The 5 AI Tools Every Small Business Owner Should Test in FY27

New financial year, new spreadsheet you swear you'll keep updated this time. While you're in a fresh-start mood, here's something more useful than another colour-coded budget: a shortlist of five AI tools actually worth your time in FY27.

I've picked these by job, not by hype. Nobody needs "the 47 AI tools that will CHANGE EVERYTHING". You need something that helps with the writing, the meetings, the graphics, the books and the inbox — the five jobs that eat your week. One tool per job, a 10-minute test for each, and roughly what it costs. (Already sorted your Monday admin? Jump straight to the Monday admin prompts instead.)

A quick rule before we start: don't sign up for all five this week. Pick the job that annoys you most and test that one. The rest will still be there next month. AI tools are like gym memberships — buying five at once doesn't make you fitter, it just makes you poorer.

1. Writing and admin: Claude (or ChatGPT — pick one, not both)

What it does: a general AI assistant you type to like a slightly overqualified employee — it drafts emails, quotes, job ads, policies, social posts and summaries from whatever you give it.

Your 10-minute test: find an email you've been avoiding writing — the awkward price-rise one, the chasing-an-overdue-invoice one. Tell the AI who it's to, what you need to say, and how you want to sound ("firm but friendly, we like this customer"). Ask for two versions. You won't send either as-is, but you'll send something in 10 minutes instead of avoiding it for another week.

Rough cost: both have free versions that are genuinely fine for testing. Paid plans are around US$20 a month — call it $30-something Australian, but check current pricing because it moves around.

Which one? Honestly, either. Test the free version of one for a fortnight before paying for anything.

2. Meetings: Fathom

What it does: joins your Zoom, Teams or Google Meet calls, records them, and hands you a summary with action items — so you can actually be in the meeting instead of scribbling notes.

Your 10-minute test: the ten minutes here is setup — connect it to your calendar, then let it sit in your next client call. Afterwards, compare its action list to what you remember. Most people find at least one thing they'd forgotten by lunch. Do tell the other person it's recording; it announces itself, but a heads-up is basic manners.

Rough cost: there's a free plan, though the free AI summaries are more limited than they used to be. Paid plans start around US$15-19 a month — check current pricing before committing.

3. Design: Canva Magic Studio

What it does: Canva you probably already know; Magic Studio is its built-in AI — it resizes one design for every platform, swaps backgrounds, generates images and rewrites your on-design text.

Your 10-minute test: open a social post you've already made. Use Magic Switch to turn it into an Instagram story, a Facebook post and an email header in one go. Then try Magic Edit to remove the bin that's lurking in the background of your best product photo. That's the whole test — it either just saved you an hour or it didn't.

Rough cost: a lot of it works on the free plan with limited uses. Canva Pro is around US$15 a month (Canva's Australian, so AUD pricing is on their site — check current rates).

4. Bookkeeping and numbers: JAX, Xero's AI assistant

What it does: JAX (Just Ask Xero) sits inside Xero and answers plain-English questions about your own numbers — who owes you money, how this quarter compares to last — and helps with tasks like chasing invoices.

Your 10-minute test: if you're on Xero, ask JAX three questions you'd normally dig through reports for: "Who are my slowest-paying customers?", "How did last quarter compare to the one before?", "What invoices are overdue right now?" Judge it on whether the answers match what your bookkeeper would say. (Availability depends on your plan and region — check what's switched on in your account.)

Rough cost: it's built into Xero rather than a separate subscription, so the real question is what your Xero plan costs. If you're on MYOB or QuickBooks, they're building similar assistants — poke around your own software before adding anything new.

5. Customer replies: the AI already in your inbox

What it does: if you're on Google Workspace, Gemini now lives inside Gmail and drafts replies, summarises long threads and finds things buried in your inbox. Microsoft 365 users have Copilot doing the same in Outlook.

Your 10-minute test: open your three most routine customer emails — the "do you have this in stock", the "what are your hours", the "can I change my booking". Ask it to draft replies. Edit for your voice (more on that in how to build a voice file so AI stops sounding like a robot), send. Time yourself against your usual pace.

Rough cost: Gemini is included in current Google Workspace Business plans; Copilot may cost extra depending on your Microsoft plan. Check what you're already paying for — there's a decent chance you own one of these and have never clicked the button.

The honest wrap-up

None of these will run your business for you, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. But each one, tested properly, gives you back an hour or three a week. And notice the pattern in the costs: two of the five are probably hiding inside subscriptions you already pay for, and the rest have free versions good enough to judge them on. Testing all five costs you fifty minutes and zero dollars.

So pick the job that hurts most, book 10 minutes in your calendar this week — actually book it, or we both know what happens — and run the test. If the tool fails, you've lost ten minutes. If it passes, you've found your first hire of FY27, and it doesn't even want a desk.

Once you've picked a tool, give it something to do straight away — the Monday admin prompt pack is copy-paste ready, no blank-page staring required.