Northern Accountants, headquartered in Leeds, has invested in its AI strategy.
Long-standing director Ben Muncaster has moved into the role of director of operations and AI, as the business prepares a £250k budget for process transformation, advanced automation and new AI toolchains, over the next 12 months alone.
Having led Northern Accountants’ operations since 2018, this is a logical evolution of Ben’s change management responsibilities.
He is joined by AI advisor, author and futurist Ant Morse – founder of digital innovation consultancy Adventa – who will provide external guidance throughout this next transformation phase.
Formerly head of digital solutions, data, AI & innovation at Virgin Media O2, Ant brings extensive experience in leading large-scale and complex change. He has supported public, private, and global organisations, with a particular focus on AI, innovation, governance and shaping the cultural future of work.
“While there’s so much conversation around advanced AI technologies and how they’re changing the face of what’s possible for businesses and clients alike, our AI planning actually began with people,” explained Ben. “It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and become technology focused, especially when AI is promising some huge capabilities. But we’ve tackled things differently.
“I believe the real wins come from focusing on colleagues, and the daily processes and workflows they undertake to deliver a great service to our clients. If we can gradually remove the more burdensome, non-value adding parts of their roles, we drive up business productivity, team fulfilment, and a more humanised approach to supporting clients.
“We’ve therefore built a roadmap of use cases that we’ve triaged and are testing slowly, in a controlled manner, with a focus on ROI at every step.”
