Getting an AI note taker approved by IT and security, a checklist

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If you want to use an AI note taker at work, someone in IT or security will probably ask questions first. In the public Reddit threads we read where IT and managed-service people discuss these tools (r/msp), these questions came up: where the recordings are stored, whether the vendor trains AI on them, who has to approve the app, and what happens when a client says no.

This page lists those questions in plain words, then shows what five vendors say about each one on their own security and pricing pages. It's a checklist, not legal or compliance advice, and a vendor's claim isn't the same as your company's review of it.

IT approval isn't the same as consent. Even if your company approves a tool, the people on the call still need to know they're being recorded. See Privacy and consent below.

Quick answer

Ask for the paperwork early. Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter and Bluedot all say they have a SOC 2 Type II report or certification. Granola says you get its full report by clicking "Request Access" on its Trust Center; Bluedot says its audit reports are available on request. For the others, ask the vendor how to get the report.
Check the training default, not just the headline. Granola says anonymised data from Basic (free) and Business accounts may be used for its own models unless each user opts out. Fathom says it uses de-identified customer data to improve its own models, with an opt-out in settings. Otter says it trains its own models on de-identified data. Bluedot says customer data is never used to train or improve AI models. Fireflies' pages give different answers (see the table), so check before uploading sensitive calls.
SSO and admin-set retention usually sit on the top plans. Fireflies, Fathom, Granola and Otter list SSO on Enterprise. Bluedot lists SSO and SCIM on Business.
If your company or your clients block meeting bots, a bot-free app isn't a way around the rule. See "Bot controls" below.

The checklist

Questions to ask the vendor, or to look up on its trust or security page:

Where is our data stored? Which country and which cloud provider? Is there a choice of region (EU, UK and so on)?
Does the vendor train AI on our data? Is it on by default? Can each user opt out, or can an admin opt out everyone at once? Does that cover data from before the opt-out?
Do the vendor's AI providers train on our data? Ask for the subprocessor list.
Is there a SOC 2 Type II report, and how do we get it? A security page saying "SOC 2" isn't the report. Ask what's covered and whether you need to sign an NDA to see it.
Single sign-on and user provisioning. Is SSO (and SCIM) available, and on which plan?
Retention and deletion. Can an admin set how long recordings, transcripts and notes are kept? Are they handled separately? What happens to backups after deletion, and after you cancel?
Who approves the app? Does it need an admin to approve calendar or email access in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365? Can staff sign up on their own with a work email?
Bot and auto-join controls. Does it join meetings by itself from people's calendars? Can an admin stop it joining meetings with outside guests?
Participant notice. Does the tool tell people on the call? Can a user turn that off, or can an admin require it?
Where copies go. If it syncs to a CRM, Slack or a notes app, each of those keeps its own copy under its own rules.
Contracts. Is there a Data Processing Addendum (DPA)? For health information, a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA), not just a website claim.

What five vendors say (as of 2026-10-25)

Each cell is the vendor's own claim from the page in Sources. "Not stated" means we didn't find it on the pages we read, not that the vendor doesn't offer it. Rows are in alphabetical order, not ranked. Each cell comes from the page linked in Sources, read on 2026-10-25. Where the vendor's page shows its own "updated" or "edited" date, Sources lists it. No vendor here states the date or period of its SOC 2 report on the pages we read.

