Can I chat with my business data?
Chat with your business data, without a database
Yes. With AI Board you ask your company's own files a question in plain language, on your own laptop. The assistant reads the PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files in the folders you choose. Once connected, it reads your mail and calendar too. You don't need a database or SQL. The answer names its source, so you can open the file and check it.
By Jordi Daniëls, founder of AI Board ·
You know the answer is somewhere in your files: in a contract, a deck or an export from your accounts. You just don't know where, and ChatGPT doesn't know your company.
Many explanations of chatting with your data assume a database with a data team behind it. Most directors and business owners I talk to keep their company data in documents and mail. Together, those make up your company brain.
The database question
Do I need a database to chat with my business data?
No, not for the questions a director or business owner usually asks. The assistant reads the files and exports you already have. You don't have to put anything into tables first.
With many tools that promise you can "talk to your data", someone builds a database or data model first. The tool then turns your question into a database query.
That works when your answers live in one system with clean tables. When they are spread over contracts, decks, Excel exports and mail, reading what is already there is the shorter route.
The routes
What are the ways to chat with your business data?
Which route fits depends on where your answers live: in one file, in your work apps, in a database or in loose folders.
Five ways to chat with your business data, and a sixth
- Fits when your question is about
- One document, once
- Where it runs
- In the vendor's cloud
- Shows the source?
- You check it in the file you gave it
- Fits when your question is about
- Knowledge in mail, SharePoint or Google Drive, for a team
- Where it runs
- In Microsoft's or OpenAI's cloud
- Shows the source?
- Yes, both put citations next to the answer
- Fits when your question is about
- Figures from one system with clean tables, such as a CRM or ERP
- Where it runs
- With the vendor or on your own server
- Shows the source?
- Depends on the tool
- Fits when your question is about
- Fixed dashboards you want to query faster
- Where it runs
- Wherever your BI environment runs
- Shows the source?
- From the data model; varies by tool
- Fits when your question is about
- The same documents, for many people
- Where it runs
- Wherever the builder hosts it
- Shows the source?
- Only if the builder builds it in
- Fits when your question is about
- Your own questions, spread over contracts, decks, exports and mail
- Where it runs
- On your laptop; processing via Anthropic or local, by edition
- Shows the source?
- Yes, with file and page, slide or sheet
For live, transaction-level figures all day long, route 3 or 4 fits better. AI Board reads files and exports, so an answer is only as recent as its file.
I install the assistant per person. When a whole team works in the same apps, route 2 often fits better. Claude offers a similar feature for Team and Enterprise, called enterprise search, which follows each user's permissions.
If you already work in Microsoft 365, read what Microsoft 365 Copilot costs, and whether you need it first. Copilot finds what a user may see, so overly broad permissions suddenly become findable. Copilot Chat, included with Microsoft 365, works with web data and with what you hand it yourself. Microsoft 365 Copilot with the paid Premium licence also searches your work data.
In technical terms, the AI Board route is called retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG: for every question the assistant looks up the passages that cover it, and answers from those.
ChatGPT and Claude
Can ChatGPT reach your business data on its own?
Yes, but only what you or your admin open up. Without a connection, ChatGPT only knows what you upload yourself, per conversation or per project, and what you told it in an earlier chat.
According to OpenAI, the company knowledge feature lets ChatGPT use context from connected apps such as SharePoint, Google Drive and Slack, with citations. OpenAI lists it for Business, Enterprise and Edu.
Claude works the same way in the browser: it knows what you upload, what you open up through a connector, or what you told it earlier in a conversation. With AI Board, you choose the folders and the assistant reads them on your own laptop.
For what each plan does with your data, read whether ChatGPT is safe for business, plan by plan.
How it works
How do you connect business data to AI?
You connect your business data in three steps, without building a data model or dashboard first.
Choose the folders
On the setup day you choose which folders the assistant may read. Anything you don't point it at does not exist for the assistant.
Read in on your laptop
The assistant reads each file per page, slide or sheet into an index on your laptop. The original stays as it was.
Ask in plain language
Type the question the way you'd say it out loud. The answer names the file it came from.
I connect mail and calendar the same day, through Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. The assistant reads along and prepares drafts; you send them.
File types
Which files can you chat with?
You can chat with PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files from the folders you choose. The assistant reads them per page, slide or sheet, so an answer points to the right place.
Per page: the text, the images inside it and a picture of the page itself.
Word
Per page, like a PDF: text, images and a picture of every page.
PowerPoint
Per slide: the slide text, your speaker notes and a picture of the slide.
