We do not use junior analysts, open-ended billing, or vendor-influenced recommendations. Every engagement is scoped, priced, and delivered in a way that respects your time and protects your budget.
We scope every engagement individually. The models below describe how most clients engage with us — the right structure depends on your situation, timeline, and what you need to accomplish.
A structured evaluation of your organisation's AI readiness across six dimensions: data, infrastructure, talent, leadership, governance, and use case clarity.
A scoped engagement to deliver a specific outcome: AI strategy, vendor selection, governance framework, or implementation advisory. The most common engagement model.
Ongoing access to a named senior AI advisor for a fixed number of days per month. For organisations managing active AI programmes who need expert oversight without a full-time hire.
All fees are fixed and agreed before any work begins. We do not use time-and-materials billing. You will receive a detailed proposal within 2 business days of the scoping conversation.
Open-ended billing misaligns incentives. The longer an engagement takes, the more a time-and-materials firm earns. Fixed fees align our incentives with yours: we have every reason to be efficient and to deliver what we committed to.
We scope engagements carefully upfront because we absorb the cost of scope ambiguity, not you. If the scope needs to change materially, we discuss it explicitly and agree a revised proposal. There are no retrospective billing adjustments.
Most of our clients need to get an engagement approved internally. A fixed fee makes that straightforward. You present a specific number with a specific scope, not an estimate with a range and caveats.
Large consulting firms use junior analysts to deliver work, and price engagements to recover the overhead of thousands of staff. We operate differently. Our fees reflect the value of senior practitioner time, not the cost structures of firms built around scale.
The same process applies whether you are beginning with an assessment or a full strategy engagement. No surprises.
A direct conversation with a senior advisor. No sales deck, no junior account executive. We ask about your situation, your constraints, and what you need to achieve. You ask us anything. This is where both sides decide whether to proceed.
You receive a detailed, fixed-fee proposal. It includes the scope, the specific deliverables, the timeline, the advisor assigned, and the fee. Nothing is hidden. You review it, ask questions, and approve it or not. No pressure.
Once the proposal is approved, your named senior advisor is assigned and the engagement begins. The first session is a structured kickoff that aligns on success criteria, access requirements, and the working rhythm for the engagement.
Weekly progress reviews. Milestone deliverables reviewed and signed off before the next phase begins. You always know where things stand and what is coming next. Senior advisor is accessible directly throughout.
All deliverables are handed over with a structured walkthrough. You own everything produced. A 30-day post-engagement check-in is included to address implementation questions that arise once teams begin acting on the recommendations.
This is not scepticism toward large firms. They have genuine capabilities. But for enterprise AI advisory, the model matters as much as the expertise.
| Consideration | AI Advisory Practice | Typical Big-4 / Large Firm |
|---|---|---|
| Who delivers the work | ✓ Senior practitioner leads and delivers | ✗ Partner sells, junior analysts deliver |
| Pricing structure | ✓ Fixed fee, agreed upfront | ✗ Time and materials, estimated range |
| Vendor relationships | ✓ No vendor referral relationships | ✗ Platform partnerships and referral revenue |
| Industry experience of advisor | ✓ Direct prior sector experience required | ✗ Generalist team with researched sector knowledge |
| Time to first production system | ✓ 14 weeks average | ✗ 6 to 12+ months (strategy to implementation) |
| Overhead in fees | ✓ Low: lean practice, no partner layers | ✗ High: recovering costs of thousands of staff |
| Post-engagement continuity | ✓ Same advisor, retainer available | ✗ New team for follow-on work |
For more on why independent advisory outperforms large-firm AI consulting for most enterprise programmes, see: Why Independent AI Advisors Outperform Big-4 on Enterprise AI
No sales deck. No junior account executive. A direct conversation with a senior AI practitioner about your situation and whether we can help.
Proposal within 2 business days. No obligation until you approve the scope and fee.
"A 45-minute scoping conversation that was more useful than six months of internal discussion. They understood our constraints immediately and the proposal arrived the next morning."
— Chief Digital Officer, Fortune 500 Financial Services Firm