Professional firms sell hours. Better software gives some of them back.
In an advisory, accounting or consulting firm, the costly work is checking: reading documents, comparing figures, chasing gaps. Much of it can be sorted by AI for a qualified person to decide on. Done carefully, client data never reaches the model at all.
Where the unbilled hours go
Onboarding a client and chasing their documents. Reconciling one set of figures against another. Drafting the same kinds of letter and report from scratch. Replying to enquiries. Each is necessary, and each takes an experienced person away from advice the client pays for.
Firms that grow by hiring more experts hit a ceiling. Only so many people know the method, and they are the ones already stretched.
Turning your method into a product
The firms we find most interesting have a method that works and would sell as software. Global HR, a payroll consultancy, did exactly that with us. Its checking process is now a product it sells alongside its consultancy.
The product brings in money that does not depend on how many people are on the team that month.
| Where it leaks | What it costs | What we change | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual checking in spreadsheets | Weeks of expert time; one missed difference is a client error | AI sorts each difference for a person to decide, with a record of who decided what | Global HR |
| Growth capped by expert headcount | Work turned away or delivered late | The firm’s method built into a product it sells | Global HR |
| Slow replies to enquiries | Prospects who go elsewhere | A researched first reply ready inside three minutes, for a person to check | Revitt |
| No technical judgement in-house | Paying a supplier without knowing if the work is good | An experienced adviser on your side of the table | Faces Consent |
Source: Global HR, AI Lead Responder and Faces Consent case studies.
Payroll data, kept away from the model
Global HR works with payroll files. Each one holds every employee’s name, home address, date of birth, bank details and pay.
Global HR
Personal details are stripped out first. The AI only sees codes, amounts and differences, and it suggests a likely cause for a person to confirm.
AI Lead Responder
We run this on our own enquiries today, including at 2am on a Sunday. Nothing is sent without a person checking it.
Where we start in a firm
- 1
A week of time
Where your people’s hours go, and which tasks are checking, copying or drafting.
- 2
The data involved
What is confidential, what the model needs to see, and what it never should.
- 3
The product in the method
Whether part of what you do could be sold as a tool, and what that would take.
Questions
- Will client data be sent to an AI company?
- Only what is needed, and often nothing personal at all. We can strip out identifying details first, or run a private model on equipment you own.
- Does AI make the decisions?
- No. It sorts and drafts. A qualified person decides, and the system records who decided what and when.
- We already pay for Copilot. Is that enough?
- It helps with email and documents. The bigger savings usually come from your own processes, which need connecting to your own systems. A free call is where we find them.
- How long does a first piece of work take?
- Global HR’s product was built in four fixed-scope stages over about six months. Smaller pieces take weeks.
Which checks could software sort for you?
Book a free call. We name them, cost them and set out how client data stays safe.
Max RevittFounder and Director