Company Brain for consulting teams

Finding a starting point for the workshop

Imagine a consulting firm preparing a session on how orders are handled. Its internal library contains an approved, reusable process-discovery question guide. The guide helps a facilitator establish who performs each activity and where work passes between teams. The methodology lead owns it. It does not contain detailed questions about the new client's order-handling process.

The consultant can ask the assistant which material would help them prepare the session. A useful answer identifies the guide and explains that it covers the flow of work and handoffs between teams. It includes a document link and names the methodology lead as the person to ask about its use.

After opening the guide, the consultant has a structure for the conversation. They can retain questions about who does the work and expand them to explore what happens to an order between sales and fulfillment. They check with the project lead that this scope fits the session's objective and add questions arising from discussions with the new client. Preparation still takes work, but it begins with an existing guide instead of a blank page or a search for the author of an old presentation.

A description of its purpose helps people choose

A list of similarly titled files still leaves the consultant to open each document and check its purpose. A guide should explain what work it was designed for and who can help someone use it. Consultants can then search by the purpose of their session even when they do not know the document's title. In this example, the guide is for understanding how a process works. If the new workshop is about choosing a solution, the consultant knows to look for additional material or ask the owner about a suitable method.

After the workshop, the consultant can send feedback to the guide's owner. The owner decides which improvements belong in the shared version. The next team then finds maintained material instead of one of many personal copies.

A shared guide and an earlier client's report

An earlier client's folder may contain a newer, completed report accessible only to that project team. A report about a similar process is not automatically a shared guide. A consultant searching the general library should receive material intended for reuse that they are allowed to access.

If the firm wants to bring learning from a particular project into the library, someone needs to prepare and approve shared material. Removing the client's name from a report does not establish that the rest can be reused. Our article on access boundaries in a law firm's AI knowledge base explores the broader question of separating shared knowledge from individual clients' documents.

When your existing library is enough

If guides are kept in one place, clearly described, and easy to find, start with that tool. Organizing the shared library may address repeated work without a new application.

In SharePoint, an existing agent is also worth considering. Microsoft describes SharePoint agents using selected sites, pages, and files while respecting users' existing content permissions. Use requires an appropriate license or pay-as-you-go billing. The firm still decides which materials are suitable for reuse.

A separate project has a stronger case when approved guides and explanations of their use are scattered and consultants still ask colleagues to find them. Connecting libraries and making it easier to search by the purpose of new work may then help.

Put the team's existing work to use on new engagements

When teams keep recreating similar materials despite an existing library, Syntalith can help consultants find the guides while preparing their next workshop. We propose starting a Company Brain project with guides for a selected type of workshop. We connect approved materials with descriptions of their purpose and ownership so a consultant can search by the session's objective and receive a useful document linked to its source.

The methodology lead identifies material intended for shared use and reviews how its purpose is described. Consultants assess whether it helps them prepare work for a new client. Tell us about something the team recently recreated even though similar material already existed. We can discuss whether organizing the current library is enough or whether the firm needs its knowledge sources connected. See Syntalith's pricing page for commercial information.