AI adoption doesn't happen overnight; it's the small, consistent steps that count. The Wirral AI Academy, powered by Pair, launched in April 2025 with businesses from over 10 industries, and most of them have seen significant changes in the way they work: from how they manage time to how they serve customers.

We spoke to several members about what they’ve learned, and what they’d say to other local businesses just starting out.

Start with the right questions:

At hi‑impact, 17 people joined the initial cohort, and a further 10 have since come on board. Kylie, their Managing Director, knew that momentum would come from the team itself. Before anyone started the programme, she asked two key questions:

1. What's the most inefficient part of their day to day?

2. What’s the part of your job you enjoy the least?

This encouraged the team to look for tasks they could “give to AI” — not to replace their skills, but to support them. Since then, they’ve streamlined internal processes and are in a process of transforming the way they work.

A standout example: responding to tenders. By combining human creativity with AI, they’ve not only cut down preparation time but also won more bids by getting AI to give them feedback and find areas of the tender that needed more work.

Small changes, big results

Other Wirral businesses are using AI in impressively practical ways:

• Magenta Living began their journey with 13 licences, and are now exploring how to roll out across the whole organisation. Ian Cresswell, Director of Technology, shared that their goal is to ensure every Copilot licence is paired with a Pair licence, explaining: "Pair is your Copilot’s Copilot." When asked about job displacement, Ian highlighted that it's all in the name: "Copilot, it's here to help you be better, not replace you." His observation so far: teams with access to both Microsoft Copilot and the AI Academy adopt AI more effectively in day‑to‑day workflows than those with just the tool. His advice? Senior leaders should make time for masterclasses - without time and space, value is left on the table.

  
  

• Heatons Group tackled one of the biggest challenges in any business: customer service. Since working with Pair, the team built an agent that helps streamline customer support queries. The agent either solves the customer’s query, routes the order to the team for processing, or sends the ticket to the right person for additional support. Response times dropped from 2–3 days to one day, helping the team meet their SLAs. The knock‑on effect: happier customers and employees who can now focus more on other projects.

  
  

• Heap & Partners export to over 85 countries, so compliance is critical. Since they started their AI journey with Pair, the quality team has been working on optimising processes and finding creative ways to provide timely support - not only within their team but also across the company. Their quality team built an AI agent that checks whether a product requires an export licence based on product codes, looks up the relevant regulation and documentation, and provides clear next steps. The result: faster exports and stronger compliance.

Across these AI adoption stories, one theme stands out: willingness to experiment, share, and learn across teams. Your biggest adoption insight may come from where you least expect it.

AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a mindset

Access to AI tools is one thing. Embedding them into your workflow is something else entirely. Regular team feedback loops, peer sharing, and cross-industry insights have all helped members spot new opportunities and reduce friction.

Whether you’re writing tenders, sorting tickets, or exporting goods, AI is already making a difference for many different businesses across the UK. The real win is empowering teams to think differently and work smarter.

Where to start: pick one process that feels inefficient and ask, “Could we do this a better way?” Pilot a small change, measure the impact, then iterate.

Are you ready to find out how AI can transform your work?