Overview
Claude is a conversational AI assistant, built by Anthropic, that can read, write, summarise, analyse and explain on request. This course is a practical first step for people who have never used it, or have only tried it in passing, and who want to know what it is really good for in a business setting.
The first day covers what Claude is, how to get started and how to talk to it well, with plenty of practice on summaries and drafts. The second day applies those skills to customer support, internal communication, customer engagement and connected business tools, and finishes with responsible use, the direction of travel for conversational AI, and a short plan for introducing Claude in your own team.
Who it's for
Anyone who wants a clear, hands-on introduction to Claude and how it can support business work. It is especially suited to:
- Business professionals in operations, administration and project roles
- Customer support and service teams
- Marketing and communications staff
- Technology enthusiasts curious about conversational AI
Prerequisites
- No prior experience of AI tools is needed
- Basic familiarity with everyday business communication and workflow tools such as email, documents and spreadsheets
By the end of this course you will be able to
- Explain what Claude is, what it does well, where it needs human review, and how it differs from other conversational AI tools
- Set up Claude and work comfortably with its interface, prompts and responses
- Write clear prompts with the GCES method and refine answers until they are accurate and relevant
- Use Claude to summarise documents, generate content and support customer service and internal workflows
- Plan how assistants and connected business tools could support customer engagement, with sensible privacy and review safeguards
- Draft a realistic first plan for bringing Claude into your own team's work
Course outline
Times show the standard running order and can be adjusted when we tailor the course to your team. The trainer stays available during breaks to help anyone finish an exercise.
Welcome & orientation 10 min
How the two days run, what you will build, and a quick round of what each person hopes to do with Claude.
What Claude is and how it came about 30 min
Where Claude comes from, in plain terms: who builds it, how a conversational AI assistant produces its answers, and why it can be fluent and still wrong. A short tour of how it has developed and what that means for the way you use it.
Try it: Ask Claude to explain a concept from your own work at three levels of detail, and note where it helps and where you would check it.
How Claude compares with other conversational AI 30 min
The practical differences between Claude and other conversational AI tools: working with long documents and files, writing style, Projects and connectors, and data controls. A simple scorecard for deciding which tool suits which task, rather than a ranking.
Try it: Run one task in Claude and in another assistant you already have access to, then score both on accuracy, tone and usefulness.
Use cases in customer service, marketing and productivity 35 min
A guided tour of where Claude earns its keep: drafting replies and summaries in customer service, campaign and content ideas in marketing, and day-to-day productivity such as planning, note-taking and research.
Try it: List five tasks from your own week and rate each for value and risk to choose your first two candidates.
Accessing and setting up Claude 30 min
Creating an account, choosing between the web, desktop and mobile apps, understanding what the different plans add, and setting your profile preferences and privacy controls.
Try it: Sign in, set your preferences, and find where your chat history and data controls live.
A tour of the interface and features 40 min
Conversations, the model selector, attachments, Projects, Artifacts and web search, and where each fits. How to organise chats, start a new one at the right moment and return to earlier work.
Try it: Upload a short document, ask three questions about it, then turn the best answer into an Artifact.
Commands, prompts and responses 45 min
The basics of talking to Claude. A repeatable prompt method you will use all course: GCES (Goal, Context, Expectations, Source). Giving direct instructions, following up, and asking for a different format or tone.
Try it: Rewrite a one-line request as a GCES prompt, then compare the two responses side by side.
Summarising documents 40 min
Turning long reports, emails and meeting notes into summaries for different readers, asking for supporting passages, and checking the summary against the source before you rely on it.
Try it: Summarise a long report three ways (for a director, a customer and a new colleague) and verify two claims against the original.
Generating content 40 min
Drafting emails, short articles, descriptions and presentations notes with Claude, steering tone and length, and revising instead of starting again.
Try it: Draft a customer email and a short announcement for the same news in different tones, then edit one to your own voice.
Day 1 practice: one task from start to finish 35 min
Bring the day together on a task from your own work: set up the request, get a draft, check it, refine it and save the prompt.
Try it: Complete your chosen task, then swap with a partner and critique each other's prompts.
Close 10 min
Recap of Day 1 and what we will build on tomorrow.
Welcome back 10 min
Questions from Day 1 and the plan for today.
Automating customer support with Claude 40 min
Where Claude fits in a support operation: sorting and prioritising enquiries, drafting replies that match your tone, and summarising long threads for handover. What to automate, what to assist and what to keep with a person.
Try it: Classify six sample enquiries, draft replies for two, and mark what a person must still review.
Streamlining internal communication and workflows 40 min
Using Claude to turn meeting notes into actions, draft updates and announcements, and tidy up recurring processes. Mapping a simple workflow and finding the step Claude can speed up.
Try it: Map one repeated internal process in five steps and write the prompt that handles the slowest step.
Personalising customer interactions 40 min
Adapting messages to the customer's situation, history and preferences, without exposing personal data unnecessarily. Keeping a consistent brand voice across many conversations.
Try it: Write one reply for three different customer profiles using fictional details, then check each for tone and privacy.
Assistants and chatbots 45 min
What a virtual assistant needs: a purpose, trusted knowledge, a tone and clear limits. Building a working internal assistant as a Project with instructions and knowledge files, and how customer-facing chatbots are built with the Claude API by a development team from the brief you would write.
Try it: Build a small assistant for a team FAQ in a Project, test it with five questions and write a one-page brief for a customer-facing version.
Connecting Claude to CRM and business platforms 35 min
How Claude reaches the tools you already use: connectors and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), automation services, and developer integrations. What each route needs, what administrators control, and why read-only access is the sensible starting point.
Try it: Sketch the data flow for one CRM task, marking what Claude reads, what it drafts and what a person approves.
Responsible use, privacy and data security 40 min
Using Claude responsibly at work: what may be shared and with which account, bias and over-reliance, and keeping a person responsible for what goes out. Privacy settings, permissions, and instructions hidden in emails or documents (prompt injection).
Try it: Classify ten example documents as safe or not safe to share, then write five rules for your team.
Optimising responses for accuracy and relevance 35 min
Getting better answers: supplying the right source, asking Claude to show its reasoning or quote passages, requesting a self-check, and recognising when to start over. Testing a prompt on several examples before you rely on it.
Try it: Improve a weak prompt in three rounds, keeping notes on what changed the quality of the answer.
Advances in conversational AI and its role in business 20 min
Where conversational AI is heading: more capable assistants that take on multi-step work, tighter links to business tools, and what that could mean for automation and decision-making in your sector.
Try it: Pick one trend and write two sentences on how it could change your team's work.
Planning your AI integration strategy 30 min
Turning what you have learned into a first plan: starting use cases, owners, guardrails, how you will measure benefit and when to review.
Try it: Complete a one-page plan with three starting use cases and the safeguards for each.
Close: summary & next steps 10 min
Recap of the two days, your plan, and ways to keep practising.
What you'll need
Claude
- A Claude account. Some features used on Day 2, such as Projects and connectors, depend on your plan and your administrator's settings, so a paid plan is recommended.
- A laptop with a current browser. The Claude desktop or mobile app is optional.
- For the connector discussion, any connectors are enabled by your administrator; the session works as a demonstration if they are not.
Practice files are provided for every exercise. You are welcome to use your own everyday documents where your organisation's policy allows.