AGMM & Partners
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AGMM & Partners
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Learn

Learn AI and automation for your business, inplain English.

A proper learning library, not a blog: how-tos, tools explained, fundamentals for non-techies, and the honest business case. Written by a Manchester team that builds AI products for a living. No hype, no jargon, no filler.

8 courses34 starter guides10 interactive toolsfree resources

Browse by topic

Practical automationsStep-by-step how-tos for the jobs that eat your week: email, quoting, invoicing, admin and follow-ups.ReadAI tools explainedWhat the tools actually do, which ones are worth your money, and how to tell the useful from the hype.ReadChoosing and using AIWhich model or tool fits which job, how to pick without the hype, and how to get real work out of it.ReadBuilding an AI-ready businessGiving your AI the context of your business, and rolling it out across a team without the chaos.ReadFundamentals for non-techiesThe concepts, the jargon and the myths, in plain English, for owners with no tech background.ReadSafety and privacyWhat is safe to paste, keeping customer data protected, and using AI sensibly. General guidance, not legal advice.ReadBusiness case & ROIWorking out what a task really costs, what automating it saves, and how to justify the spend.Read

Take a course

Go from curious to confident, in order.

Guides are for dipping in. Courses take you step by step: short lessons, a quick check on each, and a clear thing you can do by the end. Your progress saves in your own browser, no sign-up.

Beginner3 lessons~15 minAI in 15 minutes: a tasterA three-lesson taste of AI for your business: what it is and isn't, the one safety rule that saves trouble, and five jobs to try this week. No sign-up.Start the courseBeginner8 lessons~60 minAI for Business: zero to confidentThe full beginner course for UK business owners. Eight short lessons that take you from unsure to genuinely confident: what AI is, how to use it safely, the real jobs it does well, and where it falls down. No jargon, no coding, no hype.Start the courseBeginner9 lessons~75 minAutomate your operationsNine practical lessons that take real jobs off your plate: invoice chasing, missed calls, repeat emails, booking, review requests, and how to connect your tools so one thing triggers another. Set up as you go.Start the course

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Start here

Genuinely useful guides to get you moving.

Choosing and using AI

Which model or tool fits which job, how to pick without the hype, and how to get real work out of it.

Choosing AIBeginnerThe five-tool stack most small businesses actually needYou do not need fifty AI tools. You need about five, one for each real job. A plain-English guide to the stack that covers a small business without the subscription bloat.5 min readRead the guideChoosing AIBeginnerWhich AI model should you use?A plain-English guide to picking the right AI model for the job in front of you, sorted by what you actually need it to do. No jargon, no benchmark charts, just sensible defaults.5 min readRead the guideChoosing AIBeginnerChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini for everyday business workAn honest, dated comparison of the three big AI assistants for non-technical business owners: where each one shines, the free-tier reality, and why picking one and learning it beats endless comparison.4 min readRead the guideChoosing AIIntermediateFast and cheap vs slow and smart: picking the right modelEvery AI family gives you a trade-off between speed, cost and brainpower. Here is how to read it in plain terms and match the setting to the job, so you never overpay for simple work or under-power the hard stuff.5 min readRead the guideChoosing AIBeginnerBest AI for writing and draftingWhich AI is best for writing emails, proposals and everyday copy, in plain English. What to use for quick drafts versus important documents, and how to keep it sounding like you.4 min readRead the guideChoosing AIIntermediateBest AI for analysis and working with numbersWhich AI to use for spreadsheets, figures and making sense of data, in plain English. Where AI genuinely helps with analysis, where it quietly gets numbers wrong, and how to check its working.4 min readRead the guideChoosing AIIntermediateBest AI for customer service and repliesWhich AI to use for handling customer messages and drafting replies, in plain English. What to automate, what to keep a human on, and how to pick a model that is fast enough without going off-script.4 min readRead the guideChoosing AIBeginnerBest AI for research and summarisingWhich AI to use for reading long documents, summarising and looking things up, in plain English. What handles a big report well, when you need one that searches the live web, and how to catch made-up facts.4 min readRead the guideChoosing AIIntermediateBest AI for building things (for non-coders commissioning it)You are not writing the code, but you are paying for it. Which AI actually builds software well, what to ask whoever is building for you, and how to tell good work from a demo that falls over.4 min readRead the guide

Building an AI-ready business

Giving your AI the context of your business, and rolling it out across a team without the chaos.

