Progress reviews
The assistant listens in and records. One person fewer at the table, 150 times a year.
Less admin, more time for the work
Construction firm Cornelissen got AI to land in the office and on the building site. Without losing control and without anyone having to become an AI expert.
The reason will sound familiar: too much time going into admin, quotes and forms. And when the pressure rises, people find a shortcut by themselves. So AI was already being used, out of sight of the organisation.
Cornelissen decided to make room for that, on one condition: the company stays in control.
“We cannot stop AI from being used. So let us make room for it to be used well, make sure we stay in charge, and make sure what we put into it is protected.”
About Cornelissen
Building for healthcare, education and industry.
From a single breakdown to complex new build on demanding sites.
A family business, where the story of the firm has been told around the kitchen table for generations. And a business where the trades would rather be outside, with the technology. Not behind a screen doing admin.
80%
of employees with access use the platform actively, and that grows month on month.
Construction projects up to
€ 60 miljoen
150
progress reviews, now with one person fewer at the table.
Office and building site
Work planning, HR and safety work in the same environment as the people on site.
In practice
AI inside the daily work, not alongside it.
Cornelissen started small: a minute taker and a copywriter for one working group. Today the assistants sit inside the work processes themselves.
The clearest example is the quote comparison. Bids side by side and against the specification, items lined up, missing lines compensated and the risk per supplier weighed. The assistant does the looking up and filling in, the work planner judges.
“I tried comparing two quotes and it was a revelation. You are amazed at the conclusions that come out of it.”
Safety and audits
The conversation is recorded, the outcome lands in the template that already existed.
Minutes and texts
Regular meetings in Cornelissen’s own format, with actions and decisions.
Human work
Empower, do not replace.
That is what Cornelissen was after: people spending their time on the technology, on coordination, on the project. And not on retyping, chasing calls and admin.
“I love my trade, and my trade is not replaceable by AI. Some things are simply human work. But you can take a big step with it.”
The approach
This is how we went about it together.
Broad adoption starts small. Cornelissen did not start with a rollout to everyone, but with a working group that tested the assistants themselves first.
Kickoff and baseline assessment
What do employees already use, where does the time go? First assistants set up around their own meeting structures and house style.
A working group leading the way
A group from every corner of the business (finance, marketing, work planning, HR) tested, gave feedback and became its champions.
Company-wide launch
After the fine-tuning the platform opened up to the whole organisation, with guidance and fixed adoption moments.
Building further on the process
Every period another use case arrives that sits inside the work itself: from the quote comparer to a tender knowledge base. The next step is already lined up.
The choice
Why Cornelissen did not choose Copilot
Cornelissen works with data from clients and suppliers, up to and including projects for central government. Four things settled it.
- Their own closed environment, not sitting openly on the internet.
- Set up with guidance, so builders do not have to become technicians.
- Around their own way of working: their format, their specifications, their processes.
- Signing in with the existing Microsoft account, so no extra barrier.
“The main reason we did not choose Copilot is that AIStudio could offer something that does not sit openly on the internet.”
Move AI from scattered experiments to secure daily use.
In thirty minutes we look at your situation together and show you how other organisations tackled it.
By the end you know three things: how AI fits your business, what it will get you, and how you go live within one month.
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