A new collaboration between Google Digital Garage and technology consultancy AND Digital is targeting one of the most urgent challenges for small and medium-sized businesses – keeping pace with rapid advances in artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.
The partnership has produced eight trainer-led courses designed to equip business owners and employees with practical skills in AI, cloud computing and data, alongside leadership and problem-solving. The aim is to ensure that businesses not only understand emerging technologies but can apply them effectively to drive growth and adapt to changing markets.
The initiative builds on research from AND Digital’s “The Nature of the Digital Skills Gap” report, which highlighted the pressures companies face in navigating digital transformation. Google Digital Garage, which offers free skills training to help people grow their careers and businesses, sought to expand its curriculum with topics reflecting the technologies shaping the future workplace.
Practical learning for an AI-driven economy
The courses, developed through research and user insights, are structured to provide actionable learning outcomes rather than abstract theory. Participants are taught how to integrate AI and digital tools into their operations immediately, with the goal of making technology adoption less daunting for organisations with limited in-house expertise.
More than 3,400 learners have already completed the new modules. In addition to developing the content, AND Digital trained Google’s own trainers to deliver the material, enabling the programme to scale without compromising quality. This approach is intended to ensure the courses remain accessible to a wide audience while keeping pace with the latest technological developments.
Sarah Lewin, Product Marketing Manager for Grow with Google, said the collaboration benefited from AND Digital’s “broad range of technical expertise and first-hand experience in helping businesses with digital transformation”, which helped shape a curriculum relevant to the needs of learners across different sectors.
Keeping up with AI advancements
One of the challenges in any AI skills initiative is the pace at which the technology evolves. The partnership has addressed this by aligning course updates with major Google announcements, including those from Google I/O and Gemini product releases, to ensure that learners receive the most current guidance.
Mike Lee, President of AND Digital, said the courses reflect a reality where digital capabilities are “critical to business resilience and growth”. By combining Google’s reach with AND Digital’s expertise, he said, the programme enables more businesses to “seize digital opportunities and build resilience in an increasingly competitive market”.
For many small and medium-sized enterprises, the leap into AI is hindered by uncertainty over where to start and how to manage change alongside day-to-day operations. By offering structured, trainer-led support grounded in both technical and human skills, the Google–AND Digital initiative is attempting to bridge that gap.
The early adoption figures suggest there is significant appetite among business owners and employees to gain confidence with AI and related technologies. As the programme continues to expand and evolve, it will provide a test case for how targeted, collaborative training can help smaller firms adapt to a digital economy where technological fluency is becoming a prerequisite for survival.