Vendor	Where data is stored (per vendor)	Model training (per vendor)	SOC 2 (per vendor)	SSO (per vendor)	Retention and deletion (per vendor)	Notice to participants (per vendor)
Bluedot	AWS. Its FAQ says it supports EU data residency	"Customer data is never used to train or improve AI models"; AI providers don't retain data	SOC 2 Type II; "audit reports are available on request" (report date not stated)	SSO, SAML and SCIM; pricing lists SSO and SCIM on Business	Workspace admins can set retention; deleted data is removed right away, backups cleared within 30 days. Bluedot's pages differ on what happens when you leave: its security FAQ says data is removed 3 months after you stop using Bluedot, and its pricing FAQ says recordings are permanently deleted one month after you cancel (both checked 2026-10-25).	Admins can turn on what Bluedot calls a "consent message", shown before or during a recording. Sending a notice isn't the same as getting consent: ask, and wait for a yes.
Fathom	"All Fathom data is stored in the United States"	Uses de-identified customer data to improve its own models; opt out in My Settings, and Team Edition organizations can opt out all users. Its AI sub-processors aren't permitted to train on users' data	SOC 2 Type II, per a help page last edited September 8, 2025; see its Trust Center (report date not stated)	Pricing lists SSO and SCIM on Enterprise	Pricing lists custom data retention on Enterprise. Deleting an account removes recording data, and backups 7 days later	Not stated on the pages we read
Fireflies	Not stated in general; Enterprise "Private Storage" lets you store data "at your preferred location"	Fireflies' pages give different answers: its pricing and security pages say "Your data is never used for AI training", and the same security page also says "We don't train on it by default" (both checked 2026-10-25). Check before uploading sensitive calls. Also: "0-day data retention policy with all vendors and partners"	SOC 2 Type II; see its Trust Center (report date not stated)	Pricing lists SSO and SCIM on Enterprise	Custom data retention on Enterprise; you can delete your data anytime	Not stated on the pages we read
Granola	AWS in the United States; no EU, UK or other regional storage yet	On Basic (free) and Business, Granola says "anonymised data may be used for Granola's own model improvements" by default, and each user can opt out; Enterprise is opted out by default. Granola says OpenAI and Anthropic are never allowed to train on your data. On data from before an opt-out, Granola's FAQ says: "We cannot guarantee that anonymised data wasn't used before you changed the setting. However, once you opt out, none of your data will be used for any future model training." (Granola Security, Privacy & Data FAQs, checked 2026-10-25)	SOC 2 Type II; full report via its Trust Center ("Request Access") (report date not stated)	Enterprise, for organisations with 50+ seats	Notes and transcripts kept indefinitely unless you set transcript auto-deletion (transcripts only; notes stay; 1 day to 1 year, one-week wait before it starts); Enterprise sets a workspace-wide policy with Granola. Audio is deleted once transcription is done	No bot joins. Pricing lists "Let people know you're using Granola" per user on Basic (free) and Business, admin-enforceable on Enterprise
Otter	AWS S3 with AES-256 server-side encryption; country not stated on that page	Trains its own models on de-identified data; its AI service providers don't train on or store customer data. Otter's privacy and security page doesn't mention an opt-out (checked 2026-10-25); ask Otter.	Says it maintains a SOC 2 Type 2 report with an independent auditor (report date not stated)	Pricing lists SSO, SCIM and domain capture on Enterprise	Deleted conversations go to Trash and are deleted after 30 days, or right away if you empty the Trash	Otter's page puts it on users: users "must always ask for consent and indicate when they are recording"

Bot controls

Microsoft says Teams admins can now automatically block identified external bots from joining meetings through Teams meeting policies (Teams admin release notes, September 23, 2026). It's an admin setting, so it depends on the organization hosting the meeting. By default, Microsoft says Teams detects bots and holds them in the lobby until someone admits them. Microsoft also says some bots may not be detected.

Bot-free isn't a loophole. A bot-free app doesn't show up in the meeting, so nobody gets a notice. Many companies have policies on recording tools whether or not a bot joins. Ask IT first, and tell people yourself.

For more on Teams, see AI notes in Microsoft Teams. For tools that record without a bot, see note takers that don't send a bot.

How to use this checklist

Send IT the vendor's own links, not a summary. The security page, trust center and DPA are what they'll read.
Match the plan to the answer. Several of the answers above (SSO, admin retention, admin-wide training opt-out) are only on top plans. If IT needs them, price that plan, not the one you started on.
Write down the settings you agreed to. For example: training opt-out on, notice on, auto-join off for outside meetings, transcripts deleted after a set time.
Plan for clients who say no. Some clients and regulated industries won't allow AI note takers at all. Have a way to take notes by hand.
CRM sync adds another copy. See which AI note takers log notes to HubSpot or Salesforce.

