Professional Services Tech Talks

Garwood Growth
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Professional Services Tech Talks is about what actually happens when you put technology to work in a professional services firm. Garwood Growth’s Adam Maze and George White share what they’re trying, why they’ve made particular choices, what’s worked, what hasn’t and what they’d do differently. They’re starting with AI, before getting into the wider technology questions facing professional services firms. Practical, honest and based on what they’re actually doing.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago ·  Video

    Episode 4: Who’s taking the notes?

    Meeting transcription tools are hardly new. But automatically producing a set of notes after a call is only part of what they can do. In this episode of Professional Services Tech Talks, Adam Maze and George White talk through how Garwood chose its meeting transcription platform, Fellow, and what they wanted from it beyond transcription accuracy. They also look at what becomes possible once meeting content is connected to the rest of your technology. George shows how he can use a conversation captured in Fellow as context in Claude, while Adam explains how he sends actions from meetings straight into Microsoft To Do. They get into: What we looked for when choosing a meeting transcription platformWhy security, GDPR and data ownership were important parts of the decisionBot versus botless recording and where each approach worksWhy we chose Fellow from the platforms we assessedHow meeting transcripts can become context for ClaudeTurning feedback from a meeting into a plan for the work that followsMoving meeting actions into Microsoft To Do and the daily digest George is buildingThere’s also a brief detour into George’s autonomous stock-picking experiment, followed by Adam putting him on the spot with a problem from Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. George handles the pressure rather well. Next time Adam and George get under the hood of Garwood’s Value Builder Diagnostic, looking at how we’ve turned our own IP into an interactive lead magnet and how other professional services firms could approach something similar.

    Episode 4: Who’s taking the notes?

  2. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Episode 3: Getting AI to follow your brand – and why tone of voice is hard

    Creating a client deck often starts the same way: find an old one, strip out the content and spend far too much time getting fonts, colours, logos and layouts where they’re supposed to be. We’ve been experimenting with a different approach. In this episode, Adam and George go behind the scenes of the AI skills we’ve built at Garwood. George opens up our branding skill in Claude, shows what sits behind it and demonstrates how we can turn unformatted content into a branded PowerPoint or Word document. They get into: What an AI skill is and where it can be usefulHow we’ve combined instructions, brand assets, templates and referencesHow we decide when the skill should automatically kick inWhat the first output actually looks likeHow feedback helps improve the skill over timeWhy replicating tone of voice has proved much harder than visual brandingHow we’re using Claude and ChatGPT for different parts of the jobIt’s not a case of pressing a button and sending the result straight to a client. The output still needs human review and refinement. But as George puts it, if the first attempt gets you 60% of the way there, that’s already time saved. And for anyone wondering whether AI has finally cracked tone of voice: not quite. That one is still very much a work in progress. Next time Adam and George look at meeting transcription tools: how we chose ours and what becomes possible when meeting content connects into the rest of your technology stack.

    Episode 3: Getting AI to follow your brand – and why tone of voice is hard

  3. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Episode 2: AI at work - What are the rules?

    You’ve chosen your AI tools. Now comes the bit that probably didn’t feature in the demo: policies, data protection, security and working out what people should actually be allowed to do with them. In this episode, Adam and George talk through the AI governance Garwood has been putting in place, from what we expect from our technology providers to the policies and controls we need internally. The challenge is getting the balance right. You need to protect client and company information without putting so much friction around AI that nobody actually uses it. They get into: Why business AI accounts matter when handling client informationWhat to check in vendor terms, DPAs and security assuranceWhere your data is stored and processedThe risks that come with connecting AI to other systemsDPIAs, legitimate interests and acceptable use policiesBeing transparent with clients about AIWhy human review still mattersThere’s also a cautionary tale involving someone using their company ChatGPT account to redesign their garden and apparently racking up thousands in additional usage fees. The garden may have been cheaper. Next time Adam and George get more hands-on with the AI skills we’ve built at Garwood, including how we’re getting AI-generated documents to look and sound more like us.

    Episode 2: AI at work - What are the rules?

  4. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Episode 1: Choosing our AI Platform

    ChatGPT? Claude? Copilot? Something else entirely? When we started looking at which AI platform to use across Garwood, we didn’t begin with a comparison of models and features. We started by looking at how our team actually works. Where were people losing time? What were they already using AI for? What information would we need the platform to handle? And what would make people actually use it once we’d chosen one? Adam and George talk through the process, from surveying the team and turning the findings into a set of requirements through to researching the market, making the choice and working out how the different pieces of our setup would fit together.  They get into: Where our consultants were actually losing timeWhat people were already using AI forHow the need to protect client and commercially sensitive information shaped the decisionWhat we needed from an AI platformWhy Claude Team came out on top for GarwoodWhere Microsoft 365 and meeting transcription fit alongside itWhat we’d already do differently if we ran the exercise again todayA choice for now, not forever We carried out the assessment in May/June 2026 and landed on Claude Team as the best fit for Garwood. But we’ve deliberately built the wider setup so we’re not too dependent on any one model. The market is moving quickly, and some of the factors that shaped our decision have already changed.  That’s part of the point of the episode: not why every firm should choose Claude, but how we went about making the choice.  Next time Choosing the platform is one thing. Then you have to work out how people can actually use it safely.  Adam and George will be talking governance, acceptable use, data, policies and training – including what you really need in place without making AI so difficult to use that nobody bothers. Follow the series We’ll be adding new episodes of Professional Services Tech Talks regularly, starting with AI and then moving into the wider technology questions that come with running and growing a professional services firm. Follow the series to catch the next conversation. And if there’s a technology problem you’re currently wrestling with in your firm, let Adam and George know. It might just make its way into a future episode.

    Episode 1: Choosing our AI Platform
  • 4 Episodes

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Professional Services Tech Talks is about what actually happens when you put technology to work in a professional services firm. Garwood Growth’s Adam Maze and George White share what they’re trying, why they’ve made particular choices, what’s worked, what hasn’t and what they’d do differently. They’re starting with AI, before getting into the wider technology questions facing professional services firms. Practical, honest and based on what they’re actually doing.

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