From shadow AI to governed adoption in two weeks
An anonymized look at a 40-person consulting firm that took two weeks to move from 'we know our team is using ChatGPT and Claude but we haven't talked about it' to a written policy, trained staff, and tracked adoption.
Inventory revealed 11 distinct AI tools in use across 40 staff before any policy existed.
Two weeks: inventory → policy draft → leadership review → all-hands rollout.
Six months later: 32 of 40 staff using approved tools regularly; zero reported incidents.
Starting point
The firm had quietly become reliant on ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude for first-pass client deliverables and Otter for meeting transcripts. Leadership had not formally approved any of them. The CEO booked a 30-minute call after a peer firm published an embarrassing AI-related news item.
What we did
Two weeks, four steps.
- Day 1–3: anonymous tool inventory across the team.
- Day 4–7: one-page policy drafted, leadership review, edits.
- Day 8–10: 60-minute all-hands rollout, signed acknowledgments.
- Day 11–14: vendor due diligence on the two highest-priority tools.
Outcomes at six months
Active use of the approved primary tools (ChatGPT Team for general drafting; Anthropic's Claude for longer client analysis) across 32 of 40 staff. Two near-misses self-reported and resolved before any client impact. A new enterprise prospect cited the firm's clear AI posture as a tiebreaker in their decision.
Plain-English answers
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