Where a pasted customer list ends up · Illustration
Your business
EmailCustomers and suppliers write here
Customer recordsThe list, the history, the terms
FilesContracts, price lists, rate sheets
Company AI account, in your company’s name
You see what was shared
You can delete it
Your settings apply
Personal account
Opened by an employee, to save time
Customer listpasted from the customer records
You cannot see what was shared
You cannot delete it
That person’s settings apply
A blocking tool on company systems never sees it
You already use AI, and you would like it to take on more of your work: your emails, your customer records, your figures. Before that can happen safely, three things need to be in place: an account your business owns, access limited to what each task needs, and a clear decision about which information the AI is allowed to read. This page explains each one and how we set it up with you.
Where the risk usually comes from
The risk most people picture is the AI provider using their
documents to train its models. Whether that can happen depends
on the plan the account is on, and it is a setting we check with
you at the start, so you know exactly where your business
stands.
The more common problem is simpler. Someone on your team pastes
a customer list or a contract into a personal ChatGPT or Claude
account to save time. That account belongs to them, not to the
business. You cannot see what was shared, you cannot delete it,
and the information is now covered by that account’s settings
rather than yours. A tool that blocks pasting on company
systems does not catch this, because the work never went through
those systems.
This is why we start with the account rather than with a
blocking tool. When the work runs in an account your business
owns, with settings you chose, the information stays where you
can see it and remove it.
Before we build anything, we check three things
Who owns the account. The account the work runs in, a Claude Team account for example, is opened in your company’s name and
paid for by you. Everything built in it, and the record of what
it did, sits under your control. If we stop working together,
you remove our access and keep everything.
What the AI is allowed to do. We start with
read access only: the AI can look at the documents, emails or
records a task needs, and it cannot change, send or delete
anything. If a task later needs to write something, for example
create a draft or update a record, we agree that exact action
with you first, and any action that cannot be undone keeps a
step where a person approves it.
Supplier file, as seen by the invoice check
Decided task by task
Invoice linesRead
Rate sheetRead
Contact detailsNot read
Bank detailsNot read
Contract and termsNot read
CorrespondenceNot read
ReadThe two documents above, from day one
WriteA short note on each invoice, agreed with you first
A person approvesAnything that cannot be undone: paying, sending, deleting
Which information the AI needs to see. For many
tasks the AI does not need the full record. To check an invoice
against agreed rates, it needs the invoice lines and the rate
sheet, not the rest of the supplier file. We go through each
task with you and decide which fields it reads, so the
information it does not need stays in your systems and never
reaches the AI.
These three rules apply on every engagement, and they are
written out in full on our security page.
A worked example
Say your supplier invoices arrive by email, and someone checks
each one against the agreed prices before it is paid. Today that
person opens the email, finds the rate in a spreadsheet,
compares the two and decides. Because the emails contain
supplier and customer details, the first reaction is often to
keep AI away from them altogether.
Set up properly, the task works like this. The AI runs in your
company’s account. It reads the invoice and the rate sheet,
compares them line by line and writes a short note: the invoice
matches, or it does not, with the difference shown. Invoices
that match are listed for the usual payment run. Invoices that
do not match are listed for the person who checked them before,
with the comparison already done, and that person decides. The
AI does not send anything and does not change your records.
One invoice, checked line by line
Illustration, fictional supplier
Invoice from a freight supplierby email
Pallet delivery, metroAs agreed
Tail-lift feeAs agreed
Fuel surchargeAbove the agreed rate
Waiting timeAs agreed
Rate sheetagreed with the supplier
Pallet delivery, metroFixed rate
Tail-lift feePer delivery
Fuel surchargeCapped, reviewed each quarter
Waiting timeAfter the free period
Invoices that matchListed for the usual payment run
This one, with a differenceFor the person who checked invoices before, with the comparison done. They decide.
Your existing process keeps running alongside until you have
seen enough checks to be satisfied they are right. The setup
work is the account, the read access limited to those two
documents, and the decision left with a person.
How we start
The first step is a free AI pre-audit: forty-five minutes on a
call where we look at how you and your team use AI today, which
tasks you would like to hand over, and what needs to be in place
before any of them can run safely. You leave with a clear next
step, whether or not you go further with us.
If you decide to go further, we set up the structure before any
automation: the account, the access rules for each task, and
your business knowledge written down so you are not explaining
the same context again every time. How we work. If the part
you are weighing is your team rather than the setup, training them
on their own work is covered in
AI adoption training for your team,
and the question of which tool to use and where your data would sit
is covered for the UK and Australia in Zapier, Make or n8n, and in detail for Australia in AI tools and your business data in Australia. If you are
comparing consultants,
what an AI adoption
consultant does for your business sets out what the work should
leave running and what to ask before you sign.