What’s Next? More Than You Think — Reflections from Doncaster

There’s something different about Doncaster right now. You can feel it in the room.

I’ve attended a lot of business events over the years, too many to count and I can usually tell within the first twenty minutes whether a room is just going through the motions or whether something real is happening. Today, at What’s Next in Doncaster, something real was happening. The conversations were honest, the energy was high, and the ambition in that room was palpable. As headline sponsor, Connectus was proud to be part of it , and I left with my conviction stronger than ever that the businesses of South Yorkshire and beyond have everything they need to not just survive what’s coming, but to absolutely thrive.

But let me be straight with you. There are headwinds. There are real ones, and we should name them rather than pretend they don’t exist.

The Headwinds Are Real! But So Is Your Resilience

For SMEs, 2025 and 2026 have not been straightforward. The increase in employer National Insurance contributions,  up to 15%, with the threshold slashed, has hit smaller businesses disproportionately hard. The National Living Wage rises, while right in principle, have added to an already stretched payroll for many. The Employment Rights Bill, still finding its shape, is creating uncertainty at the precise moment businesses need clarity. Business rates remain a millstone. Energy costs, though softened from their peak, still bite. And the ripple effects of US tariffs are creating turbulence in global supply chains that no UK SME can completely insulate itself from.

None of that is small. None of it should be dismissed.

But here is what I also know: British SMEs have navigated worse. The question isn’t whether the headwinds exist , it’s how you set your sails.

Lead. Boldly. Without Apology.

The theme that kept resurfacing today, in different voices and from different industries, was the need for leadership that isn’t afraid of itself. And I couldn’t agree more.

This is not the moment for cautious, hedge-everything, wait-and-see management. The businesses that come out ahead in the next three years will be the ones whose leaders made clear decisions, communicated them with conviction, and brought their people with them. Not the ones who waited for the perfect moment,  because that moment doesn’t exist.

Bold doesn’t mean reckless. It means being willing to back your judgement, make the call, and get on with it. If you’re running an SME and you’re still waiting for someone to give you permission to be ambitious ,consider this your permission. Go.

Your People Are Your Edge. Treat Them Like It.

We talked a lot today about people. How to attract them, how to keep them, how to get the best out of them. And the answer, when you strip it back, is simpler than most leaders make it.

Engage your staff , NO really engage them. Not with a survey that nobody acts on, but with genuine inclusion in the direction of the business. People want to know their work means something. They want to feel like they’re building something worth building. Create that sense of purpose and you won’t need to worry as much about retention.

Work-life balance isn’t a perk any more, it’s a baseline expectation for any talent worth having. Flexibility is not weakness. A business that trusts its people to manage their own time, and judges them on output rather than presence, will consistently outperform one that doesn’t. The pandemic proved this. We need to stop pretending it didn’t.

The best people you’ll ever hire have options. Give them a reason to choose you — and then give them reasons to stay.

Embrace AI. Now. Not Next Year.

I’ll be direct on this one, because I think too many businesses are still sitting on the fence, and the fence is not a safe place to be.

Artificial intelligence is not coming. It’s here. It’s in your competitors’ hands right now. The question is not whether AI will change your business ,it will !! but whether you are shaping that change or reacting to it.

At Connectus, we built our Evolve AI platform specifically because we saw SMEs being left behind in the AI conversation. The narrative was too often framed around large enterprises, big budgets, and long implementation cycles. That’s not the reality. AI tools are accessible, they are practical, and they can deliver productivity gains and cost reductions that make a material difference to a business of any size  starting almost immediately.

Embracing AI doesn’t mean replacing your people. It means giving your people superpowers. It means less time on admin, faster decisions, better customer experiences, and more capacity to focus on the work that genuinely requires human intelligence. If you haven’t started yet, start this week.

Connectivity and Cloud Are Not Optional

I want to say something that I believe deeply, and that I think is still undersold in conversations about business resilience: your technology infrastructure is your foundation. Everything else sits on top of it.

Fibre connectivity is not a luxury. In a world where your team is distributed, your customers are digital-first, and your data is your most valuable asset, slow or unreliable connectivity is a direct drag on growth. If your business is still limping along on inadequate broadband, fix it. Today. The cost of doing nothing is far higher than the investment in getting it right.

The same is true of a cloud-first strategy. The businesses that locked into cloud infrastructure early have been more resilient, more scalable, and more secure than those that didn’t. Cloud-first means your data is protected, your teams can work from anywhere, and your business can scale without the capital expenditure that used to be required. For an SME, that is transformative. Stop treating the cloud as something you’ll get to eventually, put it at the centre of your strategy now.

Collaboration Is Not Just a Nice Word

One of the things I love most about events like today is the reminder that business doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. The people in that room were not competitors in the ways that matter most, they were potential allies, suppliers, referrers, and champions for each other.

Collaboration is how Doncaster and every other region working to build something actually wins. No single business changes a regional economy. Ecosystems do. Supply chains built on trust and mutual investment do. Referral networks, shared knowledge, honest conversations between leaders who aren’t afraid to say “I don’t know or what did you do?”, that’s what builds something durable.

Connectus wouldn’t be where we are today without the relationships we’ve built in this region and beyond. If I could give one piece of advice to any business owner: invest in your network as seriously as you invest in anything else.

The Next Generation Is Watching And Ready

Finally, and this one I feel strongly about: we have to be more deliberate about bringing young people into the conversation. Not just as future employees, but as voices worth hearing right now.

The talent is here. In our schools, our colleges, our universities. Young people who are digitally native, energised, creative, and desperately looking for businesses that will take a chance on them and show them that there is a future worth working toward in this region.

Encouraging young people isn’t just good ethics it’s good strategy. The skills gap isn’t going to close itself. Apprenticeships, mentoring, partnerships with education, showing up at careers events, opening your doors, these are not small things. They are the long-term investments that determine whether your business has the talent it needs in five and ten years’ time.

Today reminded me why I do what I do.

Doncaster is not a city waiting to be discovered. It’s a city in motion. The businesses here have grit, they have ideas, and when they get in a room together they have a collective energy that is genuinely exciting to be part of.

The question the event posed what’s next? has many answers. AI. Fibre. Cloud. Collaboration. Purpose. Flexibility. Bold leadership. Young people.

But the common thread through all of it is the same one that’s always driven business forward: the decision to act. To back yourself. To lean into the future rather than flinch from it.

That’s what Connectus is here to support. And that’s what today was all about. The hashtag of the day #gettingthingsdone from Gemma Pebbles, CEO of Harrison College sums things up for me and will ring in my head going forward.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Connect with me on LinkedIn or reach out directly I’d love to hear what today meant to you.

Roy Shelton is CEO of Connectus, a leading provider of business connectivity, cyber security, IT managed services, and AI tools for SMEs across the UK. Connectus are proud headline sponsors of What’s Next in Doncaster.

www.connectus.org.uk | 0330 440 4848