Generative AI at work: Your guide to smarter productivity
Written by Charles Agbo from WorkerBull Limited
Generative AI, when used properly, can help with common, repititive office tasks - providing immediate, practical value.
Here are some ways AI can be used;
Instant meeting minutes: From talk to text
Taking meeting minutes takes a lot of time. Generative AI can help.
You let generative AI record your meeting. Then, it turns it into text. It captures everything said.
It will summarise key decisions. It will list action items. It will note discussion points. This means you spend less time writing. You spend more time on the actual work.
In our one-hour weekly team meeting, I add generative AI in Microsoft Teams to record the meeting.
The AI makes the transcript, shares a short list of bullet points to everyone that joined the meeting.
These points include who needs to do what and by when. This saves hours each week.
I am building a simple workflow that will allow AI to follow up with reminders to each team to ensure they complete deliverables or at the least update the dashboard which my team members always forget to do.
Managing email box
If you are like me, then you will have a lot of emails in your inbox that feel overwhelming to read.
Sometimes it's hard to know where to start, but I used a simple no-code tool n8n to orchestrate a quick workflow and connect it to my Google Workspace.
This Agentic system now categorises and labels my emails. It goes further to draft email responses for me and of course deletes those annoying spam emails.
Simplifying expense reports: Auto-categorisation and summaries
Expense reports are a common task. They can be tedious. AI helps here too.
I upload photos of my receipts and my AI tool reads them and updates my google sheet tracker.
It can find vendor names, dates, and amounts. It can suggest categories for expenses. This cuts down on typing and makes the review process faster. I still need to approve them but AI does the hard work.
Other quick wins: Brainstorming, rewriting, and summarising
Generative AI can do many other small tasks that add up.
• Brainstorming: Need ideas for a presentation? Ask AI for a list.
• Rewriting: Have an awkward sentence? Ask AI to rephrase it clearly.
• Summarising: Get a long email or document? Ask AI for a short summary.
These small uses save you time throughout the day. They make your work flow better.
Practical tips for daily AI use
Here are some tips to get started with AI every day:
• Start small: Pick one task you do often. Try using AI for just that task.
• Experiment: Try different ways of asking the AI things. See what works best.
• Refine: The first output might not be perfect. Ask the AI to make changes.
• Always review: AI can make mistakes. Always check what it gives you before you use it. You are still responsible for ai wins and losses.
If you want to build simple no-code office automations without spending money on different subscriptions, email [email protected] or call 07701082412.