# Spark

> The AI operating layer for modern professional services firms. Spark designs and builds custom AI and automation systems for finance, legal and professional services firms in Jersey and across the UK.

Jersey, Channel Islands · seb@sparkcuriosityhq.com · https://www.sparkconsulting.tech

## Services

- [AI & Automation Roadmap](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/roadmap): From £15k · 4–6 weeks. A short, focused engagement to map where AI and automation create the most value across your firm — and produce a costed plan you can act on.
- [AI & Automation Build Sprint](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/build-sprint): From £40k · 8–12 weeks. A fixed-scope sprint to deliver one or two production-grade automations or AI workflows that take real work off your team.
- [AI & Automation Operating Partner](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/operating-partner): From £6k/month · Monthly retainer. An ongoing retainer where we act as your fractional AI and automation lead — running the roadmap, shipping new systems, and keeping what's live healthy.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/): Spark is the AI operating layer for modern professional services firms. We design and build custom automation systems for finance, legal and professional services businesses that can't afford downtime or sloppy work.
- [Services](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services): Three engagements designed for finance, legal and professional services firms: a costed AI roadmap, a fixed-scope build sprint, and an embedded operating partner retainer.
- [AI & Automation Roadmap](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/roadmap): A 4–6 week engagement that produces a costed AI and automation roadmap for professional services firms: operating model audit, opportunity scoring, target architecture and a board-ready plan.
- [AI & Automation Build Sprint](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/build-sprint): An 8–12 week fixed-scope sprint to ship production-grade AI and automation systems for professional services firms: real integrations, operator tooling, audit trails and 60 days of stabilisation.
- [AI & Automation Operating Partner](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/services/operating-partner): A monthly retainer where Spark acts as your fractional AI and automation lead — running the roadmap, shipping new systems each quarter, and keeping live systems healthy.
- [Automation ROI Calculator](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/roi-calculator): Estimate the annual billable value your firm loses to manual administrative work — and how much of it automation could recover. A quick, three-step calculator for professional services firms.
- [About](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/about): Spark is a lean, senior studio of automation and AI specialists based in Jersey, Channel Islands. Built by operators, for operators.
- [Contact](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/contact): Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Spark. No commitment, no sales pitch — a structured conversation about your processes and automation potential.
- [FAQ](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/faq): Common questions about Spark's automation services, pricing, timelines, security, and process.
- [State of AI & Automation](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/automation-research): Spark's research into how businesses across the UK and Channel Islands are putting AI and automation to work — and what the smart ones are doing differently.
- [How we work](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/how-we-work): How Spark delivers AI and automation: a four-phase process — discovery, design, build and operate — built for regulated professional services firms.
- [Our stack](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools): The AI and automation tools Spark builds with — Claude, GPT and Gemini for reasoning; n8n, Make and Zapier for automation; Vapi and ElevenLabs for voice. Platform-agnostic by principle, opinionated by default.
- [Claude partner — workshops, training & implementation](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/claude): Spark is a Claude partner. Leadership briefings, hands-on Claude workshops, team training, firm-wide rollout, custom Claude API systems and agents via MCP — for regulated professional services firms.
- [Implement OpenAI GPT](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/gpt): How Spark helps firms implement OpenAI's GPT models — extraction, drafting and tool-connected workflows, benchmarked against alternatives, with full audit trails.
- [Implement Google Gemini](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/gemini): How Spark helps firms implement Google Gemini — long-document analysis and Workspace-native automation, built into governed workflows with full audit trails.
- [n8n implementation, training & managed automation](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/n8n): Spark designs, deploys and runs n8n for firms — self-hosted deployment, production workflow builds, migration from Zapier/Make, team training and managed operation. Auditable automation you own.
- [Implement Make](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/make): How Spark implements Make — fast, hosted, visual automation connected to your systems, with the error handling and logging to keep it reliable in production.
- [Implement Zapier](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/zapier): How Spark implements Zapier — fast, reliable connections across your SaaS tools, built properly with error handling so they quietly work instead of silently failing.
- [Vapi voice agents — design, implementation & tuning](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/vapi): Spark designs, pilots and runs Vapi voice agents for firms — call-flow workshops, calendar and CRM integration, compliance guardrails, human handoff and ongoing tuning.
- [Implement ElevenLabs](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/tools/elevenlabs): How Spark implements ElevenLabs — natural, on-brand AI voice for call agents and produced audio, with cost controls and clear AI disclosure built in.
- [What is AI automation?](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/what-is-ai-automation): A plain-English guide to AI automation for professional services firms: what it is, what it isn't, where it creates value, and how to start — without the hype.
- [Sectors](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/sectors): Spark builds AI and automation systems for regulated, document-heavy professional services firms — trust and corporate services, fund administration and beyond.
- [Trust & corporate services](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/sectors/trust-corporate-services): AI and automation for trust and corporate services firms — automate KYC, client take-on, transaction monitoring and periodic reviews, with full audit trails.
- [Fund administration](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/sectors/fund-administration): AI and automation for fund administrators — automate investor onboarding, NAV reconciliation, capital calls and investor reporting, with full audit trails.

