Senior business leaders in Gloucestershire looking to improve efficiency, create tech‑powered strategies and learn how AI can benefit day‑to‑day operations are invited to a free, one‑off breakfast workshop this September that promises hands‑on insight into Microsoft Copilot, data‑driven decision making, and practical steps to pilot AI across small and medium enterprises (SMEs). (soglos.com)
The event — marketed as “AI and Data‑Driven Innovation in SMEs: Senior Leaders Breakfast” — is organised by Gloucester‑based managed IT provider Optimising IT in partnership with data consultancy DATA³, and will be held at The Site coworking space in Cheltenham on Thursday 25 September 2025 from 8:00–10:00am. Registration is free but required via an online booking page. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk)
This workshop is the latest example of a growing wave of targeted, short‑form learning aimed at local business leaders: community groups, growth hubs and chambers across the UK are running practical AI sessions designed for non‑technical executives who need a roadmap rather than theory. The pattern — short events that combine tool demonstrations, governance advice, and pilot planning — is reflected in other county initiatives and national SME programmes. (thegrowthhub.biz, mdpi.com)
(Community forum analysis of local workshop activity and chamber sessions shows similar practical patterns in pilot design, measurement and governance across county programmes.)
That said, measurable, repeatable results depend on the painfully ordinary work of preparing data, defining metrics, and designing human‑in‑the‑loop checks. Attendees should leave with a plan they can execute in 60–90 days, not just a wish list. Leaders who insist on clear success metrics, data ownership terms, and staff training will be the ones who turn a free morning of learning into sustainable change. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk, mdpi.com)
Workshops like this are a critical lever for AI for small businesses adoption: they move leaders from "maybe" to "pilot" and, when paired with proper governance and measurement, from pilot to productive deployment. For Gloucestershire leaders seeking to cut administrative waste, unlock existing data, and experiment with Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools, this session is designed to be a pragmatic next step — provided follow‑through is disciplined and metrics are tracked. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk, mdpi.com)
Source: SoGlos Brand-new workshop reveals how Gloucestershire businesses can use AI to innovate and grow
The event — marketed as “AI and Data‑Driven Innovation in SMEs: Senior Leaders Breakfast” — is organised by Gloucester‑based managed IT provider Optimising IT in partnership with data consultancy DATA³, and will be held at The Site coworking space in Cheltenham on Thursday 25 September 2025 from 8:00–10:00am. Registration is free but required via an online booking page. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk)This workshop is the latest example of a growing wave of targeted, short‑form learning aimed at local business leaders: community groups, growth hubs and chambers across the UK are running practical AI sessions designed for non‑technical executives who need a roadmap rather than theory. The pattern — short events that combine tool demonstrations, governance advice, and pilot planning — is reflected in other county initiatives and national SME programmes. (thegrowthhub.biz, mdpi.com)
What the workshop promises
Practical scope and speakers
According to the event listing, attendees will see real‑life examples showing how AI and data can be used to cut manual work, improve decision making, and align AI projects with business goals. Speakers listed include:- Helen Tanner, founder and CEO of data consultancy DATA³, addressing SME‑scale data strategies and how smaller teams can extract value from existing information.
- Todd Gifford, Managing Director at Optimising IT, outlining how managed IT, cloud services, and Copilot‑style integrations can be used to operationalise AI safely. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk)
- Demonstrations of Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools.
- Practical advice on trusting AI with business data and drafting simple governance rules.
- Networking time for C‑suite and senior leaders to compare use cases and concerns. (soglos.com)
Why Microsoft Copilot matters here
Microsoft Copilot is frequently bundled into business productivity suites and CRM/office workflows; for many SMEs, deploying Copilot features via existing Microsoft 365 licences is a lower‑friction route to quick wins (drafting responses, summarising documents, and automating repetitive processes). The workshop’s emphasis on Copilot reflects a pragmatic view: show people what they can access quickly, then map that to governance and data protection needs. This is consistent with broader SME adoption patterns where low overhead, high familiarity solutions win early pilots. (soglos.com, roguedigital.ai)Overview: Why Gloucestershire businesses should care now
The SME opportunity
AI is no longer an enterprise‑only proposition. Recent industry and academic reviews show SMEs can gain measurable benefits from AI through automation of routine tasks, improved customer insights, and faster decision cycles — provided they follow staged adoption practices and guard data privacy. Workshops like this aim to translate those findings into local action: pick small, measurable pilots (60–90 day cycles), secure the data, measure time savings, and scale what works. (mdpi.com, weforum.org)Local readiness and support ecosystem
Gloucestershire already has multiple AI and data‑focused interventions available to local businesses — from Growth Hub workshops to private provider events. These community‑level activities reduce the barrier to entry by offering:- Low‑cost (often free) training and local networking.
