Utilistech
SME-Scale AI Governance Frameworks for UK Businesses
The problem this solves
AI tool use across small businesses with no written policy or named owner
Utilistech builds deliberately lightweight AI governance frameworks for UK SMEs — the kind that a single accountable owner can actually run rather than a twenty-page FTSE 100 document nobody reads. The framework covers five components (ownership, acceptable use, data classification, vendor due diligence, incident response) and is designed to demonstrate due diligence to clients and regulators without requiring a compliance team.
Judgement
Five vendor questions unanswered means the tool is off the list
“If you can’t answer all five for a tool, it doesn’t go on the approved list. That’s the whole rule.”
— AI Governance for UK SMEs: A Practical Framework
Technique
Default any unclassified data to 'red — ask the owner'
“If they can’t tell, the default is “assume red — ask the owner.” That single rule prevents the majority of accidental disclosures.”
— AI Governance for UK SMEs: A Practical Framework
Experience
Banning AI outright produces the highest rate of shadow use
“Across our deployments with UK SMEs, the businesses that prohibit AI outright see the highest rates of unauthorised use, because staff need the productivity gains and find workarounds.”
— AI Governance for UK SMEs: A Practical Framework
AI governanceSmall businessData protectionGDPRAI policyVendor due diligence
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