The framework page walks through a worked example of an accountancy firm whose Discover surfaces post room intake, engagement letters and records chasing as its first agent candidates, workflows close to the advisory work common in Chelmsford.
See the framework in practiceLocations / Essex / Chelmsford
Close enough to design and build agents in the room.
AI agents and Copilot consultancy in Chelmsford
We help firms in and around Chelmsford put AI agents to work inside Microsoft 365, designing and building them in Copilot Studio and the Power Platform and training local teams to use Copilot and build their own, through a blend of on-site sessions and online delivery.
FiveForward is a UK AI agent consultancy based in Colchester, working with accountancy and professional services firms in Chelmsford. We design and build AI agents and automations inside a firm's own Microsoft 365, using Copilot Studio and Power Automate. Our agents start on their own when something happens, do the checking, drafting and filing, then stop for a person at the firm to approve. We also train a firm's team, hands-on, to use Copilot and build their own agents.
This page is for Essex advisory firms in and around Chelmsford: accountancy, legal, consultancy and the operations teams behind them. These are knowledge-heavy businesses where Microsoft 365 is already central and client confidentiality matters, so an agent cannot simply be switched on and announced. It needs a named job, clear permissions and agreed review points before it goes near client work.
That is the work we do here. We design and build agents for jobs like client intake, records chasing, document filing and approvals, and we train your own team to use Copilot and build the next ones. Everything runs inside your own Microsoft 365.
Run an accountancy firm? See the six accountancy agents: what starts each one and where your team approves.
Want your team trained? Start with Copilot training on your own work, or see every training session, from Cowork to building agents.
Agent projects stall when the build starts before the job is named. Someone opens Copilot Studio, points an agent at a SharePoint library and demos it to applause, then it dies in the first busy week because nobody decided what it was for, which data it could touch or who reviews its output. In an advisory firm that gap shows quickly, because the work is governed by review standards and deadlines.
The FiveForward Framework closes that gap. It names the workflows worth an agent, designs each one with its data sources and review points before anything is built, then builds it and keeps it working, so every agent has a real job and a clear line where human judgement takes over.
How an engagement runs in Chelmsford
Five stages, framed for Chelmsford teams.
The route in is the free 30-minute call. From there it's a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover. The stages that follow are sized to what you chose.
01
Discover
We interview fee earners and operational leads in Chelmsford to map where the week really goes and which workflows deserve an agent. £1,500 fixed, covering Discover and Design together.
02
Design
Covered by the Discover fee. Together the two stages produce the workflow map, prioritised agent use cases and a costed plan, and Design ends with a playback session of about an hour where you choose the route and the price is fixed.
03
Enable
Copilot Studio workshops for the people who will build, on site in Chelmsford or live through Teams. First session from £1,150, hands-on and built around your own processes. A half day ends with one working agent built by the group; a full day gives each person their own agent and a first skill. For the rest of the team, Copilot in your workflows trains people on what the Copilot licence already includes.
04
Automate
We build the agents and automations scoped in the plan, typically £2,500 to £15,000 depending on the number of agents, the systems they connect to and the state of the source data. Build with us, at £3,950 fixed, is the alternative: a few of your team build the agents on the plan with us alongside.
05
Embed
Care at £295 a month for one live agent, or Embed from £750 a month for up to three, keeps agents reviewed, extended and actually used once the build work finishes, with the agreed review points held in place.
Who this suits
- Accountancy, legal, advisory and consultancy teams using Microsoft 365 heavily
- Operations and IT leaders who want working agents without a heavy change programme
- Firms that need a mixture of remote build work and focused on-site sessions
- Teams that want to get more from Copilot and learn to build and run their own agents in Copilot Studio
Common work
- Client intake and enquiry agents that triage new work before it reaches a fee earner
- Records chasing flows that send the reminders and track which clients still owe information
- Document intake and filing agents that read scanned post and file it against the right client
- Power Automate workflows for approvals, handovers and internal reporting
- Training for firms that want the skills in house
Delivery is usually a blend: on-site sessions in Chelmsford for Discover interviews, the Design playback and workshop days, with design and build work running online through Teams between them.
