Sectors
Who I help
I work with businesses that want the benefits of AI and automation without the hype. The sectors below are where my main focus lies, but the approach is the same everywhere: understand the processes first, automate where it genuinely pays back, and be honest about where it will not.
Wherever you start, the first step is the same: a short, scoped assessment of your processes, ending in a written report of practical, prioritised opportunities and a clear recommendation on where to begin.
01 / Recruitment
Recruitment
Recruitment is under pressure from both sides. Fees are being squeezed, roles take longer to fill, and consultants spend more of their day on administration than on the client and candidate relationships that actually win business. At the same time, AI tools are being sold into the sector faster than anyone can sensibly evaluate them.
The opportunity is real, but it is specific. The processes where automation reliably pays back in recruitment include CV screening and candidate matching, interview scheduling, candidate and client follow-up, compliance checks such as right to work and references, and keeping CRM and ATS data clean enough to be useful. Done well, these give consultants their day back. Done badly, they damage candidate experience and your brand.
I help recruitment businesses tell the difference. I am vendor neutral, so I have no product to push, and my background is in building automation into business processes that has to work in the real world, not in a demo. I will tell you where AI will pay back in your business, and just as plainly where it will not.
02 / Accounting and finance
Accounting and finance
Finance teams carry more of the business every year without carrying more people. Invoice volumes grow, reporting deadlines tighten, and skilled people spend their days keying, chasing and reconciling instead of doing the work that needs their judgement.
This is where automation has its longest and most proven track record. The processes that reliably pay back include invoice capture and processing, supplier statement reconciliation, payment runs and approvals, credit control and payment chasing, month-end close, and management reporting. These are high-volume, rule-heavy processes, which is exactly where AI and automation do their best work.
It is also where my own track record is deepest. I began my career in finance, and I have spent years building AI automation into accounts processes, including intelligent invoice processing for organisations such as Clifford Chance and ASOS. I know what these systems look like when they work in production, and I know the difference between a genuine saving and a demo that falls over on real invoices.
03 / Law firms
Law firms
Law firms are being sold AI harder than almost any other sector, and with good reason to be cautious. Client confidentiality, regulatory duties and professional reputation mean the cost of getting it wrong is higher in law than almost anywhere else. Yet the pressure is real: clients expect more for fixed fees, and too much fee-earner time disappears into work that does not need a lawyer.
Automation pays back in law where the work is high in volume and low in judgement. That includes client onboarding and AML checks, document intake and classification, bundling and document preparation, time capture and billing, and the administrative load around matter management. The aim is not to replace legal judgement but to stop expensive people doing inexpensive work.
I have worked on exactly this kind of automation, including intelligent document processing for Clifford Chance during my time in the AI industry. I am vendor neutral, with no software to sell, and I am as clear about the risks and the limits of these tools as I am about the benefits. In a regulated profession, that caution is the point.
04 / Construction and property
Construction and property
Construction runs on thin margins and thick paperwork. Every project generates a stream of supplier and subcontractor invoices, applications for payment, retentions, CIS deductions and variations, and most of it is still handled by hand. The back office feels the strain long before the site does.
These are precisely the processes where automation earns its keep. The strongest candidates include supplier and subcontractor invoice processing, matching invoices to orders and applications, CIS and retention tracking, project cost reporting, and keeping job costing accurate enough to trust while the project is still live rather than after it has finished. For property businesses, rent, service charge and multi-entity accounting belong on the same list.
This is close to work I have done before. The accounts side of construction is finance with extra complications, and I have spent years building AI into invoice and accounts workflows that had to cope with messy supplier paperwork at volume. I am vendor neutral, with nothing to sell you, and I will be straight about which of these processes will repay automation and which will not.