It’s happening right now with Making Tax Digital (MTD). For years, it lingered quietly, like ambient noise. Vague. Abstract. Not urgent.
But now? Now it’s very real. Quarterly updates. Digital submissions. Workflow disruption. The firms that waited are suddenly in panic mode. And while we’re on that point: the firms that didn’t wait? They’re fine. Ready. Focused. Calm.
The lesson? Waiting doesn’t reduce the pain; it compresses it. That’s why we need to talk about AI. Not next year. Not “once it’s all settled.” But now.
Sage, ACCA and Demos recently released a report showing something many of us probably suspected: the firms adopting AI early aren’t just experimenting. They’re accelerating. Revenue growth? Triple. Time saved? Significant. New services? Absolutely. Hiring? Yes, that too. And crucially, they’re not just doing more; they’re doing better. More advisory. More value. Less admin. Less fire-fighting. They didn’t wait for regulation to push them. They didn’t wait for the tech to be flawless. They picked one thing, a single task, a single tool, and built from there. Slowly. Deliberately.
That’s the blueprint. Not disruption. Not chaos. Just smart, controlled momentum.
If you want a real-time case study in what not to do, just look at the MTD rollout. The firms that buried their heads in the sand are now rushing to train teams, choose software, redesign processes, all under pressure. All reactive. All stress. Meanwhile, firms that started early are making tweaks, not overhauls. They’re ahead, not behind.
Because change, when spread over time, becomes manageable. Regulation should not be your tech strategy. If you only act when HMRC, Companies House or the government force you to, you’re setting yourself up to always be behind. That’s how you become the Blockbuster in a world full of Netflix’s.
Let’s reframe AI. AI is not the robot overlord (It’s not the silver bullet either by the way).
But it is the shift. It’s the modernisation lever. It’s the thing that will take repetitive, low-value tasks off your plate and give you time to grow the parts of the business that matter.
Done right, AI supports the human. It doesn’t replace it. It enhances judgement, accelerates decision-making and opens up capacity. Want to spend more time advising? AI helps. Want faster onboarding? AI helps. Want fewer evenings buried in bank recs and emails? You guessed it, AI helps. And it does it without sacrificing ethics, quality or client trust.
Here’s something that my friend and colleague Zoe Lacey-Cooper says a lot and it’s stuck with me: Don’t just look at the return on investment. Look at the return on objective. In other words, what are you actually trying to build? Because if the answer is “a modern, resilient, growth-ready firm,” then AI isn’t a threat. It’s your tool. If the answer is “a team that has more time to think, advise and connect,” then AI is the route, not the risk. Tech doesn’t just save costs. It creates opportunity.
You don’t need to roll out a dozen tools tomorrow. You need to start small, focused and intentional. Start with one internal process. Find a pain point and trial something simple such as auto-reconciliation, cash flow forecasting or AI-based email assistance. Build comfort. Build evidence. Let your team see the benefit firsthand. From there, scale. Don’t rush. Don’t overcomplicate. Just move forward steadily.
Look, no one is saying tech is perfect. Or easy. Or even always fun. But I’d rather have a few awkward conversations now than a crisis conversation later. I’d rather test and learn than wait and regret. The firms that will thrive over the next decade aren’t the ones with the flashiest tools. They’re the ones with the healthiest attitude to change. The ones that saw what happened with MTD and said not this time. AI is not the disruption. Delaying is. So ask yourself, are you building a firm that waits or one that leads? Because that’s the choice now and the window’s open.
