Capture is not the hard part
Transcription is effectively solved and nearly free. The problem is that a transcript is a low-value artefact: long, unstructured, and containing the useful decision somewhere inside forty minutes of discussion.
Extract decisions and actions, not summaries
A summary is another thing to read. What people need is the specific list: what was decided, who owns what, by when. Structured extraction beats prose here for the same reason it does in document processing.
Nobody re-reads a meeting summary. People do act on a list of decisions with names attached.
Put the output where the work is
Actions belong in your task system and decisions in the project record, not in a document archive. This is the CRM-logging argument again: automated capture is only valuable if it lands in the system of record.
The archive is a liability without a policy
Verbatim transcripts of every internal conversation are discoverable, contain candid remarks, and often include personal data. Retention needs deciding deliberately — as with any conversation log.
Consent is not optional
Recording obligations vary by jurisdiction and by who is on the call. Silent recording of client meetings is a legal and relationship risk, and the disclosure principle here is the same as telling customers what they’re talking to.
The best use is the boring one
Handover notes for whoever missed the meeting, and a searchable record of what was agreed with a client. Both are genuinely useful and neither requires keeping every word forever.