An introduction to AI and automation for businesses

Although it can feel like a buzzword, taking a strategic approach to adopting AI-enabled tools and intelligent automation can have transformational benefits for businesses of all sizes.  

AI tools are more user-friendly and easier to adopt than ever before. There are a huge number available for a wide range of applications that could benefit your business. However, statistics from January 2025’s Business Insights and Conditions survey show that 76.5% of businesses in Scotland are not currently using AI-enabled tools. 

But there’s a clear curiosity about them, particularly with a view to learning about how they can improve business operations. While only 27% of SMEs are currently using AI for this purpose, 82% (and 83% of large businesses) surveyed, plan to use it in the future.  

The gap between the current and planned adoption figures can be put down to a few key barriers businesses face. These include a lack of skills, resistance to change, and simply not knowing where to start. 

If you’re looking to overcome these barriers, our digital transformation support team can provide help and advice to SMEs in Scotland.

Explore our digital transformation support 

If you want to start with finding out what AI and automation really means, and if you should be thinking about it for your business, read on. 

What does AI and automation mean?

While both AI and automation have the same overall purpose (to carry out tasks alongside humans) they are different.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

Artificial intelligence is a broad term applied to technology with the capability to perform intelligent, ‘human’ cognitive processes, like analysing data or understanding language.  

One of the main subsets of AI is machine learning. Machine Learning focuses on enabling systems to learn from data and improve their performance over time without being explicitly programmed. It serves as the backbone for many AI applications. 

Many AI tools use machine learning to extract data and ‘learn’ from it. A simple example of this is recommender systems, used by companies such as Netflix, Spotify and Amazon. When a streaming service or website recommends a show or product to you, it’s used machine learning to understand what you like and recommend something similar.

Automation 

Chances are you already use automation in some way in your business. Typically, this refers to the use of technology to execute repetitive, rule-based tasks without human intervention.  

This involves programming machines or software systems to execute repetitive, routine, or even complex tasks on their own, such as data entry, email responses, or processing transactions. 

Intelligent automation goes a step further by incorporating machine learning capabilities into an automated process. Let’s use order management as an example. Automation software with machine learning capabilities can not only automate tasks like generating invoices and processing payments, but it can also extract data and provide recommendations based on what it learns from doing so.  

Are AI and automation tools right for your business?

Data from the 2025 Business Insights and Conditions survey shows that just over 70% of businesses in Scotland are not currently using AI technologies. 

As well as the barriers outlined earlier, this suggests a lack of awareness and understanding of the benefits of AI adoption. Particularly when you consider that a further 68% of businesses surveyed said they have no plans to adopt any AI technologies in the next three months. Yet over 80% want to adopt it in the future.  

It seems businesses in Scotland consider adopting AI and automation tools to be a long-term transition, perhaps one that requires extensive planning and time. Whether or not this is the case totally depends on what tools you’re looking to use and what for. 

30% of the businesses that said they are looking to adopt AI tools in the future said that this would be for improving business operations. Within this category there are many, many tools available with benefits ranging from simple time saving up to transformational cost saving.  

And neither the use of AI tools nor the benefits of them are exclusive to one business or sector. Whether you’re in renewables, manufacturing, health and care or creative industries, there are tools that can help your business. 

Benefits of AI and automation for businesses 

There are many benefits to using AI tools and intelligent automation. Exactly what these are will depend on what tools you’re using for which purpose. 

But what most of them boil down to is more time for important tasks and less effort on low reward ones. 

By using AI and automation to complete more manual tasks, the people in your business have more time to be productive in other areas. They also have more capacity to focus on creative problem solving and innovation. 

Through both the use of the tools and the benefits that they provide for employees, your business can see measurable positive impacts, like process improvement, efficiency gains, and increased productivity.