Most AI tips for businesses stop at “don’t paste anything confidential into it.” Useful, but it’s the first inch of a much longer conversation. The problems we see are that AI tools haven’t been approved. A licence was bought, but the security settings have never been personalised to the business.

Here are 5 practical AI tips you can implement today

AI tip 1: Put one person in charge of AI tools – Head of AI

Appoint someone to become the Head of AI. They become the single point of contact within the company responsible for approving, documenting and managing AI usage.

Regular discussions can then help you create your AI policy and keep it up to date as quickly as the AI landscape develops.

The Head of AI doesn’t have to be technical, but they do need to feel comfortable being the person who tracks and monitors AI usage across the company. Your IT department or IT support company can then support them by setting boundaries and blocking unapproved AI tools.

Having this structure in place can help with auditing, prevent accidental data leaks and close potential gaps that cyber criminals could exploit through AI tools.

How Absolute Technology can help

The objection we hear most often is that there isn’t anyone in the business who feels comfortable enough to take on the role of Head of AI. We offer a Head of AI support service that gives your business a dedicated point of contact for managing and monitoring AI usage.

We can help you:

• Identify which AI tools are being used across your business
• Create clear guidelines for safe and responsible AI use
• Set boundaries around what information can and cannot be shared with AI tools
• Keep your AI policy up to date as the technology develops
• Work with your existing IT team to block or restrict unapproved tools
• Provide ongoing guidance as new AI tools and risks emerge

AI tip 2: Write a one-page approved list

Put together a single page that sets out which AI tools are approved and what they can be used for. One side of A4 is enough.

Staff usually end up using unapproved tools because nobody has told them what’s allowed, not because they’re being careless. A clear list gives people a straightforward yes to work within.

Before a tool goes on the list, make sure you have answers to:

• Where is the data stored?
• Do the models train on our content?
• How long do you retain our information?
• Can we have it deleted on request?

The answers often differ between the free and paid versions of the same product, so it’s worth checking which one your team is actually signed in to.

How Absolute Technology can help

Most businesses can build the list quite quickly, because they already know which tools people are using. The slow part is reading through supplier terms to work out how each one handles your data, and that’s something we do as standard when we assess a supplier.

We can help you:

• Build a one-page approved list your team can follow
• Review supplier terms on training, retention and deletion
• Check which licence tier your staff are actually signed in to
• Identify licences you already pay for
• Keep the list up to date as tools change and new ones appear

AI tip 3: Sort out your file permissions before you deploy AI

Before you roll out an AI assistant, check who can currently get into what.

Copilot and tools like it search within the permissions you already have. Ask a question and it looks through everything the person asking is allowed to open, including the folders they’d never have thought to go digging in. Years of SharePoint sprawl, old shared drives, files left behind by someone who moved on in 2019: all of it becomes findable by typing a question in plain English.

So someone asks an innocent question about pay bands and back comes the salary spreadsheet. Or they ask how last year’s restructure was decided and up come the board papers. Those files were always sitting within reach. AI has just handed everyone a much better search box.

Give yourself a fortnight to tidy access up first. It’s a better use of your time than the conversation that starts with an employee telling you what they found.

How Absolute Technology can help

This is the job we get called about most often ahead of a Copilot rollout.

We review who can currently reach what across Microsoft 365, SharePoint and your shared drives, report back in plain English, then tighten things up, starting with payroll, HR and board-level material.

For most small and medium businesses this takes days rather than months, and it’s a one-off tidy-up rather than an ongoing project.

We can help you:

• Map who currently has access to what across your systems
• Report the findings in a form you can read without a technical translator
• Secure payroll, HR and board-level files first
• Remove access left over from former staff and old projects
• Get your environment ready before Copilot or a similar tool goes live

AI tip 4: Audit the AI already in use

Go through your existing software and check for AI features you never chose to turn on.

New features often arrive in updates to tools you’ve been paying for for years, and many of them are enabled by default:

• Meeting note-takers and transcription in Teams and Zoom
• Summarising and drafting features in your email and document tools
• CRM systems that store AI-generated content against customer records, which then becomes part of your customer data
• Assistants built into helpdesk, accounting and HR platforms

Go through your main systems and see what’s already switched on. Then sort out consent. Anyone on a call that’s being recorded or transcribed should be told out loud at the start, with the rule written into your policy because these recordings are disclosable, and the data will be stored for years on your servers.

How Absolute Technology can help

Seeing across a dozen systems at once is exactly what our monitoring and management tools do. It gives us a broad overview of your Microsoft 365, Teams, CRM and bespoke business software and comes back with a list of what’s on, what’s recording, what arrived without anyone asking for it, and what we’d turn off.

The consent side is easier than it sounds once recording and transcription settings are managed centrally rather than left to whoever happens to be hosting the call.

We can help you:

• Review Microsoft 365, Teams, your CRM and line-of-business software
• List what’s switched on, what’s recording and what arrived by default
• Recommend which features to turn off and why
• Manage recording and transcription settings centrally
• Build consent wording into your AI policy

AI tip 5: Record where AI has influenced a decision

Make a note whenever an AI tool has played a part in reaching an outcome.

If a regulator, a client or an insurer asks how a decision was made, “the software suggested it” isn’t an answer.

Keep it simple. Add a note to the file saying which AI tool was used, what it was used for, and who checked the output before it went out. One extra line in the notes you already keep will do the job.

This matters most in regulated work such as financial services and legal, but it’s sensible everywhere. It also protects your people. If a decision is questioned later, there’s a record showing a human reviewed it, with their name against it.

How Absolute Technology can help

Wording it is usually the hardest part. We’ll help you draft a short AI clause that fits the record-keeping you already do, so it lands as one extra line rather than a separate process nobody keeps up with.

If Cyber Essentials is on your to-do list, or your renewal is coming up, fold this into it. A lot of the questions overlap, and you’ll already be busy working on it.

We can help you:

• Draft a short AI clause that fits your existing record-keeping
• Line it up with Cyber Essentials certification or renewal
• Answer client and insurer questionnaires about how you use AI
• Review the wording as your use of AI develops

Where to start with these AI tips

If it all feels like a lot, start with the first tip. Deciding who’s responsible takes one short conversation, and it moves the whole subject off your plate and onto someone who can get on with it. Everything else gets easier from there.

Call us on 0345 225 1047 or get in touch through our contact page if you need more information.

Questions we get asked

Should we just ban AI at work?

You can, but it is already part of business and it is here to stay, so banning it now is just pushing the problems further down the line.

Is the paid version really safer than the free one?

Usually, yes. Business and enterprise tiers normally commit to not training on your content, and give you retention and deletion controls. Don’t assume it, though. Check which tier your team is actually signed in on and that they are using the correct email associated with the account.

We’re a team of twelve. Is this overkill?

No. Smaller teams usually have the loosest file permissions of all, because everyone has always been able to see everything and it has never caused a problem. Add an AI assistant and all of your data and folders become searchable in seconds.

How much does a permissions tidy-up cost?

It depends on how much has built up over the years, so we’ll take a look and give you a price before any work starts. If you’re already on one of our support plans, much of it is covered.