Verona AI
Toolbox Talks is a short series of practical guides to the AI tools most businesses already have access to. Each post covers three things: how to get real value from the tool, what to watch out for, and how to keep your business data safe.
They're written for owners, managers and teams in small and mid-sized UK businesses. You don't need a technical background. Features and plan names change often, so check the provider's own pages before you roll anything out.
How to use it well
- Gmail: summarise threads, draft replies and use "Help me write" for first drafts.
- Docs: generate outlines, rewrite for tone, or condense long documents.
- Sheets: build tables, formulas and summaries from plain-English requests.
- Meet: take notes and produce action items automatically (where your plan includes it).
- Drive and the Gemini app: ask questions across your files, such as "What did we agree with Supplier X?"
- NotebookLM: upload policies, manuals or research and get a Q&A assistant grounded only in those sources. It's great for onboarding and training.
Tip: use Gems (saved custom instructions) for repeat tasks such as writing product descriptions or answering common customer queries in your brand voice.
What to watch out for
- Personal vs work accounts: the free Gemini app on a personal Gmail account has different data terms from Gemini inside a Workspace business account. Keep business work on business accounts.
- Human review of chats: on consumer accounts, conversations may be reviewed by people and used to improve products unless activity is turned off.
- Plausible but wrong: treat Gemini's answers about your files as a starting point. Open the source document to confirm.
- Features vary by plan and region: check what your Workspace edition includes before promising it to your team.
How to avoid security issues
- Clean up Drive sharing: Gemini can pull from any file a user can open. Remove "anyone with the link" access on sensitive files and review shared drives.
- Use admin controls: Workspace admins can switch Gemini features on or off by team, and set data retention for Gemini conversations.
- Enable data loss prevention (DLP) and labels on higher Workspace tiers to protect confidential content.
- Protect accounts: enforce two-step verification and review third-party apps connected to Google accounts.
- Don't upload regulated data to consumer tools: customer records, health or financial data should only go into approved, business-grade services covered by a data processing agreement.
- Train your team: a 15-minute briefing on what's safe to share prevents most problems.
Want this as a session for your team?
We run AI training on site, half a day or a full day, from what AI actually is to using it safely with customer data.
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