Professional services firm · ~30 staff
The firm asked for automation, but its systems were not ready for it.
The firm came asking for AI automation, but it had no written AI rules, no list of its systems, and no single view of its own numbers. Automation built on systems that did not share data would have repeated the same errors faster.
Representative profile. Feature names are typical.
The work
What we did, and why
At the first meeting, the firm asked for an AI assistant to draft proposals. We recommended starting with the rules instead. The firm had no written AI policy and no list of the AI tools already in use, and no one had agreed which systems held the data an assistant would need.
The firm agreed, and the advisory review took three weeks. The applications assessment found that the CRM, the system that tracks clients and sales, could be connected to the time-tracking system. Together, the two answered most of leadership's questions. The dashboard went live in the firm's own Microsoft cloud account in the first quarter. Its standard report on technology costs also turned up two duplicate subscriptions.
Automation work started in the second quarter, and the dashboard showed where the manual hours were going. The client intake summary and the unbilled time alerts were built first. The proposal-drafting assistant the firm originally asked for is now in policy review, because it would read client contract data, and the AI Use Policy requires a named owner for that.
The result
Where the company stands now
The automation the firm first asked for is being built into the platform it now owns, under its own policy, using data from its own systems and the subscription it already pays for.
For leadership
What changed for the people running it
The managing director got the automation six months later than hoped, built on connected systems and written rules. The intake summary feature now drafts what an associate used to type by hand.
This is a representative profile, drawn from the kinds of companies we work with. Figures are illustrative. We publish named results only with a client's written permission.
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Why did automation wait until after the assessment?
The firm had no written AI rules, no list of its systems, and no single view of its numbers. Automation on systems that did not share data would have repeated the same errors faster.
What was automated first?
The intake summary, which drafts what an associate used to type by hand, and the unbilled-time alerts. Both are live on the platform the firm owns.
Next step
Your company would start with a written assessment.
Every engagement on this site began by writing down what the company already ran. You keep the assessment whether or not you hire us for the work that follows.