quicker to build, and it pays back sooner.

What we do

• AI readiness review. We sit with your team, map where the hours go, and list the tasks where AI would save the most time, with the ones it shouldn't touch.
• Workflow automation. AI steps added to the processes you already run, connected to tools like Microsoft 365, Xero or your CRM.
• AI agents. Assistants that can take actions in your systems within agreed limits, with every action logged and reviewable.
• Internal AI tools. Search and question-answering over your own documents, so staff stop hunting through folders and inboxes.
• Training and handover. We roll out in stages, train the people who'll use it, and stay on to support and improve it.

When an AI feature needs a proper application around it, we build that too. Our bespoke software development work covers the internal tools, portals and integrations that AI often plugs into.

Illustrative examples

These are typical of the work, not case studies of named clients. They show the kind of problem where AI earns its place in a small business.

• A trades business receives job requests by email and phone. AI reads each request, creates the job with the address and details filled in, and drafts a reply with available slots for the office to confirm.
• A professional services firm answers the same client questions every week. An assistant that draws on the firm's own guidance drafts answers with references, and a member of staff approves them before they go out.
• A distributor processes supplier invoices in different formats. AI extracts the lines, matches them to purchase orders, and flags only the mismatches for a person to review.

How an AI project runs

AI work follows the same five steps as everything we build, described on our process page: discover, architect, build, execute and tune. Discovery is where we watch the work and find the tasks worth automating. Architecture produces a written spec and a fixed quote. The build is delivered in weekly drops, and rollout includes training, because an AI tool nobody trusts is a tool nobody uses.

Your data, UK GDPR and AI

Data protection is the first question most business owners ask about AI, and it should be. Our approach is set out in full on our security page. In short:

• your data is never used to train AI models
• models are reached only through tooling we run ourselves, against vendor APIs whose terms prohibit training on what is sent, never a consumer chat product
• credentials, personal data and production databases are kept away from models
• systems are hosted in Microsoft Azure's UK South region by default, under UK GDPR

What AI consultancy costs

We don't publish prices, because the cost depends on how many processes are involved and how deeply the AI connects to your systems. How we price is simple: a readiness review first, then a written spec and a fixed quote for each build, delivered in phases so the first piece of work pays for itself before you commit to the next. Model usage costs are usually small at small-business volumes, and we estimate them up front.

Prefer to work with someone nearby? See our software and AI services in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, or read more about the founders.

AI for small businesses: common questions

How can AI help a small business?

Mostly by taking over repetitive reading, sorting and drafting: processing documents, routing enquiries, answering routine questions and turning notes into records. The value comes from the hours handed back to your team, not from the technology itself.

How much does an AI consultant cost in the UK?

It depends on the scope. We start with a readiness review, then give a fixed quote for each piece of work, delivered in phases so you can see the return before committing to more.

What is an AI agent?

An AI agent is software that is given a goal and a set of tools it may use, and decides which steps to take to reach the goal. We build agents with clear limits, full logging, and a person approving anything important.

Do we need technical staff to use AI?

No. We design, build and maintain the tools, and train the people who use them. Your team needs to know the work, not the technology.

Is our data safe with ChatGPT or Claude?

It can be, if the tools are set up properly. We use business APIs whose terms prohibit training on your data, keep personal data and credentials away from models, and never route client data through consumer chat apps.

How soon will we see results from AI?

A focused automation follows the same five-step cycle as everything we build, so it is typically in use within around eight weeks of the first conversation. We deliberately start with the task that pays back fastest.

Will AI replace jobs in our business?

In our experience it replaces tasks, not people. The aim is to take the repetitive work off your team so they can spend more time on customers and the work that needs judgement.