AI: Curious to Capable: Moving from AI Curiosity to Measurable Business Value
SMEs are AI curious. They know AI matters but very few know what to do about it.
Research consistently shows that fewer than one in ten European SMEs have adopted AI in any meaningful way. The majority are stuck at the starting line, caught between curiosity and confusion, bombarded by vendor promises, and unsure where to begin.
AI: Curious to Capable is a practical guide for business owners, founders, and senior leaders who want to move beyond the noise and start making real progress. Written by Stephen Redmond, founder of Strait is AI, a senior data and AI adviser with over thirty years of experience, this book introduces the Six-Pillar Framework, a structured approach to assessing AI maturity and building capability across the dimensions that actually determine success.
The book walks through each stage of AI maturity, from organisations where AI is completely absent to those where it is embedded in daily operations. It uses composite scenarios drawn from real advisory experience to show what each stage looks like in practice, what the common mistakes are, and what it takes to move forward.
Topics include:
The current state of AI adoption in SMEs
The EU AI Act and what it means before August 2026
How to build AI literacy across your workforce
How to evaluate external partners and avoid common traps
How to sequence investment so each step builds on the last
This is not a book about AI technology. It is a book about organisational AI maturity. If you have been wondering what AI should mean for your business and how to approach it without the hype, this is where to start.
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