KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

Only 10% of small businesses provide staff with AI security training, according to MoneySuperMarket. Its survey also found that 44% of small business owners worry that using AI without proper safeguards could expose them to cyber threats.

The findings highlight a gap between interest in artificial intelligence and preparedness for the risks that come with it. The comparison site surveyed 250 UK sole traders and business owners with between one and 49 employees.

Use of AI in day-to-day business tasks remains limited among smaller companies. Just 15% of respondents said they use AI to support administrative processes, while 19% have used it to help with marketing strategy.

At the same time, more said they would like to use the technology for routine work. Some 36% want to use AI tools to automate or outsource administrative work, reporting and research, although 44% said they did not intend to use AI for those purposes.

The results suggest many smaller firms are still weighing potential efficiencies against concerns over security and readiness. One in five respondents said they would feel underprepared if their business were targeted by a cyber-attack.

Regional split

Attitudes varied sharply across the UK. Scotland showed the strongest interest in AI among the regions surveyed, with half of small business owners saying they wanted to use it to automate or outsource admin, reporting and research.

The South East followed at 48%, ahead of the South West at 43%. At the other end of the scale, Wales and Yorkshire and The Humber were the least likely to say they wanted to use AI in this way, both at 20%.

Concern over cyber risk also differed by region, although Scotland stood out for combining enthusiasm with caution. In Wales, 60% of business owners said they worried that without the right training, AI could expose their business to cyber threats. The same proportion in Scotland shared that concern.

The mix of interest and apprehension reflects a broader pattern in the survey. Businesses appear willing to consider AI for practical office tasks, but many have yet to put formal safeguards or staff training in place.

Training gap

The low level of investment in AI security training is likely to attract attention as small firms adopt widely available generative AI tools for writing, research and workflow support. These tools can speed up routine tasks and cut costs, but they can also create risks around data handling, staff misuse, and exposure to phishing and other cyber threats.

For smaller employers, the challenge is often as much about resources as awareness. Many have limited in-house IT support and may rely on informal policies when introducing new software, leaving staff without clear guidance on what information should or should not be entered into AI systems.

MoneySuperMarket based its national estimates on a UK small business population of 5.64 million. On that basis, the figures suggest more than 2.48 million small business owners are worried about cyber risks linked to unsafe AI use, while only a small minority have paid for employee training in this area.

The findings come as businesses across the economy test how AI can be used in routine operations. Among SMEs, the early focus appears to be on back-office work and marketing rather than more specialised applications, which may help explain why administration and marketing were the most commonly cited uses in the survey.

Alicia Hempsted, Business Insurance Expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: “AI can be a powerful tool for simplifying admin processes, improving marketing and saving time. The key for business owners that want to utilise it but have yet to start is making sure employees and business owners feel confident and informed about how they use it safely and effectively.”

AWS North Community Conference will return to the North of England following an inaugural gathering that drew more than 150 attendees.

The one-day event will take place at The Baltic in Gateshead and is being organised with support from digital product engineering company Leighton, which specialises in Amazon Web Services. It is intended to give the region’s AWS community a place to meet closer to home rather than travelling elsewhere in the UK.

The conference was created to serve the North of England’s growing technology sector. Its first edition brought together 24 speakers and six AWS Heroes, with attendees travelling from different parts of the world to discuss modernisation, migration, serverless computing and artificial intelligence.

Leighton has named several North East figures involved in shaping this year’s programme, including Steve Morland, chief technology officer; Lee Gilmore, AWS practice lead; Mark Sailes, AWS Hero and principal solutions architect; and Dan Pudwell, AWS user group leader and solutions architect.

The event will bring together AWS practitioners, technical experts, developers, engineers, SMEs, technology companies, industry figures, academics and students. That broad mix reflects an effort to position it as a regional meeting point for both established cloud specialists and newer entrants to the sector.

Regional focus

The conference’s return points to continued interest in cloud and software development outside London and other larger UK technology hubs. Regional industry events have become one way for local firms, engineers and students to build networks and share expertise without the cost and time of long-distance travel.

That local focus also reflects wider demand for AWS skills. Companies across sectors continue to hire for cloud architecture, migration and software engineering roles, while universities and training organisations expand programmes tied to cloud platforms and related disciplines such as data and AI.

Morland said feedback from the first event had shaped plans for the next edition. “It’s great to be able to announce the return of AWS North Community Conference. Last year was a hugely successful event and the feedback we received was absolutely fantastic, with a 100% satisfaction rate and more than 92% of respondents saying they plan to return this year.

“We’ve taken on board the insight we gathered from delegates to shape this year’s event and make sure we provide more of what people want to see. We’re really looking forward to sharing more information about what people can expect in the coming months.

“The next milestone will be when our call for speakers opens at the end of this month. We had a huge volume of great submissions last time around, so we’re excited to see what people have up their sleeves this year,” he said.