- Access to vendor trials and pooled licences for cohorts.
- Practical templates for pilot governance and prompt logging.
Deep dive: What a senior leader should expect to learn
This event is pitched to the C‑suite and senior operational leaders, so the content will focus less on model internals and more on:- Opportunity identification: How to map business pain points (e.g., slow customer response, manual reporting) to AI solutions that can be proven in a pilot.
- Data strategy basics: How to inventory existing data, separate PII from safe test data, and build a single source of truth for analytics.
- Tool selection and quick wins: Where to use cloud LLMs (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT) vs. niche automation tools or RPA for deterministic tasks.
- Risk management and governance: Simple policies to log prompts, review outputs, and assign human‑in‑the‑loop checks for decisions that affect customers.
- Pilot design: Metrics to track (time saved, error rates, conversion uplift) and a 30–90 day pilot roadmap for SMEs. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk)
Organisers and credibility
Optimising IT — local, certified, and focused
Optimising IT is a Gloucester‑based managed IT service provider that highlights cybersecurity, cloud services and consultancy. The company is B Corp certified, signalling a public commitment to ethical and sustainable business practices — a factor that matters to many local leaders when choosing partners. The firm has positioned the workshop within a broader push to combine managed IT with data and AI services for SMEs. (optimisingit.co.uk, bcorporation.net)DATA³ — SME‑focused data practice
DATA³ (Data Cubed) is a Bristol‑based data consultancy that works with SMEs to create “single source of truth” analytics platforms and automation. Founder Helen Tanner has a track record of translating data complexity into business dashboards and action. Her involvement is an explicit signal the workshop will stress data readiness as much as tool demos. (setsquared-bristol.co.uk, revoco-talent.co.uk)Strengths: What the workshop gets right
- Practicality over hype: The event is intentionally short and tailored to senior leaders — a format that drives strategic decisions rather than drowning attendees in technical minutiae. Local workshops with this structure have a good track record of producing real pilots. (soglos.com, thegrowthhub.biz)
- Right mix of partners: Pairing a managed IT provider with an SME‑focused data consultancy aligns infrastructure, security, and data strategy — the three pillars SMEs need before scaling AI. Optimising IT’s B Corp status also signals governance and ethical focus. (optimisingit.co.uk)
- Low friction entry: Demonstrating tools that many SMEs already have access to (Microsoft Copilot through Microsoft 365) reduces procurement friction and shortens time‑to‑value. (soglos.com)
- Community learning benefits: The networking element helps spread best practices and reduces repeating mistakes across local businesses — a multiplier effect for regional digital transformation. This is a common success factor for Growth Hub and chamber programmes. (thegrowthhub.biz, soglos.com)
Risks and gaps: What to watch for
- Data privacy and PII leakage: The most common failure mode for SME pilots is testing on live customer data without adequate anonymisation. Any workshop emphasising quick wins must also emphasise data handling guardrails and role‑based access controls. If those aren’t emphasised, pilots can create regulatory and reputational risk. (mdpi.com)
- Over‑optimistic ROI claims: Vendors and vendors’ partners sometimes present headline productivity claims without granular methodology. SMEs should demand baseline measurements and independent metrics (time per task, error rates, customer satisfaction) before concluding a pilot is successful. Broad ROI statements should be treated cautiously until they are backed by local pilot data. (roguedigital.ai)
- Platform lock‑in: Rapid adoption of a specific vendor’s workflows (Copilot, proprietary RPA) can create dependencies that are expensive to unwind. Leaders should include data portability and API‑based integration capability as part of vendor evaluation. (researchgate.net)
- Human capital mismatch: Adopting AI often requires process redesign and staff reskilling. Running a pilot without parallel training risks low adoption and the “black box” problem where staff distrust outputs. Workshops need to stress staff enablement as a deployment prerequisite. (meartechnology.co.uk)
- Unverifiable marketing claims: Where organisers or partners cite specific revenue uplift percentages, attendees should ask for case study detail and measurement methods. Any claim that cannot be backed with data from a comparable pilot should be flagged as unverified until proven in situ.