## Writing

- [The JFSC's AI guidance: what it actually means for your firm](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/jfsc-ai-guidance-what-it-means): The Jersey regulator has set out how it expects firms to adopt AI. It is principles-based, proportionate, and lands the responsibility firmly with the board. Here is what it means in practice, and the four moves worth making now.
- [Where to start with AI: pick the smallest painful workflow first](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/where-to-start-with-ai): Do not start with a strategy. Start with the smallest painful workflow you can name. Here is how to find the one first use case that pays for itself, teaches your team, and gives the regulator nothing to flinch at.
- [RAG explained: how retrieval makes business AI reliable](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/rag-explained): A general-purpose model knows a lot about the world and nothing about your firm. RAG fixes that. It feeds the model your own documents at the moment of the question, so answers are grounded in your sources and can be checked. Here is how it works and when you actually need it.
- [AI governance for Channel Islands firms: getting ahead of the JFSC](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-governance-jersey-jfsc): Good AI governance is not a policy document. It is a small set of controls a regulator can inspect and a team can actually live with. Here is the framework we use with Channel Islands firms.
- [AI for KYC and client take-on in trust and corporate services](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-for-kyc-client-take-on): Client take-on is the most manual, least billable week in a trust administrator's month. AI can collect the documents, extract the data, run the screening and draft the risk assessment. The decision stays human, and the audit trail is there from the first click.
- [How to measure ROI on AI automation, with a worked example](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/how-to-measure-ai-roi): AI ROI is not mysterious. It is hours saved times loaded cost, plus errors removed, plus capacity freed. Here is the framework we use, and a worked example that shows the maths on a real-shaped workflow.
- [Agents, chatbots and automations: what the difference actually is](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-agents-chatbots-automations): Three words get used interchangeably and shouldn't be. A chatbot talks. An automation runs a fixed path without being asked. An agent decides what to do next. Confusing them is how firms buy the expensive one for a job the cheap one does better. Here is the honest breakdown.
- [Automating NAV and investor reporting in fund administration](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/automating-nav-investor-reporting-fund-administration): The NAV cycle is a deadline machine that runs on manual assembly. Automate the reconciliation, the validation and the drafting, surface only the exceptions, and the cycle runs faster with fewer late nights. The numbers still get checked by a human.
- [Building an AI audit trail: how regulated firms keep AI decisions defensible](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/building-an-ai-audit-trail): An AI audit trail is five fields and a habit. Capture the input, the model and prompt version, the output, the approver, and the timestamp, from day one. Retrofit it later and you are reconstructing history you no longer have.
- [Build, buy or no-code: choosing the right automation approach](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/build-buy-or-no-code): Build, buy, or no-code is the wrong question until you know the workflow. Here is how we choose between them for regulated firms, weighing total cost of ownership, lock-in, and whether a regulator can inspect the result.
- [What MCP (Model Context Protocol) is, and why it matters for business AI](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/what-is-mcp-model-context-protocol): MCP is a common plug for AI. Instead of building a bespoke connection between every model and every system, you build one standard socket and any compliant model can use it. It sounds like plumbing because it is, and it is the plumbing that decides whether you are locked in or free to switch.