The organisers have also highlighted accessibility measures, including a social impact ticket allocation for underrepresented groups, not-for-profit organisations, students and those at an early stage in their careers.

Community investment

Claire Cundill, chief commercial officer at Leighton and executive sponsor for the project, said the event was also intended as an investment in the regional technology community. Her comments suggest Leighton sees the conference as part of a broader effort to strengthen links between companies, user groups and individual AWS practitioners across the North.

“The strength of the technology community in the North is one of the region’s greatest assets, and this event is our way of investing back into it.

“Last year’s conference brought together the AWS community and teams from some of the region’s leading brands to connect, learn, innovate and explore what’s possible with cloud technology. This year, we’re taking it further. We’re expanding the scale, ambition and impact of the event, and we’re hugely excited about what we can achieve together,” she said.

The reported 100% satisfaction rate at the first conference, along with the share of respondents who said they planned to return, suggests organisers believe there is enough repeat demand to grow the gathering. For a regional technology event, repeat attendance is often a key measure because it can determine whether sponsors, speakers and community groups continue to commit time and resources.

By centring the event in Gateshead and focusing on AWS users in the North of England, the organisers are seeking to build a lasting regional forum around cloud development, software design and related technical skills. The inaugural event drew six AWS Heroes alongside developers, engineers and business participants from a range of backgrounds.

OneAdvanced has launched IQ, an AI-enabled system of work for organisations in regulated and essential service sectors. The platform is designed to bring workflows, data and applications together in a single environment.

The Birmingham-based software provider says IQ is built on a shared data layer with integrated APIs and pre-built connections, with all data processed and hosted in the UK. The product has been shaped by its work in government, healthcare and logistics, including with the Department for Transport, the Ministry of Justice, the NHS, Amazon, FedEx and DHL.

The launch comes as businesses continue to invest in artificial intelligence while struggling to move beyond isolated deployments. OneAdvanced argues that fragmented workflows, siloed data and disconnected applications have limited AI use, particularly in settings where compliance, oversight and operational resilience are critical.

IQ is intended to allow AI to operate across workflows rather than within separate systems. The platform also embeds ISO 42001 policies into day-to-day work, which OneAdvanced describes as a way to apply governance and rules within routine business processes.

OneAdvanced positions the product as a response to concerns over data control, vendor dependence and compliance obligations. Those issues have become more prominent for public sector bodies and other heavily regulated organisations weighing the benefits of AI against the risks of using external providers and moving sensitive information across borders.

Governance focus

According to OneAdvanced, organisations have struggled to get sustained results from AI because the surrounding systems are often disconnected. It argues that the accumulation of point solutions and the lack of context can weaken output quality, while weak governance can allow errors to spread quickly.

IQ is designed to address that by bringing processes, policies, data and AI into one platform. OneAdvanced says this should allow organisations to apply AI and agentic functions across multiple workflows and datasets while remaining within internal policies and sector-specific guardrails.

The platform is also intended to produce deterministic results where required. That is likely to matter in sectors such as healthcare, justice and transport, where automated recommendations or actions may need to be tightly controlled and auditable.

Andrew Henderson, chief technology officer at OneAdvanced, set out the company’s view of how the product differs from standalone AI tools.

“IQ represents a fundamental shift to systems of embedded intelligence – where workflows, data and people are connected, so AI operates directly in the flow of work. This is not about adding another tool. It is about rethinking how work gets done,” Henderson said.

Regulated sectors

OneAdvanced is one of the UK’s larger sector-focused software providers and has long concentrated on industries with complex operational requirements. Its reference to existing work with government departments, the NHS and large logistics groups underlines its effort to position IQ in environments where operational continuity and data governance carry significant weight.

The platform is described in three parts: connected, trusted and intelligent. In practice, that means unifying workflows, teams and data in one system, applying security and sovereignty controls, and embedding AI-assisted workflows and AI-driven insight into routine work.

OneAdvanced says the underlying shared data layer carries business and sector context across interactions. That context is essential, it argues, if AI systems are to produce reliable outputs aligned with how an organisation actually works rather than simply responding to prompts in isolation.

Simon Walsh, chief executive officer at OneAdvanced, said disconnected systems and poor data quality could undermine the use of AI in business operations.

“Organisations cannot function effectively with disconnected systems, disparate data sources and workflows that function in silos, then add AI into the systems, this will wreak havoc – if your data, policies, system connections are a mess, so too will your agentic outputs. IQ applies domain specific context, policies and rules, delivering trustable outputs within your business logic,” Walsh said.

The launch reflects a broader shift in the AI software market away from standalone assistants and towards products tied more closely to business processes, internal datasets and compliance frameworks. For suppliers serving public services and regulated industries, the question is increasingly not only what a model can do, but how it fits within the rules, systems and records that shape everyday work.

OneAdvanced says IQ was built from customer work over recent years to create what it describes as a connected and trusted approach to AI, with data sovereignty and operational resilience treated as central requirements.