Happy Sunday {{first_name | Reader}},

AI has come up in almost every conversation this past week, from the launch of the Emerging TEC incubator in Cheshunt to Broxbourne's recently announced business grant, funded through the Section 106 agreement with Google.

But one question keeps coming back to me: how much are our local businesses actually making use of AI, and what opportunities might they be missing?

I'm exploring that question, and it's leading to something happening next month. Here's what I've discovered so far, and why I think it matters to Broxbourne.

Picture this - a restaurant owner finishes a busy lunch service, sits down for a moment, and remembers the unanswered messages on their phone. There are bookings to confirm, invoices to chase, reviews to respond to and social media posts to write before tomorrow.

A tradesperson is driving between jobs, missing calls from potential customers. A charity manager is trying to stretch a small team across a growing list of people who need help.

These are everyday realities for businesses and organisations across Broxbourne. And they are exactly the kinds of problems artificial intelligence could help with.

Last September, Google opened its data centre in Waltham Cross as part of a £5 billion UK investment in AI and digital infrastructure. The facility supports services such as Google Cloud, Search and Maps, which people and businesses use every day. .

It is a significant development for the borough. But while the infrastructure powering the AI economy is here on our doorstep, I keep wondering whether the small businesses and charities that make Broxbourne what it is are getting enough practical benefit from it.

Because the opportunity isn't just about technology. It's about what it could mean for the people who live and work here.

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Think about the independent café where someone knows your usual order. The barber who has looked after the same families for years. The accountant who helps a new business owner navigate their first tax return. The charity supporting a family going through a difficult time.

These businesses and organisations do much more than sell products or provide services. They employ local people, support community events, sponsor children's football teams and help our high streets feel like places where people belong.

When a local business succeeds, the benefits often reach further than its owner. When one closes, we lose more than a shopfront. We lose jobs, relationships and another reason for people to spend time in their own town.

Yet running one of these businesses is rarely straightforward.

The owner is often the person answering customer enquiries, managing staff, keeping the accounts, updating social media and making sure the doors open on time. Charities face their own pressures, with small teams balancing administration, fundraising and the needs of the people they serve.

I know how easy it is for the important work to get pushed aside by the urgent work.

That is why I believe the conversation about AI needs to start with a simple question: could this help you run your business better, without asking you to work even harder?

AI is already familiar to many people. You might have used ChatGPT to draft an email, asked Gemini to help plan a holiday, or used an AI tool to tidy up a document.

For a small business owner, that can be genuinely useful. A social media post that once took half an hour might take five minutes. A difficult email becomes easier to write. A first draft of a marketing plan is ready before the kettle boils.

But writing content is only one part of what AI can do.

Imagine a restaurant that could respond to booking enquiries while the team is busy serving customers. A tradesperson who could automatically follow up with someone who requested a quote but never booked. A charity that could spend less time sorting routine enquiries and more time supporting the people who contact it.

These are examples of how AI can help with the work around a business, not simply help its owner write about the business.

And there is a distinction worth understanding. Some AI tools help you complete a task when you ask them to. Others can be configured to carry out parts of a workflow automatically, following defined instructions and appropriate safeguards.

The second category is where things get particularly interesting. It can help a business respond more consistently, follow up more reliably and reduce the number of things that depend on someone remembering to do them at the end of an exhausting day.

Of course, not every task should be automated. Personal relationships, sensitive decisions and situations requiring human judgement still need people involved. The goal is to remove unnecessary friction, not remove the human touch that makes a good local business worth returning to.

Let me give you a practical example.

Imagine someone visits your restaurant for the first time. They enjoy the food, have a lovely evening and leave happy. But life gets busy, and they don't return for another three months.

Now imagine having a simple way to recognise customers who haven't visited in a while and invite them back with a relevant, personal message, where they have agreed to receive marketing.

Or imagine that your phone rings during the dinner rush. Every member of staff is serving customers, so nobody can answer. The caller moves on and makes a booking somewhere else.

What if a well-configured AI phone assistant could answer routine enquiries and help take bookings, while passing unusual or sensitive situations to a member of staff?

Neither idea requires a large technology department. Depending on the systems already in place, a small business may be able to start with a relatively simple tool and build from there.

The point isn't to adopt AI because everyone is talking about it. It's to identify where your business is losing time, missing opportunities or making work harder than it needs to be, then see whether technology can help.

I've been exploring these opportunities with local businesses, particularly restaurants. Partly because I enjoy eating out, but also because hospitality makes the challenge very visible. The customer experience might last an hour, but the work behind it starts long before the customer arrives and continues after they've left.