Recording laws: tell people first. Federal law and most states let you record a conversation you're part of. About 11 states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington, generally require everyone's consent, and a few states mix the rules. Oregon, for example, requires that everyone in an in-person conversation be told it's being recorded, while phone calls need one person's consent (RCFP guide, ORS 165.540). If people are in different states, the stricter law may apply. Rules outside the US differ too, and many employers, schools and clinics have their own policies. A meeting bot showing up in the participant list is a notice, not consent. The same goes for a "this call may be recorded" greeting: it may not tell people that an AI service is transcribing or summarizing the call, so name the AI note taker when you ask. This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer where you live.

A simple way to ask. Start recording first, so your announcement is captured on the recording (Washington law requires that). Then say:

"Quick heads-up: I'd like to record this and use an AI note taker to transcribe it, so I don't miss anything. The recording and notes are stored with [tool name]. Is everyone OK with that?"

Wait for a clear yes from each person. If anyone says no, stop and delete what you captured. For meetings with outside guests, also put a line in the invite: "This meeting may be recorded and transcribed by an AI note taker. Let me know beforehand if you'd prefer it isn't."

A tool's notice isn't consent. Some tools post a chat message or show a banner (Granola and Bluedot describe these). That tells people, but it doesn't mean everyone agreed. Ask, and wait for a yes.
Company approval covers your company, not the other side. Your IT team can approve a tool for your data, but a client or guest still decides whether they're OK being recorded.

What we did and didn't do

We read the vendor security, trust, FAQ and pricing pages below on 2026-10-25. We didn't request any SOC 2 report, sign up for any plan or check any setting inside the apps, so we can't confirm how these controls work in practice. The reader needs above come from public r/msp threads we read in October 2026; we don't quote, link or name anyone.

Sources (checked 2026-10-25)

Bluedot security (storage, training, SOC 2, deletion, SSO, consent message, EU residency): https://www.bluedothq.com/security
Bluedot pricing (SSO, SCIM and custom retention on Business; FAQ on recordings deleted one month after you cancel): https://www.bluedothq.com/pricing
Fathom help, Is Fathom secure? (page edited September 8, 2025; read 2026-10-25): https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512
Fathom pricing (SSO, SCIM and custom data retention on Enterprise): https://www.fathom.ai/pricing
Fireflies security (training, vendor retention, SOC 2 Type II, Private Storage, deletion): https://fireflies.ai/security
Fireflies pricing (SSO, SCIM and custom data retention on Enterprise): https://fireflies.ai/pricing
Granola Security, Privacy and Data FAQs (storage, training, SOC 2 report access, retention, audio deletion): https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/security-privacy-data-faqs
Granola Models and training: https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/model-training
Granola Transcript auto-deletion: https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/transcript-auto-deletion
Granola pricing (SSO on Enterprise; participant notice per plan): https://www.granola.ai/pricing
Otter Privacy and Security (storage, training, SOC 2, Trash deletion, consent statement): https://otter.ai/privacy-security
Otter pricing (SSO, SCIM and domain capture on Enterprise): https://otter.ai/pricing
Microsoft Teams admin release notes (entry dated September 23, 2026): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/teams-admin
Microsoft Learn, Manage external bots in Teams meetings (updated 2026-07-20): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/manage-external-bots
RCFP recording guide: https://www.rcfp.org/introduction-to-reporters-recording-guide/
Oregon ORS 165.540: https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_165.540

Changes

2026-10-25: page first written. Security and plan claims checked on the vendor pages in Sources.
2026-10-25: Fireflies training line now shows both of Fireflies' statements.
2026-10-25: Review fixes. Granola's opt-out statement quoted in full; Bluedot consent-message and deletion wording; SOC 2 report dates marked not stated; Fathom help-page date shown; Otter opt-out and Granola SSO, retention and plan-name wording.
2026-10-26: standard consent block now adds that a "this call may be recorded" greeting may not tell people an AI service is transcribing or summarizing the call.
2026-10-27: Granola's free plan named Basic, as on Granola's pricing page.