If you had to choose just three things to automate in your business this year, what would they be?
More importantly, would you be confident they were actually the right three?
This is where many SMEs get stuck. They know AI can help. They can see the potential. But they are unsure where to start, and they do not want to waste time or money automating the wrong things.
In this article, we walk through the first three AI automations that almost every SME should consider building. Not because they sound impressive, but because they consistently remove friction and deliver real, measurable results.
Most SMEs do not need cutting-edge AI
When we work with SMEs at Blue Llama, the pattern is always the same.
Teams are busy. Inboxes are full. Reports take longer than they should. Important follow-ups rely far too much on memory.
Most businesses do not need cutting-edge AI or experimental tools. They need practical AI that quietly removes repetitive work from the background and gives people breathing space.
That is exactly what these three automations are designed to do.
1. Inbox triage and response support
For most SMEs, work enters the business through email.
Every day, messages arrive that need to be read, understood, categorised, and sent to the right place. Some need a quick reply. Some need routing. Some need escalation. Many are the same questions repeated again and again.
A smart AI-assisted inbox can:
- Read incoming emails
- Understand intent and context
- Route messages to the right team
- Draft responses for common queries
- Flag sensitive or urgent items for human review
The real impact is not just speed. It is reduced mental load.
Instead of teams starting their day firefighting emails, they start with clarity and structure. For most SMEs, this is the fastest way to give hours back to the team without changing how customers experience the business.
We hosted a webinar on this topic last month, in this recording you can dive deeper in the smart inbox details.
2. Reporting and insight generation
Reporting is often the biggest hidden time drain inside SMEs.
In many organisations, someone is still manually pulling data from multiple systems, combining spreadsheets, and building reports for leadership teams.
With AI automation and business intelligence tools, data can be:
- Collected automatically
- Cleaned and structured
- Summarised into usable insight
- Compared against previous periods or targets
The biggest benefit is not just time saved, although that is significant.
It is speed of decision making.
When insight arrives automatically, leaders stop waiting for information. Decisions become faster, more consistent, and less reactive. The business simply runs more smoothly..
3. Bespoke internal processes
TThis is where AI becomes genuinely transformative for SMEs.
Every business has internal processes that are:
- Repetitive
- Rules based
- Unique to the business
- Too niche for off-the-shelf software
Because of this, they often stay manual for years.
Modern AI and low-code tools now make it cost effective to build bespoke automation around these workflows. For example:
- Extracting structured data from documents
- Applying business rules automatically
- Processing internal requests consistently
- Moving data between systems without manual effort
The biggest shift here is not just efficiency. It is removal of long-standing friction. Processes that have quietly drained time for years can finally be streamlined without forcing the business to completely change how it works.
Why these three automations work so well
These automations succeed because they sit at the centre of how work flows through a business.
They are:
- Repetitive
- Procedural
- Cross-team
- High frequency
When you improve these areas, the benefits compound quickly across the organisation.
Importantly, they usually do not require a full system overhaul. In most cases, they integrate directly into tools SMEs already use, particularly within the Microsoft ecosystem.
What to avoid when starting with AI
One important rule.
Do not automate for the sake of it.
If a workflow is unclear, broken, or inconsistent, automation will simply make the problem happen faster.
Clarity always comes first.
Once a process is understood and simplified, AI becomes a multiplier.
Where SMEs should start in 2026
If you are unsure where to begin with AI, start where work already accumulates:
- The enquiries inbox
- Monthly or weekly reporting
- Highly bespoke manual processes unique to your business
Get these right first.
You will build confidence in AI, free up time across the team, and naturally uncover the next wave of automation opportunities..
How Blue Llama helps
At Blue Llama, we help SMEs simplify how they work using practical AI, workflow automation, and modern digital tools, typically built within the Microsoft ecosystem.
We also host regular webinars for Jersey businesses looking to use AI to streamline operations and improve productivity.
If you would like to see these ideas in action, we are hosting a live webinar:
”How we built Swoop in under a month and what that changes for your business,,
In this session, we will share the real story behind building Swoop.je, a Jersey-specific digital platform that simply would not have been viable to build this quickly until very recently. We will use it as a practical lens to explore what an AI-first approach changes for SMEs, both when launching new ideas and when building internal tools.
We will walk through real examples, explain what made the speed possible, and show how the same approach can be applied inside your own business.
