SHACADEMY · Consultancy • Systems • Technology
Ask Matt
Guided enquiry and decision support, developed by SHACADEMY.
People often struggle to find the right information. Organisations hold plenty of it, but rarely offer real guidance. The work starts with understanding how an organisation operates, the questions people actually ask, and the knowledge behind its advice. Ask Matt is how that thinking reaches the visitor.
Not a chatbot. Not a search engine. Not a booking system. It sits alongside the systems an organisation already uses rather than replacing them.
A live implementation for The SHAC, giving visitors contextual guidance inside a real outdoor operation.
The Challenge
The gap between information and guidance
Many organisations face the same pattern. Information is everywhere. Guidance is rare.
- Customers don't always know which service they need.
- Websites contain too much information to navigate easily.
- Enquiry forms collect very little useful context.
- Staff repeatedly answer the same questions.
- Enquiries frequently reach the wrong person.
- Organisations spend time redirecting people instead of helping them.
The Solution
Guidance, not just answers
Ask Matt is designed to work the way an experienced adviser would. It listens, asks the questions that matter, and points people towards the right outcome.
It only works from knowledge the organisation has approved, so recommendations stay inside the boundaries the organisation has set. Relevant pages, documents and resources are offered at the point they are actually useful, rather than handing someone a library to search.
Understands the objective
Establishes what someone is actually trying to achieve before offering an answer.
Asks what matters
Only the pivotal questions needed to make a confident recommendation.
Guides to the right place
Directs the visitor to the right service, department, resource or next step.
Produces a structured briefing
When human follow-up is needed, whoever reviews the enquiry receives context — not just a message.
Who is it for?
Almost any service-based organisation
Ask Matt's principles have been developed and refined in the outdoor sector, but the platform is not an outdoor industry product. Wherever people need help navigating services or making decisions, Ask Matt can help.
Typical environments include:
- Education providers
- Health and wellbeing services
- Membership and professional bodies
- Consultancies and professional services
- Public-facing service organisations
These are examples rather than an exhaustive list. If your organisation helps people make decisions, Ask Matt is likely relevant.
How SHACADEMY Delivers Ask Matt
A consultancy-led approach
Ask Matt is only as good as the thinking that goes into it. SHACADEMY is the implementation partner. Every project begins by understanding the organisation before any technology is configured.
01
Understand the organisation
Services, teams, values and how the organisation actually operates.
02
Map the customer journeys
The real questions people ask and the decisions they need to make.
03
Review policies and processes
The rules, boundaries and procedures that shape every recommendation.
04
Capture the knowledge
The expertise that currently lives with individual people, made structured and reusable.
05
Configure and validate
Ask Matt is configured, tested and reviewed before it goes live.
This is why the consultancy relationship matters. Guidance can only be as good as the knowledge behind it.
White-Label by Design
Your Brand. Your Voice. Intelligent Guidance.
Every organisation has its own personality, language and customer experience. Your visitors don't need to interact with an assistant called Ask Matt.
The assistant can be named, styled and presented to feel like a natural part of your organisation. Whether that's Ask Sarah, Visitor Guide, Guest Services, Ask the Team, Concierge, or something completely unique, the experience should feel as though it was built specifically for your organisation.
Behind the scenes, the same Ask Matt platform understands visitor objectives, asks thoughtful questions and guides people towards the right outcome.
Illustrative names
- Ask Sarah
- Visitor Guide
- Guest Services
- Concierge
- Ask Reception
- Ask the Team
Illustrative only. Ask Matt is the name of SHACADEMY's own implementation — an implementation for another organisation does not have to carry it.
Default attribution
Guidance powered by Ask Matt · Implementation by SHACADEMY
A discreet line at the foot of the conversation. How it is presented is agreed with each organisation.
Channels
Consistent guidance, wherever the conversation starts
Ask Matt works on the web today. Approved knowledge is written and maintained once, so the answers stay consistent wherever it is used. Voice guidance is being explored, nothing more than that at this stage.
The Commercial Pathway
A three-stage engagement
An Ask Matt engagement is intended to follow this shape: a short discovery engagement, an implementation project, and ongoing support once it is live.
Stage 01
Discovery & Prototype
A short engagement to understand the organisation, review customer journeys, prototype the guidance experience and demonstrate the concept.
- — Understand the organisation
- — Review customer journeys
- — Prototype the guidance experience
- — Demonstrate the concept
Stage 02
Implementation
The project phase — where Ask Matt is configured, the organisation's knowledge is structured and the platform is integrated, tested and launched.
- — Configure Ask Matt
- — Structure the approved knowledge
- — Integrate into the website
- — Test, launch and support
Stage 03
Managed Platform
The ongoing service — keeping Ask Matt aligned with the organisation as it evolves.
- — Knowledge updates
- — Conversation improvements
- — Monitoring and reporting
- — Support and future capabilities
Pricing is agreed on a project-by-project basis. Every organisation is different, and Ask Matt is configured around the reality of your services, journeys and knowledge — not a one-size template.
The Thinking Behind the Name
Why "Ask Matt"?
Matt was a close friend and, later, a colleague. For years he was one of the people I went to whenever I had an important decision to make.
What made him different was that he rarely started with a solution. He listened. He asked the questions that actually mattered, and he helped you work out what you were really trying to achieve before anyone talked about how to do it.
That is the approach the name is meant to carry. The point was never to answer questions quickly — it was to understand the objective first, then point someone at the right next step.
Good guidance begins with good questions.
Current Status
Where Ask Matt is today
The first generation is live as a guided enquiry experience on this website, and in the demonstration built for The SHAC. The original objective was straightforward: help visitors find the right service or direction, and produce better enquiries at the other end.
Since then the thinking has developed towards broader organisational guidance — understanding what someone is trying to achieve and reasoning from knowledge the organisation has approved. That next generation is still maturing.
This is a direction of travel rather than a finished, widely deployed product. If you are considering it for your own organisation, that is worth knowing before we talk.
Ready to explore
Could Ask Matt work for your organisation?
The best way to start is a conversation. We'll listen to what you're trying to achieve, review how customers currently reach you, and share whether Ask Matt is a good fit.