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How to Build a RAG Chatbot on Azure UK South Using Your Own Company Documents Without a Data Science Team

How to Build a RAG Chatbot on Azure UK South Using Your Own Company Documents Without a Data Science Team

Retrieval-augmented generation lets a chatbot answer questions using your own company documents rather than general internet knowledge. Azure now makes this buildable in a day, with all data staying in the UK South region. This guide walks through the three Azure services you need — Azure AI Search for retrieval, Azure OpenAI Service for the language model, and Azure AI Foundry as the orchestration layer — from a Basic-tier pilot costing around £120 per month to a production deployment handling thousands of daily queries. No Python scripting is required for the initial build: Foundry's guided 'On Your Data' experience handles indexing, chunking and prompt configuration through a browser interface. The article covers architecture options, realistic cost breakdowns for 50-person and 200-person organisations, failure modes worth planning for, and a 12-point checklist to run before going live.

Thomas Burke 26 February 2026
Google Gemini for Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Copilot for a Small UK Team on a Per-Seat Budget

Google Gemini for Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Copilot for a Small UK Team on a Per-Seat Budget

Google bundles Gemini AI into every Workspace plan at no extra charge. Microsoft sells Copilot as a £16.10-per-user add-on on top of your existing Microsoft 365 licence. For a 10-person UK team, that gap adds up to roughly £1,932 per year — and it widens further after July 2026, when Microsoft restructures its licensing into new Copilot bundles with higher base prices. But cost alone does not settle the question. Copilot sits inside Excel, Word and Outlook — the tools that dominate UK office work. Gemini lives in Google Docs, Sheets and Gmail, with a 1-million-token context window that lets it chew through entire document sets in one go. This piece compares both AI assistants head-to-head across the workflows, costs and gotchas that matter to a small UK team deciding where to spend.

Kate Bennett 26 February 2026

Do You Need a Server? A Plain English Guide for Small Teams

Wondering if your small business needs its own server? This guide explains what servers actually do, when you need one, and the cheapest ways to get started—written for people who aren't tech experts.

CTC Editorial 30 January 2026
AI technology transforming UK SME business operations

The AI Reality Check - State of UK SME Adoption in 2025

As artificial intelligence reshapes industries worldwide, UK small and medium enterprises face a pivotal question: embrace the AI revolution or risk being left behind? This comprehensive analysis examines the current state of AI adoption among UK SMEs, exploring why 85% of small businesses haven't yet embraced AI, profiles success stories from early adopters, and provides a practical roadmap for implementation.

CTC Editorial 16 January 2026