AI Masterclass 1.8

How to save more time with connected AI workflows

• Connect ChatGPT to a wide range of apps that you use in your business everyday.
• This particular ChatGPT hack helps you build an AI assistant for productivity, which means fewer hours spent searching folders, less copying and pasting and faster responses for your customers.
• Protecting sensitive business data requires a careful review of permissions. Avoid connecting apps containing sensitive financial or personal customer data.

By now you’ve customised ChatGPT so it understands your business and you’ve used it as a brainstorming tool to get business tips. You’re probably already using AI for data analysis, too. The next link in the chain – and another real timesaver – is to connect your everyday business apps and files to ChatGPT.

Connecting apps means ChatGPT – with permission – can access the selected files, documents and information you use every day in your business. It gives ChatGPT more relevant details to work with so you get faster, more relevant responses.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Log in to ChatGPT on your desktop: Click on your profile in the bottom left-hand corner and go to settings.

2. Go to the Apps menu and click on “Explore Apps”: Depending on your ChatGPT plan, you may see options to connect tools, cloud storage services or workplace apps such as Google Drive, Gmail, Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint. Click on the one you want to connect. A pop-up window will ask which account you use for your business.

3. Review the permissions: For security reasons, it’s best to only connect apps you intend to use regularly. Be cautious about connecting files or folders containing sensitive customer, financial or employee information unless you fully understand the permissions and privacy settings involved. You can also choose to only allow access to specific folders or files.

4. Once you’ve connected your chosen apps, hit the paperclip tool or type @ in the search bar.

Setting up an AI workflow automation: The Brooklyn Boy Bagels story

Michael Shafran, owner of Brooklyn Boy Bagels in Sydney, connected ChatGPT to Microsoft 365 and immediately started seeing benefits.

“Everything is so much simpler now,” says Michael. “For example, when I’m developing new bagel flavours I keep tasting notes in a document in OneDrive. Now that I’ve connected my apps, I’ll use this prompt: ‘Using the tasting notes in my OneDrive folder called New Seasonal Bagel Development, create: a product description for the menu, an Instagram caption and three short taglines. Keep the tone casual, premium and New York-inspired.’”

Michael also uses it to quickly answer wholesaler enquiries. “I can say ‘Draft a response to this email using our latest wholesale price sheet and delivery terms located in OneDrive. Keep the tone friendly and professional’. This functionality has really been a time-saver for my business – I still have to verify everything but it’s cut my admin time significantly.” 

3 prompts to try today

Once you’ve connected your files or workplace apps to ChatGPT, try these prompts:

• “Summarise the key points from the documents in my project folder and turn them into a client update.”
• “Analyse the last month of business reports in my connected files and suggest areas where I could save time or reduce costs.”
• “Review this anonymised, non-sensitive customer feedback and identify the three most common themes.”