Small steps, smart tools: how AI can free up your business

Small firms spend too much time chasing debt, 86 hours each year according to government research, time that could be spent on growing their business. Whilst the Commercial Payments Bill is proceeding at pace through Parliament and is designed to tackle the cultural and structural issues that lead to small businesses not being paid on time, there are more and more AI tools available that founders can utilise now to reduce time spent dealing with payment related activity.

As with all technology, it’s essential to understand what problem you are trying to solve by identifying what activity is taking up most of your time. When it comes to chasing payments, there are several operations that can be automated to save you valuable time and reduce errors. Here are some of the ways that we’re seeing small businesses save time with AI:

Rights & Resources

AI can quickly summarise your rights relating to a particular late payment. By providing the details of the late payment it can quickly provide links to the relevant law, to tools like the OSBC’s interest calculator and our complaints service, or where you can get further advice.

Inbox & Invoices

Many businesses use AI to review and respond to their emails. There are many platforms that can sift and sort your inbox for you, for example by flagging payment related emails and prioritising important emails relating to invoices etc.

Automatic Chasers & Awkward Chats

Certain systems will take care of the admin of sending chaser emails. They can automatically contact a company to remind them payment is due, ask for payment on the due date as well as send chasers once it is late. These can be set to automatically do the chasing when needed, saving you time to focus on other aspects of your business. I’ve even come across some founders who set up a separate email address for these messages to make the chasing process less personal and awkward. It also affords you a route of escalation by sending a personal message if the automated chasers don’t work.

To get started, pick one small, low-risk task, perhaps drafting routine customer replies or automating invoice reminders, and try it for a month. See what works, adjust as you go, and build confidence before expanding into other areas of your business. You do not need a big budget or technical expertise to begin  –  more than likely some of the digital tools and software you already use in your business will have built-in AI capability.

For further ideas on reducing payment-related admin with AI and for good practice when it comes to governance, check out the guidance from my Office, Using AI to outrun late payments. See how a few smart, targeted changes could free up time for what matters most: running your business.

Key takeaways

• Small businesses waste an average of 86 hours annually chasing unpaid invoices, highlighting a significant productivity loss.
• AI can streamline debt collection by summarizing late payment rights, making it easier for businesses to understand their legal position.
• Automated email review and response tools can handle inquiries about unpaid invoices, reducing manual workload.
• AI-driven chaser email automation can consistently follow up on overdue payments without human intervention.
• Start by implementing AI on a low‑risk, small task to test its benefits before expanding its use across the debt recovery process.

The post Small steps, smart tools: how AI can free up your business appeared first on Elite Business Magazine.