About Instrument

Instrument is a design company helping brands like Nike, Google, Oura, Uber and more unlock their full potential. Not surprisingly, they’re committed to experimenting with leading emerging technologies that unleash the creative process. 

In their words, these leading technologies are “instruments of the industry’s future” and allow them to deliver greater value as they redefine modern branding and creativity. They know, like we all do, that eliminating busy work and prioritizing strategic thinking and high-value tasks is the unlock that this commitment requires.   

The Challenge: Meeting Overload and Coverage

As Instrument scaled, their teams faced a familiar pain point: back-to-back meetings, often with two employees present (one to guide the conversation, and another to capture it for dissemination). This tied up several people at once and left little time for strategic innovation and creative work. Quality of meeting documentation varied widely, and team members often had to revisit discussions to clarify points or retrieve missed information. 

Instrument calculated that they spent an average of 25 hours doubling up on meetings and 2–3 hours per week clarifying action items and revisiting discussions, leading to project delays. They also lacked a central knowledge graph which could be prompted with a conversational question to answer questions about past work, current projects, and already agreed-upon decisions.

The Approach: Seamless Integration of Read AI

To address these challenges, Instrument integrated Read AI into its meeting workflows and added Google and Slack integrations. Immediately, 50% of Instrument team members were freed up for higher-value work and more creative output, and the team could experiment with AI-powered enterprise search. 

The team found value in the ease of sharing meeting recaps with a click, complete with video recordings, which ensures that all stakeholders, regardless of attendance, are informed and aligned.

Plus, by integrating all meeting reports into a shared knowledge graph, the team no longer needs to read through meeting reports either. Instead, they can prompt Search Copilot for insights and have a dynamic conversation with their team’s shared knowledge to pull out the important details, and then design next steps accordingly. 

“I needed a concise recap along with a video to internally share with teammates and stakeholders. This was such a powerful tool to help me stay organized and sharing with my team/stakeholders is so easy. “ - Diana Nguyen, Senior Director of Operations

The Results: Improved Efficiency and Reduced Administrative Burden

50% Fewer Meeting Attendees: Meeting behavior changed nearly instantly. Now when only one representative from Instrument attends a meeting, Read AI ensures comprehensive documentation, allowing the broader team to access insights without necessitating additional meetings.

“During a major recent implementation, a very lean strategy/interviewer team needed to interview a wide variety of stakeholders. In several of those meetings, the interviewer was the only one who could join – nobody was able to support them by taking notes of the interview. Having my Read assistant in those meetings immediately provided me access to that material without slowing the interviewer down, and also allowed us to divide and conquer more effectively without needing to increase the size of the team." - Andrew Barden, Delivery Operations Leader

130 hours saved per employee: Employees reported saving approximately 15–30 minutes daily on note synthesis. This translates to freeing up more than three weeks per year in time savings per employee.

“As someone constantly jumping from meeting to meeting, I needed a tool to quickly provide recaps to the team without the hassle of cleaning up notes. Read AI has been invaluable—it saves me time and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.” - Peter Black, Senior Producer

25% Fewer Review Cycles: The ability to quickly revisit feedback captured during meetings reduced the number of review cycles with clients, minimizing project “spin” and accelerating timelines.

“I’ve often gone back to past meetings to retrieve specific information—and it’s truly been a lifesaver and lowered my own stress levels. “ - Diana Nguyen, Senior Director of Operations

Less stress: Team members experienced lower stress levels knowing that Read AI reliably captured meeting details, which could be referenced at any time.

“This tool has become an essential part of my day-to-day work—it's something I can truly rely on.” - Diana Nguyen, Senior Director of Operations

Conclusion

By integrating Read AI into its workflow, Instrument reduced administrative tasks such as manual note-taking, pre-reads, and searching for details, and the entire team was able to level up on strategic thinking, innovation, and higher-value work. This leads to more effective decision-making, increased productivity across teams, and a greater impact on our clients' ROI.

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