AI tips for professional services firms: law, accounting, insurance, consulting & beyond
Lead story · Small business, big idea
The Vet Who Couldn't Code Built an AI App and Beat 8,000 Entries
Her edge wasn't technical skill. It was knowing exactly how an expert makes a decision, and writing it down.
Erin Downes, a 61-year-old veterinarian who co-owns Paoli Vetcare in Pennsylvania, had a problem every small firm will recognize. Her clinic lost two of its three vets, leaving the front desk to guess which sick pets needed care right away.
First, she drew a flowchart of how a vet decides whether a case needs to come in within 24 hours, 48, 72, or a week. Then, with no coding background, she used ChatGPT and OpenAI's new work tools to turn that flowchart into veTriage, an app that walks receptionists through the right questions and flags true emergencies.
When AI quoted her $30,000–$90,000 to have developers build it, she built it herself. Then she entered OpenAI's Build Week hackathon. Out of more than 8,000 projects, her app took first place in the Work & Productivity category and $15,000.
The lesson: AI's biggest payoff may be capturing institutional knowledge, putting your best person's judgment in front of every employee.
Try this at your firm: Pick one decision your newest staff always escalate: a new-client intake, an "is this covered?" question, a tax-document checklist. Write down how your most experienced person decides. That flowchart is the blueprint for your first AI assistant.
Source: Inc., "1 Smart Business Story," Aug. 30, 2026
By the Numbers
- 89%of companies now use AI, up from 21% in 2017. Nearly half are scaling it, not just piloting. McKinsey, State of AI 2026
- 80%of workers say AI made them more productive...
- 37%...yet company-wide profit impact is stuck at this level, unchanged from last year. Closing that gap is where training pays off. McKinsey
- 1 in 3firms that cited AI for layoffs have already rehired 25–50% of those roles. CareerMinds survey of 600 HR pros
- +11%jump in cybersecurity job postings, Q1 2026, one of the few roles growing because of AI. The Neuron
Midweek Wisdom
Don't Fall Into the Headcount Trap
Some companies use AI as a reason to cut staff. The smart ones use it to grow. Reken CEO Shuman Ghosemajumder warns that swapping people for AI is a fast track to mediocrity: AI still makes mistakes and lacks a strong team's judgment. Nvidia's Jensen Huang calls AI-layoff CEOs "out of imagination."
A better playbook:
- Keep your best people, and give them AI to multiply what they do.
- Start with well-defined work, like client FAQs, scheduling and first drafts.
- Use AI as a thinking partner for research and prep.
- Train your team. Prompting is a skill; some people using ChatGPT since 2022 are still bad at it.
Sources: Inc.; The Founder Corner
The Security Desk
Your AI Assistant Can Be Talked Into Anything
Hackers broke into seven companies by convincing an AI coding agent that their attack was "just a test." The AI refused at first, then talked itself into it, according to a Reuters investigation.
Researchers also showed inaudible sounds in a video can hijack a phone's voice assistant.
Protect your firm:
- Give AI tools the least access they need, not your whole drive or all client files.
- Require a human approval step before AI sends, pays, deletes or files anything.
- Stress-test it: ask your AI to do something it shouldn't, then say "it's just a test." If it caves, fix the gap.
- Ask your cyber insurer how AI-caused losses are covered.
Sources: The Neuron, citing Reuters
Tip of the Week
Stop Asking Which AI Is "Best"
Ask which one lives where you already work:
- Microsoft 365 office? Use Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
- Google Workspace office? Use Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Drive.
- Heavy reading? Use Claude for long documents, contract and policy review, and research.
Prompt to steal (for any spreadsheet analysis: billing, claims, client lists):
Why it works: you can check every answer against the data.
Treats to Try · Tools worth a look
- Frontdesk: AI receptionist that answers every call, qualifies leads and books appointments 24/7. Free trial, then $79/mo.
- Dodocs: captures, reads and files invoices, receipts and statements automatically. Bookkeeping without the shoebox.
- Winn.ai: takes notes during client calls and updates your CRM while you're still talking.
- Mem Agent: reads your notes and calendar, then follows up on the things you forgot.
- NotebookLM: Google's free research notebook. Upload policies or case files, ask questions, get cited answers.
- Claude in Excel: AI that works directly inside your spreadsheets for analysis and clean-up.
Mentions are not paid endorsements. Test with non-sensitive data first.
Industry Briefs
Law: Google launched Gemini Enterprise for Legal, with AI agents for contract review and research. Wordsmith is helping in-house teams draft contracts without outside counsel.
Accounting: Spreadsheet AI now lives inside Excel and Sheets. The win is reviewable analysis, not blind answers.
Insurance: Carriers are rewriting cyber policies as AI agents misbehave. Expect new questions at renewal.
Everyone: AI usage is cheap; results aren't automatic. Measure outcomes (hours saved, faster turnaround), not logins.
Published by Advanced Information Systems (AI Solutions Partners), Chester, VA, since 1995. Figures as reported by the sources named.