Articles
Questions companies ask.
Plain answers about finding information, people leaving and joining, security, and using AI on your own records.
People leaving and joining
Handovers, new starters, and keeping what people know when they move on.
What happens to company knowledge when an employee leaves?Most of what a leaver knew is still in your company's email, files and chats. What stays, what goes, and how to stop knowledge loss when an employee leaves.Read the article →Employee handover checklist: when someone resignsA practical employee handover checklist, from the day someone resigns to the month after they leave, and what to do when someone leaves with no notice.Read the article →Former employee's mailbox: how to give a colleague accessYour options for a leaver's mailbox in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, what each one gives their successor, and how to find answers in years of someone else's email.Read the article →New employee onboarding: answers from day oneNew starters have hundreds of small questions. How to give new employees answers from day one, with an onboarding checklist and steps that run themselves.Read the article →
Finding things
Shared drives, versions, wikis, search, and questions that need counting.
Why can't my staff find documents on the shared drive?Why staff can't find documents on the shared drive or SharePoint: folders follow one person's logic, versions multiply, decisions live in email. What helps.Read the article →Isn't the search in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace enough?Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace search find files you know exist. They don't answer the question you have. The difference, and when search is enough.Read the article →Why can't AI tools count my reports?Ask most AI tools how many incidents were reported last quarter and you get a confident wrong answer. Why, in plain words, and what to look for instead.Read the article →
Trusting AI answers
When an AI answer is good enough, what to check, and how to choose a system.
What to look for in an AI knowledge management systemChoosing an AI knowledge management system? Twelve things to look for, four tests to run in any demo, and the questions most buyers forget to ask.Read the article →Why not just use a general AI chatbot for company data?General AI chatbots are excellent at writing and explaining, but they don't know your company's records or permissions. The risks, and how to use both safely.Read the article →
Security and privacy
Connecting your email and files safely, and keeping records in your own building.
Is it safe to connect Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace to an AI?Eight questions to ask any AI vendor before you connect your company's email and files, what good answers sound like, and how AskNeil answers each one.Read the article →On-premises AI: can we run AI on our own servers?Some companies cannot send their records to the cloud. What on-premises AI really involves, who needs it, and the one question to ask any vendor who offers it.Read the article →
AI at work: agents, automation and value
Which tasks to hand over, how to start, and whether it pays for itself.
What is an AI agent, and does a small business need one?An AI agent carries out tasks, not just answers questions. What that means for a small business, where it helps, where to be careful, and how to start.Read the article →Why do AI agent projects stall in large companies?Large companies have plenty of AI agent pilots, but few reach everyday work. The usual bottlenecks, from the IT queue to approvals, and what helps.Read the article →Which office tasks should we automate first?How to choose which office tasks to automate first with AI: five questions to score each one, an order to follow, and the tasks to leave alone for now.Read the article →How do I automate office work without an IT department?Three ways to automate office work without an IT team: build it yourself, hire a contractor, or have it set up and looked after for you. How they compare.Read the article →Is AI worth it for my company? A simple ROI worksheetA five-line AI ROI worksheet, with a calculator, to work out whether an AI tool for your company's records pays for itself, using your own numbers.Read the article →
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