Professional services firms adopting AI and automation tools must ensure their approach to data, regulation and ethics keeps pace with the technology itself.
The advice came in the inaugural episode of The Wales Tech Week Podcast – Advising the Future: Innovation at the Core of Professional Services.
Rupert Poole, Chief Technology Officer at Cardiff-headquartered law firm Hugh James, said transparency with clients was key to maintaining trust in the use of AI.
“You've got to be very transparent with your clients in terms of where you're using AI and ensure that they're very comfortable in you using it,” he said.
“We're doing that with all of our engagement letters now – they all state that we could potentially be using AI, what we'll be using it for.”
Rupert added that ethical use of technology was closely tied to providing clients with assurance.
He said:
“We should be able to sit down with a client and say, ‘This is how we're doing it and this is why we're doing it,’ and if we can do that then I think we're probably in a decent place.”
However, he warned that data privacy remained a major concern. He said that only a small number of AI tools offered a legal undertaking that data would not be used to train AI models.
“Your client information could end up being used and potentially spill out,” he said.
“People are sometimes listening too much to the salesman saying, ‘no, your data is fine’.
“You need to really say to them: ‘Can you give me a legal undertaking that my client's data is going to be safe?’”
Hugh James has started building many of its AI tools in-house based on enterprise AI solutions, which can offer those guarantees and ensures audit trails are maintained to demonstrate how data is handled. Rupert said firms needed to ensure client information was protected, especially when data might be transferred outside the EU under conditions that breach GDPR.
“Clients should be made aware of that, because I don’t think they understand the risks,” he said.
Martyn Lamb, Director of Performance and Transformation at Cardiff-based Cornerstone Finance Group, agreed that firms needed to be more rigorous when assessing digital tools.
“If you don’t understand where that data is being stored, what they’re planning on doing with that data, other than the tool you want them to use it for, then how can you tell your customer what’s happening to their data?” he said.
He encouraged firms to ask direct questions of technology providers and assess how well their processes aligned.
“As soon as you’re putting your data in their system, you’ve now changed your stance to match theirs. And if their stance is lower than yours, you’ve inherited their worst practices,” said Martyn.
Martyn also raised concerns about how AI models could unintentionally introduce bias. In financial services, he said, care was needed to ensure systems did not disadvantage customers based on limited data.
“It’s surprising how easy that kind of unconscious bias can creep into a computer system and become permanently ingrained,” he said.
“Then all of a sudden you're disadvantaging a whole group of society.”
Sarah Curzon, a partner at accountancy firm MHA, said regulation played a central role in shaping how accountancy firms used technology.
“A lot of what we do within the accountancy profession is regulatory driven,” she said.
“That’s certainly dictating how we’re helping our clients.”
Sarah described how digital record-keeping had largely replaced traditional methods, and how AI and automation were being used to streamline compliance work.
She added:
“We have what we call bots that help us process information that comes in from our clients, which means it frees up our time as advisers in order to give them more time for better advice and strategic advice rather than actually just the number crunching.”
But with these efficiencies came a need for strong internal safeguards.
“We all take the regulatory side of this very, very seriously,” she said.
“There’s a lot of legislation that we have to adhere to, to ensure that we keep our clients’ data safe. Anything we do within the firm has that at the forefront.”
These themes – from digital skills and cyber risk to client expectations and workplace adoption – are set to continue at Wales Tech Week, where professional services will be among the sectors exploring the impact of technology on service delivery. Find out more here: https://www.walestechweek.com/
Listen to The Wales Tech Week Podcast – Advising the Future: Innovation at the Core of Professional Services here.
