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What is Sonic Brief? Sonic Brief is a cloud-based audio processing platform that transforms voice recordings into structured, actionable reports. Built for the public sector, it automates transcription and summarization, saving time and improving data quality. It has the flexibility to be configured to meet any use case through the AI prompting editor which is built in. The SRS Wales Edition takes the base version from the proof of concept to a minimum viable product with enterprise features. It also includes a mobile frontend for frontline workers, that can be used either in offline or online and on Android and iOS. 

Key features include:

• Browser-based audio recording (no extra devices needed)
• Enterprise authentication with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)
• Flexible transcription workflows (audio or existing transcripts)
• Advanced analytics & reporting
• Comprehensive auditing for compliance
• Mobile-responsive design
• Enhanced security and administrative controls
• Optional mobile frontend (useable offline and online - supports Android and iOS)

Screenshot - Example Recordings

Where is it being used? We’ve launched Sonic Brief in Children’s Social Care for Torfaen Borough Council, with plans to roll out to Monmouthshire, Newport, and Blaenau Gwent soon. We’re also exploring new use cases across HR, legal, benefits and more.

A True Community Effort This project is a fantastic example of public sector innovation—developed in partnership with local authorities, private industry, and technology partners.

Special thanks to:

• SRS Wales Team: Bonny Ramsay, Katie Rees (Blair), Matt Lewis
• Microsoft Support Team: Rob Hutchings , Martyn Johnson , Drew Thomas
• Servent (Mobile Frontend): https://www.servent.co.uk/ – Contact Declan Gildea if you would like to talk about deployment assistance.
• NDL (Digitise Mobile Frontend): https://www.ndl.co.uk/, Gareth Handley , Hannah Gilbank – Contact Hannah for NDL technology support.
• Original Developers: Moustafa Mahmoud, Wolfgang Knupp
• Leicestershire County Council: Chris Masuda, David Willis, Joe Broughton – For the documentation for base version.
• In memory of the late Tony Ellis (Buckinghamshire County Council) — whose vision and support made all this possible.

Get Started or Get Help 

• GitHub Repo https://github.com/SimonHarris101/SRS-Wales-Sonic-Brief-Community-Edition
• Need help deploying? Reach out to your Microsoft Account Team or contact Declan Gildea at Servent.
• For NDL version of mobile frontend contact - Hannah Gilbank at NDL if you use NDL technologies.

Let’s keep driving public sector innovation—together! 

Simon Harris 
Enterprise Architecture & Digital Transformation

Today is one of those moments that makes you pause, smile and feel deeply grateful. I used the words “an unusual day for me” when I described it earlier to someone but it was actually an extraordinary day. I took part in an amazing afternoon celebrating innovation and impact at the AI100 UK 2025 Lunch, hosted by The Lord Ranger in the historic Cholmondeley Room and Terrace. 

The AI Top 100 had a range of the biggest names from UK sectors represented and included startups to global tech firms, central government, local government and academia. If you wanted to build something with AI then this was the room of people to do it with. 

Being named #32 on the AI TOP 100 list for Digital Leaders is an incredible honour, not just personally, but for everyone who has walked this journey alongside me, this is a collective 32nd. From the amazing teams at the SRS, to colleagues across Local Government in Wales, to the support from the CDPS and asking me to Chair the AI Leadership Group For Wales and to Welsh Government colleagues who are driving the Office for AI. 

To be recognised among 100 incredible digital leaders feels surreal, especially knowing how much extraordinary work is happening across AI, data, and digital transformation globally. However, 32 isn’t a finish line, it’s a foundation. It’s a reminder to me that we are doing the right things, that the hard work is worth it, that this work has purpose and that we belong in these circles. 

To everyone building, learning, and pushing boundaries in this space: thank you and keep going. Let’s keep making AI a force for good.  

Matt Lewis, Chief Operating Officer 

View the full list here

I have always been really impressed with the Nesta work around the office of data analytics approach, there are so many really impactful examples around the UK and we've spoken to a few now. We're starting small and planning to grow. JACOB is our Joint Approach to Community wellBeing (I know the B is a little artistic license but let me off with that one). Over the last month we have managed to successfully put together a really strong team who will now take this work forward. 

We are putting our beliefs into practice through JACOB which is all about using data to deliver actionable insights at three levels of work: hyper-local data, a ClearCore integrated data solution and predictive analytics. Our ultimate goal is to support our partners to tackle inequalities across the region and support partners with date for interventions. This vision aligns closely with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which urges us to plan long-term and improve well-being for current and future generations, and with the Marmot Principles on reducing health inequalities. 

Bringing these three elements together – hyper-local insight, an integrated data core, and forward-looking analytics – JACOB represents a comprehensive, community-focused approach to data. It’s not about tech for tech’s sake. It’s about people and giving our teams and partners the information they need to improve lives in tangible ways. Our ambition is “tackling inequalities… together” and JACOB is an approach to live up to that: it enables us all to see the same picture and work in unison to address the issues it reveals. JACOB is tailored to Welsh public service values and it’s flexible to our needs (we can continuously improve it). It also means we’re sharing lessons across our partners. 

There is, as always, much more to do. We're coming towards completion of our first single view model across our partners, the next step is turning the insight into on-the-ground action. That means working closely with service leads across the organisation to design interventions based on the evidence and to monitor their impact. JACOB will help us identify where to apply an intervention and how big it should be (proportionate to need), but it’s the human effort of our teams and communities that will make those numbers change. Data can spotlight the inequalities; people working together will solve them. 

Over time we want to use the work to be able to positively identify what programmes, projects or activities have shifted the needle on our Marmot indicators and be able to use the data we have to support us in shifting it further. If anyone else out there is building Marmot reporting functions, Marmot Dashboards or working within Marmot organisations please do get in touch, we’d love to learn from others and maybe even work together on capabilities. 

Matt Lewis, Chief Operating Officer

Our AI future at the SRS will be technology agnostic. We will use whatever we need to that best suits our needs at a point in time for any particular use case and we will have razor sharp focus on what delivers us best value. 

We have recently released two tools to a cohort of staff for testing and proving that the outcomes are what we expect them to be in the wild. The tools perform the transcription and structuring of Teams or in person meetings into formats used in the current business processes. As a pair they offer a solution for an identical outcome for any meeting type. 

Forgetting our initial use case for a second that we built this around, which is incredibly powerful in itself, what the team here have built is a mechanism that allows the creation of prompting for any meeting type and output type. Better still for me, the rinse and repeat through the business does not require technology teams to be involved because the foundation application has been built. 

This work absolutely embodies everything we stand for, everything we believe in and everything we are. It will help manage and reduce demand and support our partners to tackle inequalities. We are really early days and these are very small green shoots but what exciting green shoots they are.