Hi

When I speak to clients who’ve “experimented with AI”, I often hear something like this:
 

“We tried ChatGPT, played around with a few reports, but nothing really changed.”

That’s not failure. That’s exactly what happens when AI is bolted on instead of built in.

And that’s the crux of the “AI paradox” we’re facing: widespread enthusiasm and adoption... with almost no measurable impact on performance.

The False Start of AI

Most small businesses — and many accountancy firms — are stuck in what I’d call the novelty phase. You've got AI generating LinkedIn posts, writing meeting notes, maybe summarising a PDF or two.

It’s clever. It saves time. But it’s not changing how work flows through the business. It’s not shifting margin. It’s not unlocking new capacity or revenue.

That’s because most AI implementations today are assistants. They react to prompts. They help humans do the same things a bit faster. But they don’t own outcomes.

Agentic AI flips that on its head.

What Is Agentic AI (And Why Should You Care)?

Agentic AI is the next evolution. It's not just a chatbot that waits for you to ask it a question.

An AI agent is:

• Autonomous: it initiates actions based on goals, not just prompts.
• Integrated: it works across your tools — email, calendar, CRM, accounting.
• Proactive: it tracks progress, makes decisions, and adapts in real time.

Think of it like giving your business an invisible employee. One who never sleeps, never forgets, and is laser-focused on a defined outcome.

The Big Mistake: Focusing on Tools, Not Outcomes

Here’s the trap: business owners get excited about the tech, not the transformation. Instead, ask this:
 

“What decisions in my business are still too slow, inconsistent, or expensive?”
 

That’s where agents belong. For example:

• Are you checking gross margin regularly across your products or services?
• Are you consistently following up leads within 24 hours?
• Are your management accounts timely, insightful, and actionable?

Now ask: Could a machine do that better, faster, or more reliably?

From Assistant to Agent: A Real Example

Let’s say you run a small but growing e-commerce business. You’ve got:

• Sales data in Shopify
• Advertising spend in Meta and Google
• Stock levels in a spreadsheet
• Bookkeeping in Xero

Today, someone (probably you or your accountant) pulls that together once a month, tries to make sense of it, and maybe makes a few decisions.

An agentic AI system would:

1. Automatically extract and reconcile data from all those sources.
2. Calculate real-time gross margin per product and campaign.
3. Flag any product where ad spend is rising and margin is falling.
4. Email you a Monday morning summary with suggested actions.

That’s not just efficiency. That’s real-time decision support. That’s scale.

The Five Shifts of Agentic Thinking

Agentic AI only delivers results when you rethink how work happens in your business. Here’s what that looks like:

If you’re serious about leveraging AI, these are the mindset shifts that matter.

So What Should You Do Now?

Let me give you five practical steps you can take this week:

1. Pick one recurring business outcome you want to improve.
   Examples: follow up every sales lead within 2 hours, monitor customer satisfaction daily, send monthly management reports by the 2nd working day.
2. Map the data and tools involved.
   Where is the data? Who touches the process? What decisions are made?
3. Write a “job description” for an ideal agent.
   E.g. “Monitor gross margin across all product lines weekly and alert me if margin drops below 30%.”
4. Choose one platform to prototype with.
   Options include:
   • Make.com (automation builder)
   • OpenAI GPTs (build custom agents)
   • Zapier (simpler task automation)
   • Xero + Fathom (accounting insights)
   • Whalesync or Airtable (sync and structure data)
5. Test and iterate.
   Set a single KPI and measure the impact over 30 days. If it saves time or drives better decisions — scale it.

Let’s Be Clear: This Isn’t About Replacing People

It’s about giving small businesses access to capabilities that used to require a full team. You don’t need 10 employees to run a scalable business. You need the right humans working with the right agents.

This is especially true in accountancy and bookkeeping. Advisory services, forecasting, cashflow management — these are ripe for agentic workflows that free up your time and deepen your insight.

Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast

Most AI fails because it’s a hobby, not a strategy. But with agentic AI, small businesses have an edge. You’re nimble, tech-comfortable, and able to act quickly without bureaucracy.

Start with one meaningful workflow. Automate the outcome, not just the task.
Then build from there.

Noel Guilford

PS This is the first Article in the series: Scaling Smart with Agentic AI. Look out for the next in the series Rewiring Your Finance Function with Agentic AI — how accountants and business owners can automate decision-making, improve margin visibility, and elevate financial control using intelligent agents.