It’s an easy first move: copy a set of figures into ChatGPT and ask it to draft the narrative for your next board report. Quick, and it feels like progress. The problem shows up the moment you do it twice. A free tool doesn’t connect to your systems, so every time you need it, you’re re-typing the same numbers by hand. And once pupil or staff data is involved, that convenience carries real risk. GDPR isn’t optional here; it needs a reputable provider, a data processing agreement, and control over who can see what.

Anago’s CTO and founder, Thomas de Nooij, made this point clearly in a recent interview with The FD Forum for School Management Plus: a dedicated platform works differently. It sits inside your finance workflow, so a narrative drafts itself from your live figures rather than a fresh copy-paste each time. You still read and check it, but you’re not starting from a blank page. If you’re weighing this up, try the free tools first to see the difference, then ask your peers what’s actually working for them.