Technology
AI-Powered Chatbot Helps Critical Healthtech Reach Hospitals and Clinics Faster
Acorn Compliance saves 2,700+ hours by automating NHS compliance onboarding with Conversational AI-powered bot.
Acorn Compliance is a UK-based compliance technology company that helps healthtech innovators navigate complex regulatory frameworks and get their products to market faster.
They work with healthtech startups and scale ups , helping them meet important standards — including the NHS’s Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) — which is required before digital tools can be used in hospitals and clinics.
For healthtech startups, getting a digital product into the NHS isn’t just about showing it works. It also means meeting a range of regulatory standards, and the process can be slow, confusing and resource-heavy.
Although effective, Acorn’s existing onboarding process was highly manual and time-consuming.
New clients were required to fill out a static intake form, which then triggered a series of time-consuming tasks for the team including follow-up emails, document requests, folder creation and manual setup.
It was functional, but it didn’t scale. Analysts were losing hours to repetitive admin, and clients were left waiting up to a day before making any real progress on their compliance journey.
Acorn needed a better way to qualify incoming leads, guide users through early steps and reduce manual overhead — all without compromising on accuracy or experience.
That’s where the idea for Squirrel was born.
Acorn Compliance partnered with Soprano to develop Squirrel™ — a Conversational AI-powered chatbot designed to automate and personalise the early stages of the regulatory compliance journey.
Instead of static forms and slow manual follow-ups, new users are now greeted by an intelligent assistant that asks a series of smart, contextual questions. Based on their responses, Squirrel™ instantly generates key documents, provides tailored guidance, and maps out next steps — all without needing human intervention.
Behind the scenes, the chatbot integrates directly with Acorn’s internal systems. As soon as a new lead engages, it automatically creates folders, triggers tasks, and pre-fills templates in Acorn’s CMS.
Squirrel™ also supports existing users through features like “Progress my DTAC”, which allows them to self-serve help, overcome blockers, and keep moving through the compliance process.
All of this is delivered through a conversational interface that feels human, responsive, and helpful. It’s available 24/7, scales with demand, and empowers both the user and the Acorn team to focus on what matters most.
The impact of Squirrel™ has been transformative, both for Acorn Compliance and the healthtech startups they support.
By replacing their manual intake process with an intelligent, automated experience, Acorn has dramatically improved onboarding speed, user satisfaction and internal efficiency.
Tasks that previously took a full working day — like reviewing submissions, generating documents and setting up internal workflows — can now be completed in just minutes.
Instead of waiting for follow-ups, users receive instant guidance, tailored next steps and automatically generated documents, which reduces the need for support and keeps them moving forward.
For Acorn’s internal team, the chatbot has eliminated hours of repetitive admin. Analysts can now focus on high-value work, while the chatbot handles common queries, triages new leads, and guides users through common blockers — 24/7. It’s also given the team better visibility over how users progress through the compliance process, allowing them to offer more targeted support when needed.
The broader impact is even more powerful: hundreds of healthtech companies — many with limited in-house compliance expertise — are now getting their products in front of NHS buyers faster, without being slowed down by red tape.
Key Metrics (Aug 2024 – Aug 2025)
- – 15 hours saved per customer across the DTAC process — totalling 2,790 staff hours saved
- – 37% conversion rate, up from ~20%
- – 186 users onboarded, each triggering 30+ automated tasks
- – 5,168 messages handled, including 135 common queries resolved via AI
With Soprano’s support, we’ve transformed what was once a complex, manual process into a seamless, AI-driven experience — making high-quality regulatory support accessible to startups who might otherwise get lost in compliance red tape. It’s helped hundreds of users navigate compliance with clarity and speed, while reducing pressure on our team and enabling us to scale without compromising quality. This kind of innovation is exactly what the healthtech sector needs: practical, impactful, and built with both users and ever-changing regulations in mind.
– Michael Bell, Co-Founder of Acorn Compliance
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