What does an AI consultant actually do for a small business?

Three things, usually. Works out which jobs in your business are worth handing to AI and which are not. Builds the tools into your existing systems so they get used rather than trialled. Trains your people to run them without needing to call anyone. Beyond Touch does all three, and plenty of clients only want one.

How long does digital transformation typically take?

Digital transformation is an ongoing journey rather than a project with a fixed endpoint. Initial pilot programmes typically run 8-12 weeks, delivering quick wins and building confidence. Broader organisational transformation unfolds over 18-36 months, with different departments adopting digital tools at varying paces. The most digitally mature organisations view transformation as continuous, constantly exploring emerging technologies and optimising existing systems rather than declaring transformation complete.

How much AI do we need before this is worth it?

None. Most of the businesses we work with have a Microsoft or Google subscription that already includes AI tools nobody has opened. The first job is usually to find the value in what you are already paying for, before anyone buys anything new.

We are a ten-person business. Is this for companies our size?

Yes, and it is arguably more useful at that size. A ten-person business feels the time saved immediately, because there is nobody spare. The work looks different from an enterprise programme: shorter, narrower, and aimed at one job at a time.

Do you work with businesses outside Lincolnshire?

Yes. Roughly half the client list is elsewhere in the UK and those sessions run online. If you are in Lincoln, Boston, Skegness or anywhere else in the county we will usually come to you, because being in the room is better when a team is learning something new.

What if AI turns out not to be the answer?

Then we say so. It happens, and it happens most often when the underlying problem is a process problem rather than a technology one. That case usually routes to process improvement instead, and nobody has spent money on tools they did not need.

How long does this take?

A readiness session is half a day. A first pilot is typically four to eight weeks from start to a result you can measure. Training runs from a single workshop to a programme spread across several months, depending on how many people need it and how deep it goes.

In-house AI training for teams, Lincolnshire and East Midlands

The licences went in first, training was supposed to follow

Most teams have access to Copilot or Claude and no idea what to do with it beyond writing emails faster. That gap is the whole reason this page exists.

Training built on your work

Not a generic course. Your actual files, your actual bottlenecks, so people are using it inside the same week rather than filing away a certificate.

You'll know whether it worked

We check something before the training starts, and check it again after. Not attendance numbers, what actually changed in how the work gets done.

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AI training for teams that will actually use it

Most AI training fails the same way. Everyone sits through a session about what large language models are, watches a few impressive demos, goes back to their desk and never opens the thing again. The content was fine. It just had nothing to do with their Tuesday.

We train people on their own work. Real tasks, from their own inbox and their own systems, in the tools your business is already paying for. People use what they have practised on something that mattered, which is why this sticks and the generic version does not.

Beyond Touch has delivered 200+ workshops and 26,000+ participant hours of direct support to 4,400+ people since 2013, with 180+ reviews rated 5.0 on Google. Sessions run in person or online, for groups from six people to several hundred.

What we train people on

Microsoft Copilot. The one most businesses already own and fewest people use. Sessions cover what it can genuinely do inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, and, just as usefully, where it is not worth the effort.

Claude and ChatGPT for daily work. Drafting, summarising, analysing, arguing with. The skill that transfers is knowing what to ask for and how to tell when the answer is wrong, which matters more than any single tool.

Prompt skills that hold up. Not a list of magic phrases. How to give a model enough context to be useful, how to iterate rather than accept the first answer, and how to build something you can reuse rather than retyping it every time.

Knowing when not to use it. Every session includes this. A team that understands where AI is unreliable uses it more confidently everywhere else, and stops the two failure modes that cause real damage: blind trust and blanket refusal.

The rules for your business. What people are allowed to put into these tools, what they are not, and who to ask. Half a session, and it prevents the awkward conversation later.

How the training runs

A single workshop. Half a day or a full day, one group, one set of tools. The usual starting point, and often enough on its own.