Practical roadmap: How a Gloucestershire SME should approach the workshop outcome
- Identify 1–3 high‑impact, low‑risk use cases before attending (e.g., first‑response customer triage, meeting summaries, simple invoice extraction).
- Bring an example dataset sanitised of PII for on‑the‑spot diagnostics and pilot scoping.
- Define success metrics in advance: time saved (hours/week), reduction in manual errors, conversion uplift, or customer satisfaction delta.
- Request a 60‑day pilot plan with explicit milestones: week 0 (scope), weeks 1–4 (safe pilot, human review), weeks 5–8 (measure & iterate), weeks 9–12 (scale or sunset).
- Lock governance actions immediately: prompt logs, access controls, and a one‑page AI policy for staff to follow.
- Negotiate a limited trial or proof‑of‑concept pricing with clear exit and data portability clauses. (soglos.com, mdpi.com)
What success looks like for local businesses
- A measurable reduction in time spent on routine administration (30–60% on specific tasks is a realistic early target when properly scoped).
- A single, trusted dashboard or report that reduces decision time — for example, turning a four‑day reporting cycle into minutes through basic ETL and visualisation.
- A documented governance baseline (AI use policy + prompt logging) that reduces regulatory and reputational exposure.
- One or two repeatable process automations that free staff for customer‑facing activities. These outcomes align with documented SME AI adoption case studies and published academic roadmaps. (mdpi.com, setsquared-bristol.co.uk)
Local context and peer learning
Community events such as Growth Hub workshops and local chamber sessions have proven useful as intermediate steps between curiosity and enterprise pilots. They provide a sandbox environment where businesses can try prompts, share anonymised datasets, and learn prompt engineering basics without risking customer data. The growing number of short, senior‑focused workshops across the county indicates both demand and an emerging support ecosystem for SME AI projects. (thegrowthhub.biz, soglos.com)(Community forum analysis of local workshop activity and chamber sessions shows similar practical patterns in pilot design, measurement and governance across county programmes.)
Expert analysis: why the format matters
Short, focused sessions aimed specifically at leaders can be more effective than broad "AI for everyone" talks because they:- Create momentum for decision making rather than passive learning.
- Enable leaders to commit resources to a 60–90 day pilot with measurable KPIs.
- Encourage vendor and partner accountability by setting explicit pilot deliverables.
How to get value from the session (checklist for attendees)
- Bring an anonymised sample dataset and a concise description of your target process.
- Ask for a written 60‑day pilot plan and a statement of expected metrics.
- Confirm who will own data and how outputs will be validated post‑pilot.
- Capture names and contact details for potential delivery partners and ask about follow‑up support and training packages.
- Clarify costs, data portability, and what happens to data and models after a trial. (soglos.com)
Final verdict: realistic optimism with practical safeguards
This Gloucestershire breakfast workshop represents a pragmatic, well‑scoped opportunity for senior leaders to convert AI curiosity into an actionable pilot. The combination of a local managed IT firm and an SME‑experienced data consultancy is the right mix to bridge the classic gap between infrastructure readiness and data strategy.That said, measurable, repeatable results depend on the painfully ordinary work of preparing data, defining metrics, and designing human‑in‑the‑loop checks. Attendees should leave with a plan they can execute in 60–90 days, not just a wish list. Leaders who insist on clear success metrics, data ownership terms, and staff training will be the ones who turn a free morning of learning into sustainable change. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk, mdpi.com)
Event details (verified)
- Event: AI and Data‑Driven Innovation in SMEs: Senior Leaders Breakfast. (soglos.com)
- Organiser: Optimising IT in partnership with DATA³. (optimisingit.co.uk, soglos.com)
- Date and time: Thursday 25 September 2025, 08:00–10:00. (soglos.com)
- Venue: The Site, 24 Chosen View Road, Cheltenham, GL51 9LT. (soglos.com)
- Admission: Free with online registration; contact: contact@optimisingit.co.uk or phone 0800 299 4060 as listed. (soglos.com)
Workshops like this are a critical lever for AI for small businesses adoption: they move leaders from "maybe" to "pilot" and, when paired with proper governance and measurement, from pilot to productive deployment. For Gloucestershire leaders seeking to cut administrative waste, unlock existing data, and experiment with Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools, this session is designed to be a pragmatic next step — provided follow‑through is disciplined and metrics are tracked. (soglos.com, optimisingit.co.uk, mdpi.com)
Source: SoGlos Brand-new workshop reveals how Gloucestershire businesses can use AI to innovate and grow