Client story · Finance and administration
“You do not need to have all the answers at the outset.”
How a finance team turned the idea of an AI assistant into practical tools for its back office.
The goal
An AI Accounts PA
We started working with Oscar because we wanted to explore how AI could genuinely improve the way our back-office and operational teams work. My personal vision was to use AI much more like a virtual assistant, effectively an AI Accounts PA or Finance Assistant: handling data entry, checking and validating data, producing documents, helping develop policies and processes, and carrying out the sort of detailed error checking that can be difficult and time-consuming to do manually.
What we built
From a rough sketch to working tools
Oscar has been very good at turning that vision into practical applications. I can sketch an idea out for him quite quickly, often without knowing exactly how it might work, and we can then work through it together to see what AI can actually do and how we can make it useful within our business. We have already developed applications around data entry, invoice checking, control checks, data validation and verification, and checking large sequences of data for errors. We are also exploring how AI can support our operational systems and workflows.
- Data entry
- Invoice checking
- Control checks
- Data validation and verification
- Error checks on large data sequences
- NextOperational systems and workflows
What changed
What has changed most is the way I think about process improvement. Instead of simply accepting that a task must be done manually because that is how we have always done it, I now always ask whether AI could do part or all of it, check it more thoroughly or help us do it better.
The recommendation
I would recommend this approach to any finance or administration lead who is interested in AI but is not sure where to start. You do not need to have all the answers at the outset.
Oscar combines strong technical knowledge with a very practical, business-focused approach. He quickly understands the commercial context behind a problem, works well with different people and ways of working, and does not try to force every problem into the same technical solution. He is equally comfortable working within a defined framework or developing a more flexible approach where the problem requires it, which makes him very easy to work with and particularly effective at turning ideas into solutions that are practical and deliverable.