comparison

consultance.ai vs traditional AI consulting.

An implementation partner versus a slide-deck consultant. Same starting line: a business gap and a budget. Different finish lines: one ships code, the other ships a roadmap. Side-by-side below.

Dimension
Traditional AI consultancy
consultance.ai
Deliverable
90-page roadmap, then a goodbye email
Working AI engine running on your real data
Who writes the code
Your team, an offshore agency, or nobody
We do. Same team as the audit.
Time to first working build
3-6 months of discovery
1-2 weeks proof of concept on your data
Time to production
9-18 months typical
6 weeks from kickoff
Cost model
Hourly billing, scope creep, multi-vendor
Custom, scoped to the workflow. Pays back inside a quarter.
Who owns the code
Often the vendor or unclear
You. Transferred at every milestone.
Handover risk
Strategy and build are different vendors. Things get lost.
One team audits, builds, deploys. Nothing gets lost.
Team size
Partner + 4 associates + 2 PMs + offshore devs
Founder-led, full-stack. No telephone game.
Maintenance after launch
Statement of work for v2, new pitch, new fees
Flat monthly retainer or you run it yourself
Lock-in
Proprietary platforms, retainers with notice periods
Month-to-month. Take the code and leave any time.
Specialization
Generic AI strategy applied across industries
Operator-built across finance, insurance, tax, and ops — real dollar numbers, not hypothetical ROI
Best for
Fortune 500 board reports
Founders and ops leaders who want shipped systems

FAQ

When does a traditional AI consultancy make more sense?

When the buyer needs a board-ready slide deck, not a production system. Big-four firms are optimized for governance and risk committees, not shipped code. If your goal is alignment across thousands of employees, hire them. If your goal is one workflow running by next quarter, hire an implementation partner.

Isn't an implementation partner just a dev agency?

No. A dev agency takes a spec and writes code. An implementation partner runs the audit, picks the workflow worth automating, designs the system, writes the code, deploys it, and trains your team. Strategy and execution from one team.

What about hiring an internal AI team?

Internal teams take 6-12 months to ramp. They learn on your time. A partner that has shipped 10+ AI engines gets you to working production in 6 weeks, then trains your team to run it. Hire internal after, not before.

Is custom pricing a red flag?

Fixed tier pricing prices the average customer. Most workflows are not average. Custom scoping means the build pays for itself — not so a tier looks tidy on a marketing page. We publish the engagement model and milestones, just not a sticker price for unique work.

Want to skip the deck?

Free 30-minute discovery call. Written audit if it makes sense to build.

Book a call