It has also shaped my own work building TablePulse, an AI-powered platform designed to help independent restaurants handle phone enquiries, manage customer engagement and encourage repeat visits.

I don't believe technology can replace the welcome of a good host or the care of a restaurant team. I do believe it can help make sure fewer customers slip through the cracks while that team is doing what it does best.

Large businesses have teams dedicated to technology, operations and innovation. They can pay specialists to identify opportunities, test products and integrate new systems.

Most independent businesses don't have that luxury.

That doesn't mean they cannot benefit from AI. In some ways, a small business has an advantage. Decisions can be made quickly, processes are often simpler, and the owner can see immediately whether a change is helping.

But there is a catch. Owners need to know where to start, which tools are appropriate, what they will cost and how to use them safely.

There are also real risks. Customer information should not be pasted carelessly into AI tools. Important outputs need checking. Subscription costs can accumulate, and businesses need to understand what happens to their data before adopting a service.

The answer isn't to rush into buying every new AI product. It is to approach the technology with curiosity, clear priorities and sensible safeguards.

Our local businesses don't need to become technology companies. They need practical ways to use technology to become better businesses.

My interest in this goes beyond being a technology enthusiast.

I've spent around 15 years working in financial services, product strategy and digital transformation, including helping organisations understand how technology can improve the way they operate. More recently, I've been building AI-powered workflows and exploring how these capabilities can solve everyday business problems.

I'm also the editor of Broxtown. I hear about the pressures facing local businesses, the people working hard to keep them going and the importance of having a thriving local economy.

So when I was selected for the 2026 Google Data Center Community AI Fellowship, delivered with the Watson Institute, I saw an opportunity to bring those two worlds together.

The fully funded, 16-week programme supports entrepreneurs and community leaders in areas hosting Google data centres. Fellows learn about entrepreneurship and AI, receive mentoring and develop practical workshops for their communities.

As part of the Fellowship, I'm organising a local event to help business owners and community organisations explore what AI could mean for them in practice.

I don't want it to be another event where people hear impressive predictions about the future, collect a few slides and return to exactly the same problems on Monday morning.

I want people to leave with ideas they can actually use.

I'm hosting a Google Basecamp event called How AI Can Help Your Business Get More Customers at Fishy Delishy in Cheshunt.

Although the session title highlights restaurants, the event is open to businesses and charities across Broxbourne. Whether you run a salon, a building firm, an independent shop, a professional services business or a community organisation, there should be something useful for you.

We'll explore practical ways AI can help you attract customers, respond to enquiries, reduce repetitive administration and make better use of the time and information you already have.

There will be demonstrations, contributions from Google and Fellowship members, Herts Chamber of Commerce, Broxbourne Council and local business owners, as well as an opportunity to ask questions and learn from others.

I'll also demonstrate TablePulse, the platform I've been building for independent restaurants, to show how some of these ideas can work in a real business setting.

You don't need to understand AI. You don't need to have bought any software. And you certainly don't need to arrive with a grand digital transformation strategy.

Just bring a genuine business challenge. Perhaps you're spending too much time answering the same questions, struggling to follow up with potential customers, or trying to keep up with marketing while running everything else.

Let's explore whether AI can help.

Google Basecamp: How AI Can Help Your Business Get More Customers

Find out more and register.

Places are limited, so please register in advance.

We have world-class digital infrastructure arriving in our area. We have entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, tradespeople, professionals and community organisations who understand their customers better than any technology ever could.

The opportunity is to bring those strengths together.

I want to see local businesses spending less time buried in administration and more time serving customers, developing their teams and building something sustainable. I want charities to spend more of their limited resources on their communities. And I want business owners to have access to the knowledge and support that might otherwise be reserved for much larger organisations.

That won't happen because someone installs an AI tool and hopes for the best. It will happen when people understand their options, experiment with the right problems and learn from one another.

If you've been curious about AI but haven't known where to begin, this is your invitation.

Come along, bring a challenge you're trying to solve, and leave with a clearer idea of what AI could do for your business.

The technology is already here. Let's make sure our local businesses have a meaningful opportunity to benefit from it.

Get your ticket now >

Emeka Ogbonnaya is the editor of Broxtown and a Google Data Center Community AI Fellow. He is also the founder of TablePulse and Townstead AI. TablePulse will feature in the event demonstration. The event is designed to offer practical learning across a range of AI tools and use cases, not just those developed by the editor.

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Broxtown Editorial Team

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