AI Consulting: What it is and When You Need It

What is Artificial Intelligence Consulting

AI consulting is the strategic advisory service that helps companies identify, plan, and successfully implement artificial intelligence solutions.

Difference from Development or Implementation

AI Consulting:

• Helps you understand what to do
• Evaluates opportunities and feasibility
• Designs strategy and roadmap
• Guides you in technical and business decisions

Development/Implementation:

• Builds the technical solution
• Executes the already-defined plan
• Configures and integrates systems

Analogy: Consulting is like hiring an architect before building your house. Development is the construction company that builds it.

Typical Scope of AI Consulting

A typical consulting project includes:

1. Current diagnosis

   • Process analysis
   • Evaluation of existing systems
   • Identification of pain points

2. Opportunity identification

   • Automatable processes
   • Efficiency improvements
   • New capabilities with AI

3. Feasibility analysis

   • Technical (is it possible?)
   • Economic (is it worth it?)
   • Organizational (is the company ready?)

4. Strategy design

   • What projects to implement
   • In what order
   • With what technologies

5. Implementation roadmap

   • Timeline
   • Estimated budget
   • Required resources
   • Success KPIs

What Exactly Does an AI Consultant Do

Opportunity Evaluation

An AI consultant analyzes your company to identify where AI can generate the most impact.

Questions it answers:

• What processes are ideal candidates for automation?
• What is the real savings potential?
• Where to start to maximize ROI?
• What quick wins exist?

Tools it uses:

• Stakeholder interviews
• Process mapping
• Operational data analysis
• Industry benchmarking

Strategy and Roadmap Design

After identifying opportunities, the consultant designs a concrete action plan.

Typical deliverables:

• Project prioritization matrix
• Implementation roadmap (6-18 months)
• Investment and return estimates
• Risks and mitigation plan

Technical Feasibility Analysis

The consultant evaluates if what you want to do is technically possible and convenient.

Aspects it analyzes:

• Data availability and quality
• Integrations with existing systems
• Technical complexity
• Technology alternatives

Avoids: Investing in technically unfeasible projects or with inappropriate technology.

Technology Selection

With hundreds of AI platforms and tools available, the consultant helps you choose the right ones.

Options it evaluates:

• Build, buy or hybrid?
• SaaS or custom development?
• Which provider to choose?
• Proprietary or open source solution?

Decision criteria:

• Fit to your specific use case
• Total cost of ownership
• Scalability
• Ease of integration
• Support and community

Process Optimization

Before automating with AI, sometimes you need to optimize the human process.

The consultant identifies:

• Unnecessary steps in the flow
• Bottlenecks
• Inefficient information transfers
• Processes that must be standardized first

Principle: Don’t automate broken processes. Optimize first, then automate.

Types of AI Consulting by Your Maturity

Exploratory Consulting

For: Companies that have never implemented AI

Typical situation:

• “We know AI can help, but we don’t know how”
• “Where do we start?”
• “Is it worth it for a company our size?”

Objectives:

• Education on AI possibilities
• Identification of 2-3 quick wins
• High-level roadmap
• Investment vs benefit estimate

Typical duration: 2-4 weeks Investment: €1,500 - €4,000

Deliverables:

• Opportunities report
• 3-5 prioritized use cases
• Preliminary roadmap
• Quick win business case

Strategic Consulting

For: Companies with clear objectives but no execution plan

Typical situation:

• “We want to automate customer service with AI”
• “We need to reduce operating costs with automation”
• “We want to be more efficient, but we don’t know the best approach”

Objectives:

• Detailed solution design
• Technical architecture
• Complete implementation plan
• Vendor selection

Typical duration: 4-8 weeks Investment: €4,000 - €12,000

Deliverables:

• Functional and technical specifications
• Solution architecture
• RFP (Request for Proposal) for vendors
• Implementation plan with detailed timeline and budget
• Change management plan

Optimization Consulting

For: Companies with AI already implemented

Typical situation:

• “We have a chatbot but it doesn’t work as expected”
• “System adoption is low”
• “We’re not getting expected ROI”

Objectives:

• Current system audit
• Problem identification
• Performance optimization
• Continuous improvement plan

Typical duration: 3-6 weeks Investment: €3,000 - €10,000

Deliverables:

• Audit report
• Gap analysis (expected vs real)
• Optimization plan
• Expansion recommendations

Audit Consulting

For: Companies with ongoing AI project that’s not progressing

Typical situation:

• “We’ve been with a provider for 6 months with no progress”
• “We were promised X but we’re getting Y”
• “Is the provider on the right track?”

Objectives:

• Independent project evaluation
• Problem and risk identification
• Corrective recommendations
• Rescue plan (if applicable)

Typical duration: 1-3 weeks Investment: €2,000 - €6,000

Deliverables:

• Technical audit report
• Code/implementation quality assessment
• Current plan feasibility analysis
• Recommendations: continue, correct or cancel

When You Need AI Consulting

You Don’t Know if AI Can Help Your Business

Signals:

• You’ve heard about AI but don’t know how to apply it
• Your sector doesn’t seem “technological”
• You think it’s only for big companies

Why consulting:

• External and expert perspective
• Experience across multiple sectors
• Identifies opportunities you don’t see

Alternative: Waste time researching on your own or implement wrong solution

You Have Several Ideas But Don’t Know How to Prioritize

Signals:

• List of 10+ processes that “should” be automated
• Don’t know which will have the most impact
• Limited budget to do everything

Why consulting:

• ROI-based prioritization
• Dependency identification
• Realistic and executable roadmap

Alternative: Start with wrong project and frustrate your team

You Need to Convince Stakeholders with Objective Analysis

Signals:

• Leadership not convinced to invest in AI
• You need solid business case
• You need independent second opinion

Why consulting:

• External credibility
• Quantitative ROI analysis
• Industry benchmarks
• Comparable success cases

Alternative: Rejected proposal or project approved without solid foundation

You Evaluated Vendors and Received Very Different Proposals

Signals:

• 3 vendors, 3 completely different approaches
• Prices vary 300%
• Don’t know how to compare apples to apples

Why consulting:

• Independent technical evaluation
• Red flag identification
• Well-founded recommendation

Alternative: Choose by price (usually wrong) or by feeling (risky)

You Started a Project That’s Not Progressing as Expected

Signals:

• Project over 3+ months without tangible results
• Vendor constantly asks for more time and budget
• Your internal team is unhappy

Why consulting:

• Independent audit
• Identify real problems
• Rescue plan or cancellation recommendation

Alternative: Keep investing in project that won’t deliver

You Want a Second Opinion on Proposed Architecture

Signals:

• Vendor proposes complex architecture
• You’re not sure if it’s necessary
• Significant investment at stake

Why consulting:

• Independent technical validation
• Over-engineering identification
• Simpler/cheaper alternatives

Alternative: Over-invest in unnecessarily complex solution

Conclusion

AI consulting is not an expense, it’s an investment that typically pays for itself by avoiding costly mistakes and accelerating your projects’ ROI.

Invest in consulting if:

• It’s your first AI project
• Total investment exceeds €15,000
• Multiple stakeholders involved
• High operational risk

You can skip consulting if:

• Very small project (<€5,000)
• You have successful previous experience
• Use case is very standard
• Provider has highest trust

Not sure if you need consulting?

Request a free 30-minute diagnostic session. We’ll tell you honestly if it makes sense for your case or if you can move directly to implementation.

Don’t be afraid to ask: A good consultant will tell you if you DON’T need their services.