A programme. Several sessions across weeks or months, with the gaps used deliberately so people go and try things between them. This is what works for larger rollouts, and it is what most of the bigger engagements look like.

One to one. For owners and senior people who would rather not learn something new in front of their team. More common than you would think.

In person or online. Local work in Lincoln, Boston, Skegness and across Lincolnshire is usually face to face, because being in the room is better when people are learning something they feel uncertain about. The rest of the UK is generally online and works fine.

Group sizes run from six to several hundred. The largest current programme is a Microsoft Copilot rollout reaching up to about 1,400 staff.

What happens after the workshop

A community cook school CIC came out of an AI workshop with a list of things to do. Not a strategy document that sits in a drawer. Actual changes, and the confidence to make them. Read the full study.

A startup scuba diving centre went from invisible to visible. AI and digital skills, applied to their own marketing rather than in the abstract, by people who had never used the tools before. Read the full study.

A robotics engineering firm trained its people alongside the build. The training and the implementation happened together, which is the pattern that survives. Read the full study.

AI training across Lincolnshire and the East Midlands

We are based near Spilsby and most of our in-person work happens within an hour or so of it. Lincoln, Boston, Grantham, Newark, and across into Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.

That is where we turn up in person. Plenty of what we do is online, and it works just as well, so we train teams from Cornwall to Cumbria without anyone getting in a car. If you want somebody in the room, ask, and we will tell you honestly whether the travel is worth it for what you need.

If you want the market picture, we wrote it up separately: what business training costs in the UK, and what it returns. Short version, UK employers are spending less on training than at any point on record, at exactly the moment AI arrived and made half of what people know out of date. AI now sits alongside that work as standard, not as an add-on.

"Many business owners see training as a cost when it should be viewed as the most predictable investment you can make. Get your people skilled properly and the returns show up in weeks, not years."
Grae Laws, MD at Beyond Touch Ltd

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Questions we get asked about AI

The questions we get asked most often about AI training and implementation. If yours is not here, ask us directly.

No, and it is often easier. People who have never used it have no bad habits to unlearn. The teams that struggle are usually the ones where three people have taught themselves three different approaches and nobody has agreed which is right.

Where does AI fit in your business?

If your team has been given AI tools and is quietly not using them, that is the most common reason people call, and it is fixable in a session or two.

Call: 01790 751238
Email: info@beyondtouch.co.uk

Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, and remotely across the UK

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Over 180 reviews rated 5.0 on Google

What customers say on our Google Business Profile

"They embedded themselves within our team and implemented ongoing process improvement solutions. They are reliable, trustworthy and highly dependable. I look forward to working with them on the next project."

- Melford Technologies

"They provide a professional service that is effective and will leave a lasting impact on the business. I would have no hesitation in recommending their services. Excellent value for money."

- Allglass Facades Ltd

"I found their style to be relaxed, informative, and very constructive. We have an action plan and a great list of contacts and suggestions to take our business forward into a new era."

- Dan Medical

"This was really useful and has made me look at rationalising my range to a more realistic level. I have also benefited from the learning on supply chain strategy. I would recommend anyone taking time out of their business to look at changes that can be made."

- Mia Tui Ltd

"We had an enjoyable and productive planning session attended by our management team. As a result we have a number of production improvements and a sales plan in place. The strategic session focussed on the direction of the business, giving a much clearer vision of how to take it forward."

- Custom Cookie Company

"The strategy workshops were extremely helpful and thought provoking exercise. It has caused us to rethink a number of the ways that we are working. Discussing issues with such a knowledgeable and helpful group of business people helped not only to identify problems but to see solutions to them."

- Auberge du Chocolat

"Working with the team on project management and sales strategy has changed our business model entirely."

- EZ-Charge

"Outstanding content and structure to the session. Creative ideas and relevant experience helped move the day along. A really helpful session. Would recommend."

- Dom Reilly

"Beyond has helped Evoke develop a structure that delivers substantial improvements in production efficiency. Beyond continues to offer excellent support."

- Evoke Interactive