AI Consulting & Audit
An outside senior who reads your operations and writes down where AI pays, where it does not, and what to build first — no platform to sell you, no build to pad.
Most businesses buying AI right now are buying either a demo or a fear-driven checkbox. The useful alternative is a written audit: where in your actual operations a model genuinely earns its cost — and the list is usually shorter than expected, which is exactly why the audit pays for itself. A vendor who sells platforms finds platforms; an independent senior finds the truth and puts it in writing.
The engagement is scoped and finite: I read your workflows — the tools you run, the repetitive work your team describes, the data you actually have — and deliver a ranked map of AI opportunities with honest effort bands, risk notes and a recommended first build. Where the answer is "this stays human" or "this is a spreadsheet problem," the report says that too, with reasoning you can take to your board or your team.
This is also the fractional-tech-management surface of this practice: smaller companies that cannot justify a CTO still face build-versus-buy, vendor claims and prioritisation decisions. The audit gives you the same senior judgement on a per-engagement basis — and if you then want the first build delivered, the AI services here or the automation services are scoped from the same honest baseline.
What the engagement covers
- Workflow inventory: your tools, repetitive processes and data, mapped from real interviews
- Ranked opportunity list — value, effort band, risk level, and what to build first, in writing
- Build/buy/do-nothing calls per candidate, with reasoning recorded
- Risk notes: data handling, cost ceilings, failure modes, and what must never be automated
- A concrete first-project spec: scope, success metric and price band, ready to execute
- Vendor-claim translation — what the tools you are being sold actually do versus the pitch
- A follow-up session to walk the findings with your team and answer the "what about X" questions
Honest limits
What this is deliberately not.
Not this: An AI strategy document with no first project — every audit ends in something buildable or an honest "not yet"
Not this: Retainer theatre — the deliverable is the report and the walkthrough; ongoing advisory is separate and optional
Not this: Validating a decision already made — if the answer is "do not build it," the report says so
Not this: Enterprise ML transformation programmes — this practice serves smaller operations with direct, senior attention
Questions · AI consulting
Asked before building.
Especially. Non-tech operations get the worst AI advice: vendors selling complexity into businesses that run on five SaaS tools and spreadsheets. The audit speaks plain language, maps what you actually run, and typically finds two or three real opportunities — plus several expensive ideas worth skipping.
Then that is the finding, in writing, with the reasoning — and it is a common, valuable outcome. Knowing what not to build saves more than most projects earn. The report also notes what to revisit when your volume, tooling or the technology itself changes.
Yes — AI and automation builds are services here, and the first-project spec is written to be executable. But the audit is deliberately vendor-neutral: if the right answer is an off-the-shelf tool or another specialist, the report says so, and that honesty is worth more than the build fee it occasionally costs me.
A short interview round — your people, your tools, your actual repetitive work, forty-five minutes each for the key roles. Async-first, calls scheduled in your timezone. The report lands within an agreed window, then a walkthrough session turns findings into decisions. Total elapsed time is typically two to three weeks.
Related: all AI services · automation services · the vetting guide.
Also in this section
AI Chatbot Development · AI Agent Development · LLM Integration Services · RAG Development · LLM Fine-Tuning · AI Search Visibility
Scoping something in this space?
Written scope within two business days — deliverables, milestones, timeline, terms, price at the bottom. Compare it against anyone.