AI automation & systems for York businesses
Your best fee earners spend half their day opening files, chasing documents and rekeying the same client details into four systems that don't talk to each other — and the billable hours quietly slip away unrecorded. That's where an AI automation agency in York like Propel earns its place: we take the admin off your qualified people so they can get back to fee-earning work, with permissions, audit trails and UK data-protection built in from the start.
We connect to the practice management, CRM and finance systems you already run, and only replace what you've genuinely outgrown — no big-bang rebuild, no ungoverned black box, and you own what we build.
The admin tax on a York professional firm
York runs on white-collar work — the insurance base around Aviva, Hiscox and NFU Mutual, plus the law firms, accountancy practices, surveyors and consultancies across the city. The trouble is the day rarely looks like fee-earning. It looks like opening a matter, running an AML check in one tool, copying the details into the CRM, chasing a signed engagement letter by email, and trying to remember to record the time at the end of it. Sector studies put the leak at roughly four-plus billable hours a week per fee earner — chargeable work that never reaches an invoice. You don't feel it day to day; you feel it at year-end, when the WIP was clearly under-captured, or when an audit exposes a gap in records spread across spreadsheets and inboxes. The honest fix is not another hire to absorb the admin, and not a generic AI tool you can't let near client data. It is taking the worst workflow and making it tighter, governed and auditable.
Who we build for in York
- Insurance & claims
- Law firms
- Accountancy & tax practices
- Surveyors & property consultancy
- Consultancy & advisory
- Bioscience & York Science Park firms
- Rail & engineering
The chargeable hours leaking out of your firm before anyone records them
Before we automate anything, we go after the one workflow bleeding the most billable time — the file opening, the rekeying and the AML chasing your fee earners should never have been doing.
The hours leak before they ever reach an invoice
Qualified, expensive people forget to record time, or lose it to file opening, data entry and document chasing. Sector studies put the leak at roughly four-plus billable hours a week per fee earner — work you did, never billed, and never get back.
Onboarding and AML scattered across four tools
Client onboarding, conflict and AML checks live across the CRM, the engagement-letter tool, spreadsheets and email with no single thread. Nothing reconciles, and a compliance gap is one missed step away — exactly the kind of gap an SRA or AML review is built to find.
Claims and policy data rekeyed by hand
Insurance and broking teams rekey the same client and policy details across systems and copy claim notes between tools. Handlers can lose up to 40% of their time to admin — slow, error-prone, and hard to audit when someone asks who changed what.
You only see the slip once it's too late
There is no live view of WIP, utilisation or which matters are running behind until year-end or an audit makes it plain. By then the under-captured time and the risk are already baked in, and the conversation with the client has already gone the wrong way.
How we take the admin off your fee earners
Tighter capture, one compliant onboarding thread and a live view of the firm — each piece governed, permissioned and auditable so a regulated practice can actually adopt it.
Get the billable hours back
Hours land against the right matter without anyone nagging the team to record them — because we take the friction out of capture and automate the rekeying that currently swallows chargeable time.
One clean, compliant onboarding thread
The file is complete, reconciled and compliant before work starts, with client onboarding, conflict and AML checks pulled into a single governed workflow instead of four disconnected tools.
See the true position in real time
Partners and heads of operations see live WIP, utilisation, claims pipelines and finance without stitching exports together by hand — dashboards that show the slip while you can still do something about it.
Governed AI agents that do the grunt work
Enquiries triaged, policy and claims correspondence drafted, long documents summarised and the right answer pulled from your own records — with a person in control, full permissions and an audit trail of every action.
Your systems finally talk to each other
Less duplicate entry and fewer logins, because business automation in York connects the practice management, CRM, accounting, e-signature and case systems you already run into one workflow rather than half a dozen.
Software built around how your firm runs
When off-the-shelf no longer fits, custom software development in York gives you the operating system your firm actually needs — including intelligent document processing and data tooling for insurance, rail-engineering and bioscience teams on York Science Park.
You've never heard of us — so here's a governed system we already run every day
The honest objection from a York firm is that we're unknown and you can't risk confidential client and compliance data on a promise. Fair. So we point to what we built rather than what we say. Atlas is a full operating system our founder built from scratch to run That Works, a 26-person agency — clients, contracts, matters, hours, delivery, finance, reporting, portals, permissions, audit trails and governed AI in one platform, in production every day. It is permissioned, audited and human-in-the-loop by design — the same standard a law or accountancy practice has to meet. We didn't pitch it to a 26-person business; we built it and we run it on one. That is the bar we build everything to.
