Aside for consultants
Aside records client calls on your computer without a bot and helps you cover what you need from each call. It transcribes English and 24 European languages there (add another language and every call is transcribed online, as on computers too slow to keep up, but for notes-only calls on the free plan).
The calls consultants run
Scoping calls, stakeholder interviews, status updates and workshops, in the client’s choice of call app and sometimes in the room. The deliverable is built from what was said, so the notes have to be accurate.
The client’s call app
One client is on Teams, another on Zoom, a third on Webex. Aside hears your computer’s audio, so it works in all of them, with nothing to install and no approval needed from the client’s IT.
Stakeholder interviews
Ten interviews across a client’s organisation, with the same core questions. What you heard in the second decides what you probe in the seventh.
Scoping
Scoping calls set what you’ll deliver. A loose memory of what was agreed is where scope creep starts.
Workshops in the room
Aside also records meetings in the room through your computer’s microphone.
How Aside helps on client calls
A plan for each call, notes without leaving the call app, and a write-up that confirms what was agreed.
A plan per call
Goals from the engagement brief, background on the stakeholder, and ready answers on fees, timelines and how findings will be shared. Ask Claude, connected to Aside, to write it from your calendar and earlier meetings.
Your method as a playbook
There is no consulting starter playbook. Write your interview guide or scoping approach as one, or ask a connected AI app to turn your method document into an Aside playbook. The Customer interview starter is a reasonable base for stakeholder interviews, and Negotiation for fee discussions.
During the call
Goals fill in as you cover them, and your prepared answers appear when the topic comes up. Press ⌃⌥N or CtrlAltN to note something from any app, and ⌃⌥P or CtrlAltP to pause for anything off the record.
After the call
A summary, next steps and a follow-up email that confirms what was agreed. Across a round of interviews, a connected AI app can read them all and tell you which themes came up most.
Promises
The promises from your calls, yours and the client’s, with due dates, and a page for each person with what Aside remembers about them. Tick them off as you go.
What happens to client information
The recording stays on your computer, and English and 24 European languages are transcribed there (add another language and every call is transcribed online, as on computers too slow to keep up, but for notes-only calls on the free plan). Meeting text is different. When you’re signed in, titles, transcripts, summaries, notes, plans and speaker names sync to your Aside account, so connected AI apps can read them.
AI models
Live guidance and write-ups send the plan and the part of the transcript they need to an AI model. Never audio. Nothing you record or write is used to train AI models.
Off the record
Pause with ⌃⌥P or CtrlAltP and nothing is recorded until you resume. The transcript marks the gap.
Your client agreements
Check what your contracts say about recording and third-party processing, and tell people you’re recording. The privacy policy has the details.
An example
A stakeholder interview on Teams
It’s the third of eight. Your plan has four goals from the brief and a ready answer on how findings will be shared. The head of operations asks whether their answers will be attributed, and your prepared answer appears. Later they mention a vendor contract that ends in June; you press ⌃⌥N or CtrlAltN and note it. After all eight, you ask Claude which themes came up most often.
An illustration of how Aside works, not a customer story.
What Aside doesn’t do for consultants
Aside covers your own calls on your computer. It doesn’t manage the engagement.
No document or Notion integration
Nothing goes to Notion, Slack or a shared drive automatically. Copy what you need, or ask a connected AI app to draft it.
No shared engagement workspace
Each consultant has their own account. A Team plan with a shared library is planned, not available yet.
No phone app
Aside runs on Mac and Windows computers. There is no phone app.
No video
Aside keeps audio and the transcript, not shared screens.
Related
Bot notetakers vs recording on your computer
Where transcription happens and what a meeting bot sees.
Read the guideAside with Microsoft Teams
Recording Teams calls without a bot or admin approval.
Read morePrivacy
What stays on your computer and what syncs to your account.
Read the policyAside vs Granola
Neither uses a bot. Granola transcribes in the cloud; Aside transcribes English and 24 European languages on your computer (add another language and every call is transcribed online, as on computers too slow to keep up, but for notes-only calls on the free plan).
Read the comparisonQuestions
Is Aside suitable for confidential client calls?
English and 24 European languages are transcribed on your computer (add another language and every call is transcribed online, as on computers too slow to keep up, but for notes-only calls on the free plan), and the recording stays there. When you’re signed in, meeting text syncs to your Aside account, and guidance and write-ups send the plan and the needed part of the transcript to an AI model. Nothing is used to train AI models. Check your client agreements.
Does Aside work on the client’s Teams, Zoom or Webex?
Yes. It records your microphone and the sound your computer plays, so it works in any call app with nothing to install and no admin approval.
Can I take part of a call off the record?
Yes. Press ⌃⌥P or Ctrl+Alt+P to pause and again to resume. The transcript marks the gap.
Is there a playbook for consultants?
Not as a starter. Write your own, or ask a connected AI app to turn your method or interview guide into an Aside playbook.