Excel
Per sheet: the cells as a table, plus a picture of the sheet as you see it.
Not yet: the legacy formats .doc, .ppt and .xls. Save those as .docx, .pptx or .xlsx first. A scanned page without a text layer is flagged.
Figures from your accounting package, CRM or BI environment come in through an Excel export in a folder you choose. That is not a live connection: the answer is as recent as the latest export.
Real questions
What can you ask your business data?
Anything your own files can answer. Above all the questions that cut across your company, the ones you would otherwise chase colleagues for.
What did we decide about the pricing change, and when?
Why has gross margin changed since the first quarter?
What did I promise at the last management meeting?
Which customers did we lose this quarter, and why?
What's in our contract with this supplier about renewal?
You no longer need to type the questions you ask every week or month. A routine prepares the answer at a set time, such as a daily brief or a monthly report. Your laptop needs to be on then, since the routine runs there.
Example
What does a sourced answer look like?
A good answer is short and names the file behind every claim. This example uses made-up data.
Question
“What does our contract with the cleaning supplier say about renewal, and what did we pay last year?”
Answer
The contract renews automatically for twelve months, unless you give written notice at least three months before 31 December [1]. Last year you paid €18,400, spread over twelve monthly invoices [2].
Sources
- [1]Cleaning contract 2025.pdf · page 4, clause 7.2
- [2]Costs 2025.xlsx · sheet Suppliers, row Cleaning
In your own install every source points to your own file.
Want to see this on your own files?
Book a demoReliability
How reliable are the answers?
As reliable and as recent as the files behind them, and you can check each answer because the source sits next to it. If something isn't in your files, the assistant doesn't guess.
In my installs I make sure every figure has a source and a date. If the source is missing, you see a dash and a note, never an estimate.
At one client, a tab on the dashboard stays empty until there is an agreed definition of the figure.
Check an answer in four steps
- Open the source at the page, slide or sheet the answer points to.
- Check that the file is the latest version.
- Compare the figure with the file.
- Ask a follow-up: "Which other files say something about this?"
Teus Louwerens runs three companies and has used AI Board since late August 2026. He wrote his story in Dutch. In translation: "one question and the complete file is on the table, including the history and the people involved."
On the rules in his setup he wrote: "unknown stays “unknown”, never round to a pretty number." Read Teus Louwerens's customer story.
The data path
Where do your files and your question go?
Your files and your company brain stay on your own laptop. Where a question is processed depends on the edition.
With the Claude edition, your question and everything the assistant reads to answer it go via Anthropic. That means passages from your files and notes, and your mail once connected. According to Anthropic, that data is stored in the US and may also be processed in other countries.
When presentations are read in, Claude writes a caption for each slide, also via Anthropic. For a sensitive deck, the caption can be switched off.
With the local edition, the processing stays on your laptop too. That local model is less capable than Claude; how that works is covered in private AI on your own laptop.
If you sync the folder to OneDrive or to your phone, it lives there as well. That is your choice, made with your IT partner.
The assistant reads your files, and you don't train a model in any of this. Whether conversations are ever used for training depends on your plan: on Free, Pro and Max you control that with a privacy setting; on Team and Enterprise, Anthropic does not train on your content by default. The security page covers that, and what to forward to your IT partner.
Your company brain lives on your laptop. You choose if a question goes to a cloud model or stays fully local.
Getting started
What does getting started take?
One day, and about two hours of your own time. I install AI Board on site in the Netherlands, from 09:00 to 17:00, or remotely on request.
Your laptop stays with me that day; you join for the blocks we agree that morning.
You don't need to be technical. I finish connections that need approval from a third party remotely, within five working days.
Forward this to your IT partner
- A Mac or Windows laptop; I install per user.
- Admin consent for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, for mail and calendar.
- A Claude subscription with Anthropic, or the local edition instead. We'll discuss which plan fits on the call.
- The security page.
For business owners this is the setup day: one day on site; the price is on that page.
If you are a director or manager in a larger company, I install the same assistant per person. We discuss what that looks like for your company in a call.
In this topic
More about your own data
Questions about chatting with your business data
Do I need a database or SQL?
How long does setup take?
Can AI Board read my accounting system or CRM?
Is chatting with your business data the same as uploading a file to ChatGPT?
What if the answer isn't in my files?
Is my data kept private?
See how this works on your own files?
In a 30-minute demo I show you the dashboard, the Kanban board and a company brain. I set up AI Board on site in the Netherlands, or remotely on request. I'll call you back as soon as I can.
Your company brain lives on your laptop. You choose if a question goes to a cloud model or stays fully local.