1 platform
replacing a stack of disconnected tools
26-person
agency runs on it in production, daily
15+
business functions unified in one system
Built from scratch
not a template or a wrapper
Why a regulated York firm can trust Propel
The fair question from a regulated firm is whether you can trust an AI partner with confidential client and compliance data — especially one you've never heard of, in a profession we don't claim to have practised. Our answer is proof, not a pitch. Atlas is a full operating system our founder built from scratch to run That Works, a 26-person agency — clients, contracts, matters, hours, delivery, finance, reporting, portals, permissions, audit trails and governed AI in one platform, in production every day. It is permissioned, audited and human-in-the-loop by design, exactly the standard a law or accountancy practice needs. We didn't pitch it; we built it and we run it. We build to UK data-protection standards with no black box — you can see what the AI did, who could access what, and why. We start on one workflow, with fixed scope and fixed price agreed before any work begins, and you own what we build with no lock-in. As your AI consultancy in York, we cover the city and the surrounding towns including Harrogate, Selby, Tadcaster, Malton and Wetherby.
Where we cover
We work with firms across York and the surrounding North Yorkshire towns, so an in-person conversation is never far away.
- Harrogate
- Selby
- Tadcaster
- Malton
- Wetherby
- Permissioned, audited and human-in-the-loop by design — the standard a regulated practice needs, proven in Atlas every day
- Built to UK data-protection standards with no black box: you can see what the AI did, who could access what, and why
- Fixed scope, fixed price agreed before any work begins; you own what we build, with no lock-in
How we start small on a live firm without disrupting it
One workflow first, fixed scope and fixed price agreed before any build — so a cautious, regulated firm can see it work before committing further.
AI Opportunity Audit
A free, no-obligation 30-minute session to find where the billable time and compliance risk actually leak in your firm — with an honest build-or-don't answer, no pressure either way.
Scope and design
We agree fixed scope and fixed price on the one workflow worth fixing first, design the permissions and audit trail up front, and make responsibilities explicit before a line is built.
Build and integrate
We build and connect to the practice management, CRM, finance and case systems you already run — integrating with legacy core systems rather than ripping them out — with a person in control throughout.
Launch and support
We launch on the live firm, support your fee earners through adoption and stay accountable. You own what we build, so there's nothing to abandon if it doesn't earn its place.
What a regulated York firm needs answered before it commits
We're a regulated firm — can I trust you with confidential client and compliance data?+
Yes, and we treat that as the precondition, not a feature. Everything we build runs to UK data-protection standards with clear permissions, audit trails and a human in control of anything the AI does. Atlas already runs a 26-person agency this way in production — governed, permissioned and audited — so you can see the standard rather than take it on faith.
Is this compliant with our regulator and UK data protection, and where does liability sit?+
We design for SRA, ICAEW and AML expectations and UK GDPR: permissioned access, a full audit trail of every action, and human-in-the-loop sign-off so a named person stays accountable for decisions. We scope each build so responsibilities are explicit before any work starts — no ungoverned automation acting on its own.
AI hallucinates — how do I keep a person in control and an audit trail of every action?+
Nothing acts on its own. The AI drafts, triages and summarises, but a person reviews and signs off, and every action it takes is logged. That is how Atlas runs daily — permissioned and human-in-the-loop by design — so you keep control and a clear record of who did what and why.
How do you help a York law or accountancy practice capture more billable time?+
We start where the chargeable hours leak — file and matter opening, time recording, document chasing and onboarding. Fee earners can lose roughly four-plus billable hours a week to that admin. We automate the rekeying and make recording effortless, so the hours land against the right matter without anyone nagging the team.
Can you help York's insurance and broking firms with claims and policy admin?+
Yes. With the insurance base around Aviva, Hiscox and NFU Mutual, claims and policy work is full of repeatable, auditable admin. We build governed agents and intelligent document processing that triage, draft and summarise, and integrations that connect to legacy core systems rather than replacing them — so handlers spend less of the day rekeying.
We've been burned by tech that frustrated fee earners and got abandoned — and you've never worked in our profession. Why is this different?+
Fair concern. We don't claim to be sector insiders; we start small, on the one workflow leaking the most time, with fixed scope and fixed price agreed up front. You own what we build, there's no lock-in, and the audit gives an honest build-or-don't answer before you commit — so there's nothing to abandon if it doesn't earn its place.
Governed AI and automation for firms across York and North Yorkshire
Get your fee earners back to fee-earning
Book a free, no-obligation 30-minute AI Opportunity Audit. We map where governed AI and automation pay back fastest in your firm — starting with the one workflow leaking the most billable time — with an honest build-or-don't recommendation either way.
No obligation, no lock-in, and an honest build-or-don't answer — with permissions and audit trails assumed from the first conversation.