AI for professional service firms

AI is becoming an integral part of everyday work, from marketing teams exploring automation to firms seeking to make client experiences more intuitive and seamless. With the right mix of design thinking, tech choices, and the power of generative AI, you can create digital momentum in your organisation.

A 2024 study in Technological Forecasting & Social Change found that adoption depends less on ambition and more on readiness. Which of the AI adoption challenges does your firm resonate with the most?

Professional service firms of all sizes struggle with skills gaps, integration, and measuring ROI. Many are curious but cautious, experimenting without a clear plan in mind.

Keeping websites updated is slow work. Pages go out of date, details get missed, and minor edits can take hours.

One upcoming approach is using a server to extend CMS access to your generative AI tools. A great example is the Umbraco MCP server, which essentially connects AI tools to your CMS, allowing them to safely edit, optimise, and advise using real project context.

It’s like giving your AI assistant a secure key and manual to your website — so it can tidy, fix, and improve things for you, not just talk about them.

If you're curious about how MCP works, check out Thom's recent article about the MCP Server.

What can the Umbraco MCP server do?

• Content updates - AI scans the entire site, identifies outdated terms, and updates them throughout. In tests, Claude handled tasks such as renaming products, intelligently applying proper casing, and creating a change log, ensuring that every edit was clear. What used to take hours now takes minutes.

• Content intelligence - An AI agent regularly flags pages that haven't been updated or are losing traffic, providing teams with a clear, data-driven to-do list. Instead of guessing what needs work, content teams can see where attention is needed.

• Context-aware content creation - When new content is needed, your AI agent helps determine where it should be added to the site and selects the appropriate layout, components, and tags to ensure new articles integrate seamlessly into the site's structure.

AI is helping create better user and customer experiences.

Professional services are info-heavy (services, case studies, insights); without logical user journeys, visitors can easily get lost trying to find what's relevant.

On top of crafting simple user journeys, we help brands utilise AI to make experiences even more straightforward and personalised.

Chatbots and conversational search are helping users obtain direct answers, rather than having to click through endless menus.

Security isn't the exciting part, but it’s the foundation that makes everything possible. The same rules that apply to any enterprise tool also apply here: protect data, stay compliant, and maintain control.

• Use corporate, paid accounts, not personal ones, so data and tools stay private to your organisation while also being shareable across employees.

• Set explicit permissions — AI should only access what it needs.

• Maintain governance in place by reviewing usage and tracking activities to ensure accountability.

• Stick to secure systems — use APIs and tools built for compliance.

If you're thinking about using AI, start small. You don’t need a full strategy, just a problem worth solving. Focus on one simple, repetitive task that slows down your team. Perhaps that involves updating content across your site, answering common client questions, or summarising reports or meeting notes. 

The goal isn’t to replace people — it’s to help them do their best work. Start with tools that make small, everyday improvements. Keep the strategy human.

AI works best as a quiet partner, helping you move faster, work smarter, and spend more time on the things that matter most to your firm.