AI consulting services for small and medium businesses
Our AI consulting services start with where your team's time goes, not with the technology. You get a written report that says what to build, what normal software to use instead, and what to leave alone.
Advice has its own price, separate from building, so it stays honest.
- Two to three weeks
- The fee comes off a build if you go ahead.
- Three costs, not one
- To build, to run, and the staff time spent checking it.
- A report you can take anywhere
- Another company could follow it.
Much of what is sold as AI is just normal software
Most businesses have been told they are falling behind, but not on what. The pitch is usually a flashy demo with no link to a real cost in the business.
The useful question is simpler. Where does your team lose time to work a computer should do? And is AI the cheapest fix? Often it is not. A form, a rule or a connection between systems is more reliable, cheaper to run and needs nobody watching it.
That is what our AI consulting services do. We find where the time goes, sort out what AI can help with, and put a price on each.
Our most common advice is a chatbot that books work. The second most common is normal software, not AI at all. That is software development. If the real problem is that too few people find you, the answer is marketing, not AI.
We start with your team's time, not the technology
We spend the first week learning what your people do all day. We sit with them instead of asking in a meeting. You get a list of tasks and how long each takes, before we talk about any tool.
After that it is simple math. A task that takes four hours a week is worth about $5,000 a year. That number decides if a fix is worth building.
What the AI consulting review covers
Four steps, ending in a report you can act on without us.
Finding where the hours go
Week one · watching the workWe look at what your people really spend the day doing. Retyping. Chasing people. Reading documents to pull out a few numbers. Answering the same question dozens of times a week.
Our advice is based on that list. Most failed AI projects start with the technology and look for a use. We start with a cost and look for a fix.
Sorting it into three groups
AI, normal software, or no changeSome tasks suit AI well: reading messy text, answering the same questions, summing things up, and writing a first draft a person then edits.
More tasks suit normal software, like a form, a rule or a connection between systems. That is cheaper, more reliable and needs nobody watching it. Some tasks are best left alone. A job that takes two hours a month is not worth automating.
Pricing each option
Cost to build, run and checkThree numbers, not one. What it costs to build. What it costs to run each month. And the staff time spent checking its work. If a person must check every result, the AI has not saved that person's time.
We compare that with the hours it saves, measured in your business, not guessed from a sales brochure.
A written recommendation
A report you can take anywhereThe report says what to do first, what to do next, what not to do at all, and what each costs. Another company could follow it, and you are free to take it to one.
That is why advice has its own price, separate from building. If we could only recommend projects we sell, our advice would be worthless.
What you get, written down before you pay
All of this goes in the agreement before you pay anything.
In the assessment
- Time spent with the people doing the work
- Tasks listed with how long each really takes
- Each one sorted into AI, normal software or no change
- The cost to build, run and check each option
- A written report, most important first
What you can do with it
- Act on it yourself where it is simple enough
- Take it to another company. Anyone can follow it
- Hire us to build it, with the fee taken off
- Use it as a staff policy starting point
- Do nothing, knowing what you are declining
Not included
- Advice shaped by what we would rather sell
- A slide deck with no prices in it
- Tool licenses resold at a markup
- Anything that needs a person to check every result
Tell us where your time goes. Our AI consulting services will tell you if AI is the answer.
Three things to ask before you hire anyone
- Ask what we would not automate
- An adviser with nothing to leave alone is selling, not advising.
- Ask what checking it will cost
- The staff time spent checking the AI's work. It is the number most often left out.
- Ask if you can take the report elsewhere
- You should be free to give it to another company. Ours is written for that.
Common questions
What do AI consulting services actually produce?
A written report. It says where AI would save real time, where normal software is cheaper, where to do nothing, and what each option costs to build, run and check. You can act on it without hiring us.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
Two to three weeks. The price depends on how much you want us to look at. If you then hire us to build something, we take the fee off the build.
Is AI actually worth it for a business like mine?
Sometimes, but less often than the ads suggest. AI is good at reading messy text, answering the same questions and writing drafts a person edits. It is an expensive way to replace a simple rule, form or connection, which is what many businesses really need.
Will you just recommend a project you can sell?
Our advice often comes back as normal software, or no change at all. That is why consulting has its own price. If we were only paid to build, our advice would not be independent.
What about our data and privacy?
It is part of the review. Which tools would see which data? Is that allowed in your industry? What must stay in-house? What have you promised customers in their contracts? For health or financial data, this usually decides everything.
Everyone says we will fall behind. Is that true?
Not the way people usually mean it. For most local businesses, the gain is small and specific: answering faster, quoting faster and losing fewer leads. Those are worth doing. A big general AI plan usually is not.
Can you help us write a policy for staff using AI?
Yes, and it is worth doing before someone pastes a customer list into ChatGPT. It is usually one page: which tools are allowed, what must never be typed in, and who to ask.
Related: AI overview · Chatbots · Software development · Enterprise
When privacy decides things, we read the AI companies' own terms, such as OpenAI's enterprise privacy commitments, not their ads.
Tell us what you want AI to do
We will tell you if it will work, what it would cost, and when normal software is cheaper.