How to access Claude

Getting to Claude takes about a minute, and it starts with an email. The firm sends everyone an invitation with a link to set up their account.

Open that email and click the link to create your account. Enter your BC&V email and follow the steps to finish setting up. Use your BC&V email and never a personal account. BC&V pays for a Team subscription that does not train Anthropic's models when we use it.

From then on, it is the same Claude and the same sign-in wherever you open it. The quickest way is your browser (like Chrome): go to claude.ai and save it as a bookmark. You can also download the desktop app from claude.com/download, which is the same Claude in its own window instead of a tab. And there is a mobile app, Claude by Anthropic, in the App Store and Google Play, for when you want it on your phone.

Claude comes in a few forms, so it is important to match the form to the task.

Chat is what most people are familiar with. Quick questions, revisions, email drafts, short explanations, anything back and forth. If you are not sure which one to reach for, it is Chat.

There is also a Claude add-in for Excel, so you can work with Claude inside a spreadsheet instead of copying figures back and forth into a chat. To add it, open Excel, go to the Add-ins menu, and find Claude for Excel. Add it, sign in with your work account, and it stays on your ribbon.

Cowork is for bigger jobs: several documents at once, structured analysis, a project that takes more than a single tidy answer. Reach for it when a task is too large to fit in one reply.

Claude Code is coming later. It is for building automations and tools behind the scenes, and it is not part of your day yet. You will hear about it if and when it becomes relevant to your work.