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 useful
• How we’ve combined instructions, brand assets, templates and references
• How we decide when the skill should automatically kick in
• What the first output actually looks like
• How feedback helps improve the skill over time
• Why replicating tone of voice has proved much harder than visual branding
• How we’re using Claude and ChatGPT for different parts of the job

It’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.

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 information
• What to check in vendor terms, DPAs and security assurance
• Where your data is stored and processed
• The risks that come with connecting AI to other systems
• DPIAs, legitimate interests and acceptable use policies
• Being transparent with clients about AI
• Why human review still matters

There’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.

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 time
• What people were already using AI for
• How the need to protect client and commercially sensitive information shaped the decision
• What we needed from an AI platform
• Why Claude Team came out on top for Garwood
• Where Microsoft 365 and meeting transcription fit alongside it
• What we’d already do differently if we ran the exercise again today

A 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.