Hi everyone! I’ve got a question about some guys at work who are pitching that we need a server. This is mostly a sanity check, but I’m pretty sure they’re full of shit

The law firm I work for uses a CRM that doesn’t have an open API. This is important. You can access a daily updated copy of your data from an S3 bucket with an API, but it’s essentially read-only for that reason.

They said they want to set up a server for the firm for " automation" using n8n. We can’t use n8n because it doesn’t have a native integration with our CRM. They also set up Dropbox for the firm (prior to my time starting) and the firm pays for OneDrive with Microsoft suite already…

Then they said they want local ai for automation so they’ll

“Just put a 5070ti in there” For an ai agent for the entire 15-20 person firm. They also never specified what said ai would do. I also think it’s completely not viable

Then they said all 3 locations can just use tailscale to access the server simultaneously. All of these people minus me and one other are completely non-technical. I help them restart Excel once a week non-technical.

I cannot possibly think of a viable use case for what they’re describing. Am I cinical or are they just looking to make some cash off whatever project they don’t know anything about?

  • aarch0x40@piefed.socialEnglish
    16·
    10 hours ago

    Looks like someone just wants to put AI on their resume then bounce out. Being a legal firm I’d also be concerned what vulnerabilities these CV builders would be opening just to have what sounds like an unsanctioned chat bot going through internal private data.

      • appauled@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
        4·
        6 hours ago

        They don’t have huge clients, just a steady flow. 3 locations due to small 5-7 person groups per office instead of one big office. Tbh idk why they do it like that lol

    • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      9 hours ago

      sounds like an unsanctioned chat bot going through internal private data

      Probably better than handing that internal private data to a cloud provider. At least with this setup, it will all stay in the network under their control. There should be no reason to give the inference server access to the internet.

      • aarch0x40@piefed.socialEnglish
        9·
        9 hours ago

        From what OP is describing, it doesn’t sound like anyone asked or was looking for this functionality.

        • appauled@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          3·
          6 hours ago

          Kinda, kinda not? The lawyer who owns the firm really wants new Ai features and asks about stuff all the time, but he doesn’t necessarily have a specific goal, rather, just gives times to create automations with reports or whatever