- [AI for law firms: document review and drafting, done safely](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-for-law-firms-document-review-drafting): AI drafts fast and reviews faster, which is exactly why it needs guardrails in a law firm. Contract review, first drafts and matter intake all speed up. Privilege, confidentiality and a lawyer's verification are what keep it safe.
- [Human-in-the-loop AI: what it means and when a regulator expects it](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/human-in-the-loop-ai): Human-in-the-loop is not a person clicking approve. It is a person who can realistically catch an error in the time they are given. Here is how to tell real oversight from theatre, and how to match it to the risk.
- [Why most AI pilots never reach production, and how to avoid it](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/why-ai-pilots-fail): A working demo is not a working system. Most AI pilots stall in the same four places: no owner, no integration, no audit trail, and the wrong first use case. Here is how to close the gap between the demo and the day job.
- [The EU AI Act and UK AI rules: what professional services firms actually have to do](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/eu-ai-act-uk-rules-professional-services): The EU AI Act sorts systems into risk tiers and regulates the high-risk ones hard. The UK and Jersey lean on principles instead. If you serve regulated clients, you may sit under both. Here is what that actually requires.
- [Prompt versioning: keeping AI outputs consistent and auditable](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/prompt-versioning): The instruction you give an AI is not a throwaway sentence. It is the logic of the system, and quietly editing it changes every output that follows. Treat prompts like code: version them, test them, log the changes. Here is why, and what it looks like in a firm a regulator might inspect.
- [AI for accountancy practices: from bookkeeping to advisory](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-for-accountancy-practices): The lowest-margin work in an accountancy practice is the most automatable: data entry, categorisation, reconciliations, first-draft accounts. Automate it and you free your best people for the advisory work clients will happily pay for.
- [AI and data protection under UK GDPR and the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-data-protection-uk-gdpr-jersey): Feeding client data to an AI tool is still processing personal data, and the same rules apply. Lawful basis, minimisation, and knowing where your prompts go. Here is what UK GDPR and the Jersey Law actually require.
- [An AI readiness checklist for firms of 5 to 250 people](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-readiness-checklist): You do not need to be AI-ready in the abstract. You need to be ready for one workflow. This honest checklist covers the four things that actually matter: data, governance, skills, and a use case worth building.
- [Claude vs GPT vs Gemini for professional services work](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/claude-vs-gpt-vs-gemini-professional-services): The honest answer is that all three are good, and the differences that matter to a law or trust firm are not the ones the benchmarks argue about. Here is how we compare Claude, GPT and Gemini on the things a regulated firm actually cares about, and where we land.
- [Document extraction: turning PDFs, contracts and statements into structured data](https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/blog/ai-document-extraction): Document extraction is the unglamorous workhorse behind almost every useful AI system in a professional firm. It turns the PDFs, contracts and statements clogging your inbox into structured data. Here is how it works and where the value actually is.

## FAQ

88 answered questions across 9 topics at https://www.sparkconsulting.tech/faq:
- Working with Spark (10)
- Pricing and commercials (10)
- Tools and platforms (14)
- What we can build (12)
- Security, data and confidentiality (9)
- Compliance and regulation (10)
- Adoption, team and support (9)
- Results and ROI (7)
- About Spark (7)

## Contact

- Book a discovery call: https://calendar.notion.so/meet/sebastianlawson/gimr3uka
- Email: seb@sparkcuriosityhq.com