The problem
Writing up every client call costs more time than the call. If an agency's account managers hold 12 client calls a week and each write-up with actions takes 15 minutes, that's 180 minutes a week, about 774 minutes (12.9 hours) a month.
What the AI does
Fathom AI Notetaker joins calls on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams (the supported platforms on its site), records and transcribes them and produces a summary. The free plan gives instant AI call summaries with limited AI action items; Premium adds advanced summaries and AI-generated action items. After each call the account manager checks the summary and actions, corrects names and numbers, and sends the agreed next steps to the client. The site does not say whether customer data is used to train AI models, so check its privacy and security pages.
A worked example
A marketing agency in Glasgow has 3 account managers holding about 12 client calls a week between them, all on Zoom or Google Meet.
Before
12 calls a week at 15 minutes of write-up each: 180 minutes a week, about 774 minutes (12.9 hours) a month
After
If checking the summary and actions takes about 5 minutes each: 60 minutes a week, about 258 minutes (4.3 hours) a month
What it's worth
About 8.6 hours a month saved (516 minutes), worth about £301 at £35 an hour, if the 5-minute check holds (an assumption to test). Cost: Premium for 3 account managers is $16 (about £12) a user a month billed annually, $48 (about £36), or $20 (about £15) a user a month billed monthly, $60 (about £45). Prices are in dollars. The free plan may be enough to start with if you only need summaries.
How to set it up
- Try the free plan on a few real calls to see what the summaries and action items look like.
- Decide whether you need Premium for the advanced summaries and action items, and price it per account manager.
- Tell clients at the start of the call, or in your terms, that calls are recorded and summarised, and stop the recording if they object.
- Check each summary against what was agreed, correct names, figures and dates, and send the next steps to the client.
- Check your client contracts and Fathom AI Notetaker's security and privacy pages before using it with clients who have strict confidentiality terms.
What goes wrong
- A summary can miss a decision or attribute it to the wrong person. A person checks it before it is treated as the record.
- Recording calls involves personal data and client confidences. Tell participants, keep recordings only as long as needed and check client contracts for restrictions on recording.
- Fathom's page lists Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Phone calls and in-person meetings are not covered.
- Premium is priced per user, so the cost scales with the number of account managers who host calls.