AI advisory
Which AI tools are our employees using right now?
Almost certainly more than leadership thinks. Between a staff survey, what is switched on by default in your tenant, and what your industry software has quietly added, we can establish a real starting point instead of an assumed clean one.
Answered by Ryan Sanders, Partnership Director
Start by assuming the answer is not zero
Every business we walk into is further along than its owner believes. People use these tools on personal phones and personal accounts because they make a task faster, and they do not mention it because nobody asked and no rule exists. That is not misconduct. It is what happens in the absence of a policy.
Three places to look
- Your own tenant. AI features are switched on by default across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Teams, Zoom, Adobe and Salesforce, often before anyone in the business made a decision about them.
- Your industry software. Practice management, accounting, insurance and service platforms have been adding AI to products you already pay for. Most businesses are paying for AI they have not thought about.
- Your people. A short, blameless survey gets further than an audit. Ask what they use and what it saves them, and say up front that nobody is in trouble.
You will not get a complete picture, and that is fine
Personal devices and personal accounts cannot be fully audited, and pretending otherwise wastes the effort. The goal is not a perfect inventory. It is knowing roughly where you stand before you write a rule, so the rule matches reality and people can actually follow it.
Then write the policy, not before
A policy written against an imagined clean slate gets ignored in week one. A policy written against what people are genuinely doing, naming an approved tool that does the job they were already trying to do, is one they will follow.
Consumer AI tools send whatever you paste out of the building. Enterprise editions keep it in your tenant. The policy has to say which is which.
An AI policy in two pages TechnologyCopilot in a small office earns its keep on meeting notes and finding documents. It is not for numbers that have to be right.
What Copilot is good forPeople also ask
Why are our technology costs going up if we are not using AI?
Because the security floor rose permanently, AI data centre demand is pushing up hardware, cloud and software pricing across the industry, and compliance now carries real documentation overhead. None of those require you to use AI.
The full answerWhat is AI advisory, and what do we actually get?
An assessment of where AI fits your business, which platforms are safe for your data, a written policy, training, and software when you need it. It runs as a program with a named advisor, not a one-off meeting, and a login to our advisory library comes with it.
The full answerWhich AI tool should our company use?
It depends on where your data is allowed to go, what you already pay for, and what you want it to do. For most offices already in Microsoft 365, the honest first answer is the one you are already licensed for, configured properly.
The full answer
"Matt Wilson is the best! He is so knowledgeable, kind, and the best assistance when running into any issues. He's always willing to go above and beyond to ensure that our office needs are met. Today I had an issue he hadn't run into before, and without hesitation he figured out how to address the problem, and in less than five minutes had a solution. So grateful to have him on our team!"
Lillian, insurance brokerageMeet Matt- A technician who knows your setup takes every request. Not a dispatcher, not a queue.
- Every closed ticket is surveyed and a partner reads every response.
- 99.5% of surveys come back positive.
- Family-owned since 2005. 21 years in the same corner of Wisconsin, not going anywhere.
"Another great job by Midwest IT. Our company just loves your fast response to our issues."
Client, 2024 surveyTalk to a partner, not a sales script.
Tell us what is going on. A partner will call you back the same business day, look at what you have, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pricing pressure, no pitch deck.