AI-readyBeginnerWhy your AI needs a brain: the context problem explainedGeneric AI gives generic answers because it does not know your business. Here is what context and memory actually mean in plain English, and why giving your AI a brain is the difference between a party trick and a proper tool.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyBeginnerRAG without the jargonRAG is one of those acronyms that sounds technical and means something simple: the AI reads your documents first, then answers from them. Here is what that actually does, why it stops the making-up, and when a business genuinely needs it.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateRolling AI out to your team without chaosHow to go from one person using AI to a whole team using it well: shared tools, simple ground rules, keeping data safe, controlling cost, and getting the sceptics on board.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateHow we run our own AI brainA first-hand, honest look at running a persistent context system for a business: writing down your prices, policies, tone and FAQs so the AI answers as your business would. What we learned building ours, and why it changed what we can make.6 min readRead the guideAI-readyBeginnerA one-page AI policy for small teamsA plain-English template you can copy and adapt: what AI is fine for, what it must never touch, what you should never paste in, and who to ask. General guidance, not legal advice.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateBuild a second brain for your business this weekYou do not need a budget, a developer or a fancy platform to give your AI a brain. Here is a practical, tool-agnostic plan to write your business down and get the AI answering from it, start to finish, in a single week.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateShared tools and shared context for teamsHow to get a whole team giving consistent answers: one main assistant everyone uses, and one shared brain of your prices, tone and standard replies so the output sounds like one company, not ten strangers.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateControlling AI costs across a teamThe per-seat maths in plain terms: how a sensible tool becomes a line item nobody can explain, how to avoid subscription sprawl, and three habits that keep the bill in hand. Cost bands, not live prices.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateWhat to put in your business knowledge base (and what to leave out)More is not better. A knowledge base stuffed with noise makes your AI worse, not smarter. Here is what earns its place, what quietly poisons the answers, and the simple test for deciding either way.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyBeginnerGetting sceptical staff to actually use AIThe change-management side of a rollout: why people resist, why a mandate backfires, and how to turn doubters into keen users by saving them an hour on the job they hate most.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyAdvancedKnowledge base, fine-tuning or prompting: which do you actually need?Three ways to make AI work for your business, and a lot of noise about which is best. The honest answer for almost every small business owner is not the one that gets sold hardest. Here is what each really does and which one to reach for first.5 min readRead the guideAI-readyIntermediateGiving AI your prices, policies and tone without the mistakesThe three things that turn a generic AI into one that answers like your business: your prices, your policies and your voice. Here is how to hand each one over so the AI gets it right, and the traps that make it get it wrong.5 min readRead the guide

Fundamentals for non-techies

The concepts, the jargon and the myths, in plain English, for owners with no tech background.

FundamentalsBeginnerAI without the jargon: a plain-English starterNo tech background needed. What AI actually is, what it is genuinely good and bad at, the myths to drop, and a first, safe way to try it this week.4 min readRead the guideFundamentalsBeginnerHow to write a prompt that actually worksMost disappointing AI answers come down to how you asked, not the tool. Here is the plain-English method for turning a vague request into a prompt that gets you a usable answer on the first go, not the fifth.7 min readRead the guideFundamentalsBeginnerPrompting for different jobs: writing, checking and commissioning tech workThe same prompting habits work differently depending on what you're doing. Three real, worked examples for writing, analysis and briefing technical work, before and after.5 min readRead the guideFundamentalsBeginnerCommon prompting mistakes and how to fix themThe same handful of habits trip up almost every business owner who tries AI for the first time. Here are the real mistakes UK trades and small businesses make when prompting, each with a before and an after.5 min readRead the guideFundamentalsIntermediatePrompting for your specific businessGood prompting technique still hits a wall if the AI doesn't know your prices, your policies or your voice. Here is how the way you ask and what it knows work together, and why one without the other only gets you halfway.5 min readRead the guide

Free resources

Free downloads to put it into practice.

