Claude Cowork is a mode inside the Claude desktop app that works through multi-step tasks on its own, inside an isolated virtual machine on your computer. Here is how I run it on a dedicated machine to handle backup monitoring, security alerts, expenses, and mileage for my IT business, safely.

Claude Teams gives a small business a shared, secure AI workspace, but the tool is only half the job. The other half is governance: a written AI Acceptable Use Policy, clear rules for what data can and cannot go into the tool, and guardrails that match the business's compliance obligations. Done right, it turns multi-hour weekly tasks into minutes without creating a data-leak or compliance problem.