Chelmsford is within easy reach of Colchester, so on-site days are straightforward to arrange. In-person time earns its place for the Discover interviews, the playback session where the route is chosen and the workshop days, where a group learns fastest in the room.
Between those moments, design and build work run online through Teams, with build reviews and support handled asynchronously. For an advisory firm juggling client deadlines, that mix keeps a project moving without pulling fee earners away from billable work more than necessary.
The aim is practical delivery, not travel for the sake of it: on site when it helps the work, online when Teams is the better format.
Proof and examples
Case studies, not local name-drops.
The examples below show how we build these engagements.
A UK accountancy firm's post room agent reads scanned post, matches it against more than 1,500 live clients and files it in about two minutes, with people handling only the letters that need judgement.
Read the AI post room case studyA case study shows letter of engagement drafting collapsing from half an hour to a few minutes once it moves to a form and a flow, the kind of governed automation advisory firms ask for.
Read the document automation case studyCommon questions
Questions before you choose the next step.
Do you work on site in Chelmsford?
Yes. Chelmsford is close enough for regular on-site working, and in-person time earns its place for Discover interviews, the Design playback and workshop days. Design and build work run online through Teams between those sessions.
What does an agent build cost?
Discover is £1,500 fixed and covers Discover and Design together, with up to six hours of sessions across one team or service line. Scoped builds are typically £2,500 to £15,000 depending on the number of agents, the systems they connect to and the state of the source data, fixed before anything is built. Build with us, where your team builds the agents on your plan with us alongside, is £3,950 fixed. The £1,500 is credited back in full once your follow-on work passes £3,500 (ex VAT) within 90 days.
Is our client data safe with an agent?
We build agents in your own Microsoft 365, not on our servers, and we don't host your data. An agent your team talks to only sees what the person using it can already see. Agents that run on their own use a dedicated service account, limited to the mailboxes, folders and systems the job needs, agreed with you in advance. We build in UK regions wherever Microsoft offers them, and anything that has to run elsewhere is set out for your compliance lead to approve before go-live. Microsoft doesn't use your Microsoft 365 content to train its foundation models, and every run is logged. Every agent we design carries agreed review points, which matters for client-sensitive advisory work.
How do we start?
With a free 30-minute call. No pitch, no obligation. From there it's a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover if you're not sure yet where agents would help. If you already know what you want, such as one of the six accountancy agents, we scope it on the free call and the specification is included in the fixed build price.
Can our team learn to build its own agents?
Yes. Training is built around your firm's own processes and never needs Discover first. It runs in stages, and your firm can stop at any of them: Copilot in your workflows, on what the Copilot licence already includes, then Cowork, a short agents course for anyone in the firm and Copilot Studio workshops for the few who'll build. First sessions from £950, each per group (recommended up to 12 people), hands-on and follow-along, online through Teams or on site. Build with us, at £3,950 fixed, goes further: your team builds the agents with us alongside, over two guided build days, two build reviews and 90 days of email support.
Where to go next
AI consultancy in Essex
How we serve Essex, with the five-stage framework and links to the Colchester and Chelmsford pages.
Copilot Studio agents
What we build, how agents work from your own Microsoft 365 and what a scoped build involves.
Training
Copilot in your workflows and Cowork for the whole team, a short agents course for anyone in your firm and hands-on Copilot Studio workshops for the people who'll build, all built around your own processes.
AI agents for law firms
Sector guidance for firms where drafting, research and matter preparation carry professional duties.
Next step
Talk through the first job you'd hand to an agent, or the training your team needs.
A free 30-minute call is enough to work out the right next step: a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover, a fixed £1,500 covering Discover and Design, if you're not sure yet where agents would help.