Checklists, templates and worksheets that turn the guides into action. The list isn't switched on yet, so these are marked coming soon. Leave your email at an event and you'll get them first.

Checklist · PDF

The AI Readiness Checklist

A one-page check to see where your business stands and the three things to sort before you spend a penny on tools.

The list isn't switched on yet. Leave it with us at an event and we'll send this the day it's ready.

Template pack · Sheets

10 Automations for UK SMEs

A ready-to-use pack of the ten highest-payback automations, with the exact tools and settings for each.

The list isn't switched on yet. Leave it with us at an event and we'll send this the day it's ready.

Worksheet · Sheet

Automation ROI Worksheet

The full version of our calculator: price a task, work out the saving, and get a clear go or no-go.

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Glossary · PDF

Plain-English AI Glossary

Every term worth knowing, in one printable page, with a note on which ones you can safely ignore.

The list isn't switched on yet. Leave it with us at an event and we'll send this the day it's ready.

See all free resources

Try it yourself

Tools that do the thinking for you.

PickerWhich AI model should I use?Five quick questions and a plain-English recommendation: the kind of model to reach for, a named current example and one honest caveat.Open the toolGeneratorWhat should I automate first?Pick your industry and the jobs that eat your week. It ranks the automations worth setting up first, each with a rough payback and a how-to.Open the toolBuilderAI prompt builderTurn your task, audience, tone, format and one example into a clear, copy-ready prompt for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Built live as you type.Open the toolCalculatorAutomation time-savings calculatorPut in your hours and rate. It works out the time and money you would get back by automating a task, live.Open the toolAssessmentAI readiness self-assessmentSix quick questions and a plain-English score telling you how ready your business is to start, and the first step to take.Open the toolQuizHow much do you actually know about AI?Six myths, plain English, no judgement. Find out which ones you might have fallen for, and where to go next.Open the toolQuizWhich of your tasks should you automate first?Six questions about how you actually spend your week, and a straight answer on which job to automate first.Open the toolQuizIs your data safe with AI?Six honest questions about what you are actually pasting into AI tools, and where it really goes.Open the toolQuizAre you ready to roll AI out to your team?You have made AI work for you. Six questions on whether it survives contact with the rest of the team.Open the toolQuizWhich AI tool should you actually pay for?Six questions about what you do all day, and one honest answer on the tool worth paying for first.Open the tool

Look it up

Reference you can come back to.

GlossaryAI jargon in plain EnglishEvery term worth knowing, what it means, and whether you actually need to care.OpenComparisonWhich AI model for which jobClaude, GPT, Gemini and open models compared. Best for, speed, cost bands and free tiers. Dated, no hype.OpenDirectoryTools that are worth itA curated, honest shortlist of AI and automation tools, with a real reason each one made the list.OpenWatch & learnVideos actually worth your timeA short, honest list of real AI and automation videos and channels, picked for business owners, not developers.Open

Also worth reading

Insights: the timely stuff

Learn is the evergreen library. Insights is where we write about what's new and what's changed: quicker reads on tools, trends and what we're seeing work right now.

Read the Insights

Do it with us

Reading is one thing. Building it is another.

Bring the task you hate most to our AI Automation Masterclass in Manchester. Half a day at Heron House, laptops open, and you leave with a working automation for your own business and a plan to keep going. Tickets are normally £20. This one's free, a limited-time offer to launch the series.

Reserve your seat

Thu 13 August · 10:00–15:00 · Heron House · 50 seats