AI consulting services, including what not to build

AI consulting services are senior advisory work that decides what AI is worth building, in what order, and at what cost — before you spend on a build. Ours run two to four weeks at a fixed price, scoped on a 30-minute call, and the headline artifacts include a scored opportunity map, an editable ROI model, a data-readiness report, an EU AI Act and GDPR risk note, and a sequenced 6–12 month roadmap with an explicit do-not-build list. The engineers assessing your data are the same ones who would build it, so you get a technical, costed plan rather than a framework from an analyst.

Fixed price, scoped on the first call from the size of the problem — you know the number before we start. Typically two to four weeks. You get an editable cost model, a data-readiness report, a compliance classification, and a roadmap detailed enough to be a build spec. If you only want slides, there are cheaper ways to get them.

The plan is yours regardless of who builds it, written so your team or another firm can execute it. Real strategy work ends with do-not-build lines and sometimes "you don't need us for this part." If everything pointed to off-the-shelf software, the roadmap would say buy — and we'd have earned a smaller fee.

We won't write production code, train models, or ship anything — that's AI Development, a separate engagement. We won't give a legal opinion; we classify risk and flag what needs your counsel. And we won't produce ROI numbers without showing the assumptions, or invent a use case to justify a roadmap.

The other four do the work — Development builds, Integration wires it in, Automation ships workflows, Support & Scale operates it. Strategy decides what's worth doing and in what order, and it's the only one that can recommend doing nothing. The people assessing your data are the same engineers who'd build it, so the output is a technical costed plan, not a framework from an analyst.

An AI strategy consultant assesses your business, data, and systems and decides where AI is worth the investment — and where it isn't. The deliverable is a plan, not code: a costed, sequenced roadmap that ranks use cases by payback, states what each one needs to be feasible, and sets the order to build them in. A good AI consultant is also clear about what NOT to build. Ours is a senior engineer who has shipped AI in production, so the recommendations are grounded in delivery, not theory.

Yes. We do AI consulting for small businesses and SMEs — practical, costed, and honest about what isn't worth it. We look at how the business runs, where the costs are, and which problems AI can realistically move, then return a roadmap priced in real numbers and sequenced so the first step funds the next. If the better answer is strategic software development rather than a tool you can buy, we'll say so and explain the trade-off. This engagement produces a plan and clear reasoning; building anything is a separate, optional step.

Four questions settle it. Is the person looking at your data an engineer who has shipped AI to production, or an analyst? Is the price fixed and agreed before the work starts, or open-ended by the hour? Is what you leave with a plan any competent team can execute, or a deck that only makes sense if they build it? And will they tell you not to build something? An AI consultancy that approves every idea is selling the next build. Ask to meet the engineer who will do the work, not the person selling it.

Yes. Portugal runs on the same clock as the UK (WET/WEST, like GMT/BST) and an hour behind most of the EU, we work in English or Portuguese, and the engagement runs remotely, with on-site sessions in Lisbon when they help. Personal data is handled under the GDPR. Our engineers have shipped for clients in the UK, Luxembourg, the US and Portugal.