How Heron Financial turned AI curiosity into real results
Client
Heron Financial
Skills
Apprenticeship/Level 3 Digital Support Technician (AI Pathway)
Heron Financial has worked with We Are Zenith for several years. Last year, they put 11 team members through the Level 3 Digital Support Technician apprenticeship (AI pathway), funded through a levy transfer. The cohort spans every level of the business, from case admin to the board. As they reach the end of the programme, we asked them what has actually changed.
The starting point
Nobody came in as an expert. A Mortgage Operations Manager had “used ChatGPT for small bits but nothing out of the very minimal use.” An Internal Operations Co-ordinator was “using AI sparsely but didn’t have a great understanding of it.” Others were using it more often, but mostly as a search engine or for basic tasks.
That’s a familiar picture. Plenty of people have dabbled with AI. Far fewer know how to use it well, safely, and in a way that genuinely changes their working week.
What changed
Mortgage Operations Manager
Before the apprenticeship, ChatGPT was the only tool in the box. Now he chooses different AI tools depending on the job, and uses AI linked to the company CRM to find and calculate data instead of reviewing everything manually. He also uses it to challenge his own thinking.
“I use it to pull data, analyse it and then review the data after me, to review my opinions on it and give a varying view.”
His go-to skill is writing better prompts and dictating to AI rather than typing. He now uses it every day to analyse team data, and encourages his team to use it wherever they can.
Time saved: 3 to 4 hours a week
Internal Operations Co-ordinator
Recurring admin, like update emails, is now largely automated. Building automations is something she simply couldn’t do before, and AI has become a core part of her role.
“I have found the apprenticeship extremely useful, and it has transformed the way I think about tasks, and how they are carried out, making me more efficient and able to focus on higher value work.”
The impact reaches beyond her own desk. Across the business, people now ask how AI could improve a task when working out the best way to do it.
Time saved: around a full day’s work every week
Case Progression
Long email chains used to mean reading everything from top to bottom. Now AI summarises them and pulls out exactly what’s needed. Every morning, she uses the team’s AI tool to pull an overview of tasks and case tracking into a spreadsheet, and the team uses that to allocate work and make decisions.
“I’ve felt it’s made me better at my job in some ways. Parts of my role are more efficient.”
Time saved: 5 to 10 minutes on every email chain
Protection Adviser
He now uses Copilot’s Cowork feature to prepare for client meetings, a level of preparation he wasn’t doing before. He has also gone further than anyone expected, building his own apps and personal sites using ChatGPT and Claude Code, and uses AI to keep colleagues updated on his progress.
“I would recommend it, to future-proof their career as much as possible in an uncertain future.”
Time saved: around an hour
The results at a glance
- Up to a full working day saved per person, per week
- Manual admin replaced with automations
- CRM and case data analysed in minutes, not hours
- Better-prepared client meetings
- Team decisions driven by AI-generated task overviews
- Apprentices building their own apps and tools
Fitting it around the day job
The most common challenge was balancing coursework with busy roles, including management responsibilities. The programme adapted. Feedback about repetitive workbooks was acted on and they were simplified, and adjustments were made early on to support individual learners. One apprentice suggested setting aside a dedicated block of time for workbooks, which is a great tip for anyone starting out.
Would they recommend it?
All four said yes.
“People can learn to use AI themselves, but they need to be taught how to use it safely, especially in a workplace environment.”
Could your team do the same?
Heron Financial funded their cohort through a levy transfer, so the training came at no cost to them. If you’d like to explore an AI apprenticeship for your team, get in touch with We Are Zenith.
