For a smaller business, a useful AI project starts with a specific problem. It might be finding an answer in product regulations, understanding retail performance, explaining financial information or retrieving a livestock record. The test is whether the tool helps someone complete that work reliably.
The Best Application of AI in an SME category at AI Awards 2026 brings together four finalists working on different parts of that challenge: Adherent, Advise, Dimply and Herdwatch.
The profiles below summarise the official AI Awards 2026 finalist descriptions. They describe the applications, rather than independently verified performance results.
Meet the finalists
Adherent
Adherent combines regulatory expertise and agentic AI for product compliance. Its platform turns regulations into requirements, assesses products and supplies recommendations with citations, while retaining oversight and traceability.
Advise
Advise brings retail data, verified analytics and natural-language questions together for consumer-goods teams. Its commercial intelligence tools support reporting and exploration, with emerging agent workflows requiring human approval.
Dimply
Dimply’s Holi AI financial companion combines conversation with a deterministic, auditable information system. It is designed for personalised guidance in regulated financial services, with explainability and controls.
Herdwatch
Herdwatch’s Herd Intelligence lets farmers question their livestock records conversationally. It combines live farm information with agricultural knowledge to make relevant answers easier to access.
Four practical questions for an SME considering AI
The following are AI Ireland’s evaluation questions, not claims that any finalist has passed a particular test. They offer a way to assess a similar project in your own organisation.
1. Can the answer be traced to its source?
For a compliance workflow, a convincing answer is not enough. Ask whether a colleague can find the underlying requirement, check its version and understand how the recommendation was reached. Decide who reviews an uncertain answer and who takes responsibility for the final decision.
2. Does the analysis help someone take a useful action?
A conversational reporting tool should be tested against real business questions. Choose a recurring report or decision, agree the definitions behind its figures and compare the output with an approved reference. Measure the checking and correction work as well as the time spent producing the first answer.
3. Which parts must be predictable?
Separate generated explanations from calculations, permissions and rules that must behave consistently. Test what happens when information is missing or a question falls outside the tool’s remit. A clear route to a qualified person should be part of the workflow from the start.
4. Does it work with the records people actually use?
Try the tool on representative records, including incomplete or outdated entries. Check whether the answer refers to the correct record and makes gaps visible. Involve the people doing the work: a technically correct tool still needs to fit their daily routine.
Start with one workflow and a clear measure
Our recommendation for an SME is to choose one repeatable task before expanding an AI project. Give it a named owner and record the current process. Then run a limited pilot with explicit boundaries.
- Time: How long does the whole task take, including review?
- Quality: How often does the result need correction?
- Usefulness: Can the person use the answer to complete their work?
- Control: Is it clear when human approval is required?
Those measures make the next decision easier: continue, change the workflow or stop. They also create a stronger evidence base than counting how many AI features a business has introduced.
Recognition and evidence
AI Ireland organises the AI Awards. This article uses published finalist summaries alongside AI Ireland’s editorial analysis. Shortlisting is not independent verification of performance claims.
Explore the full AI Awards 2026 shortlist and our earlier article on agentic AI in practice.
See practical AI in action
Join us at AI Awards 2026 to celebrate the organisations and people putting AI to work.
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