Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)

Overview

We deployed 20 AI tools across 10 RCVS departments in a phased rollout: 12 standard assistants covering everyday tasks, plus 8 custom solutions built for governance, committee and regulatory processes.

Combined productivity reached an estimated 3,700+ hours per year. Committee minutes dropped from 6-7 hours to under one hour per meeting. The Chief Digital Officer independently trained approximately 40 additional staff beyond the original 25-person pilot, bringing total AI users to 65.

Governance processes, key bottlenecks

RCVS operates under strict regulatory requirements. The organisation runs 10+ formal committee meetings per year, each producing substantial minutes that must follow precise house-style conventions. RCVS manages professional registration, CPD, disciplinary processes, events and policy engagement across the UK and internationally.

RCVS faced five major challenges. Committee meeting minutes took 6-7 hours per meeting, with one officer using evenings to complete them. Regulatory content needed converting to RCVS Style Guide standards. Staff needed quick access to internal digital and AI policies fragmented across multiple documents. Survey free-text responses required systematic analysis with no standardised approach. Public-facing committee summaries required extracting key points with page references from four separate quarterly meetings.

Standard tools first, custom builds next

RCVS took a phased approach. We deployed 12 standard assistants personalised with RCVS core business documents as the first wave. These covered everyday tasks: drafting content, analysing data, preparing meetings, reviewing documents. Every pilot user had a working AI toolkit from day one.

We delivered discovery workshops and a two-day in-person AI Crash Course at RCVS offices, attended by 9 staff across 8 practical sessions. The APC Minuter was the flagship custom build, going through three iterative versions incorporating real user feedback on formatting, verbosity and workstream handling. Version 3 includes cohesion rules, role-based attribution avoiding naming individuals, confidentiality handling and exact RCVS style conventions.

The Digital Policy Helper was tested against 15 tasks by a software engineer, passing 14 of 15. This validation approach built confidence in a regulated context where accuracy is non-negotiable.

65 staff using AI through champions

Standard assistants were in daily use before the first custom build was deployed. By month six, all 20 tools were in production. The APC Minuter saved 6-7 hours per committee meeting. The Digital Policy Helper passed 14 of 15 test tasks.

The Chief Digital Officer delivered internal AI training to approximately 40 additional staff, extending reach far beyond the original 25 pilot users. 65 people across the organisation now use AI in their daily work. 57% of surveyed staff wanted more training, confirming demand exceeds supply.

Combined productivity reached an estimated 3,700+ hours per year across standard and custom tools. A single discovery session with the Research team surfaced 14 additional pain points across fellowship allocation, research grants, exam QA, financial reconciliation, events and campaigns.

From assistants to agents in Teams

We are building several AI agents to help RCVS staff with policy queries, deployed directly into Microsoft Teams. The HR Policy Agent, IT Support Agent and Finance Policy Agent will make guidance available to all staff without needing to search across multiple documents. This moves RCVS from individual assistants to organisation-wide agents that serve the whole team.

We are also expanding into a new department to support policy and best practice work. A further 12 pain points have been identified for this next phase, adding to the 14 surfaced from the Research team discovery session.

The pattern follows the SCALE framework. Assistants proved the value. Champions spread adoption. Agents will embed AI into how the organisation works every day.

What we learned

The standard toolkit gave pilot users immediate value while we ran discovery. Three iterative versions of the APC Minuter, each incorporating direct user feedback, built trust and precision in a governance context.

AI confidence ranged from never-used to daily-user across the 25 pilot staff. A two-day in-person AI Crash Course created momentum, but ongoing support was essential.

The Chief Digital Officer acting as internal champion extended reach to approximately 40 additional staff without our involvement. Building internal capability through champions is the most scalable approach to adoption.

*This engagement was delivered through the smartAI programme, our reseller partnership with smartimpact. Read the smartimpact case study to learn more.