How every engagement starts
A fixed-fee assessment, credited toward your build.
Two to four weeks. We interview the people who actually do the work, map the processes you want to change, review the systems and data involved, and sit down with IT on security requirements before anything is proposed. If you move forward, the fee is credited toward the build.
Why we start here.
Because the most expensive mistake in this work is building the wrong thing well. A tool bought before anyone has looked at the process automates whatever is actually happening, including the parts nobody wanted. An assessment costs a fraction of a build and is the only reliable way to know which build is worth doing first.
It also answers the questions your IT director and your CFO are going to ask anyway, in writing, before money moves: where the data will live, who will have access, what it will cost, and what success looks like.
If the honest answer is that the work does not justify the investment, we will tell you that and you will still have the map.
What you receive
- A process map of the operations we reviewed
- A prioritized list of opportunities with estimated impact
- A recommended first build and why it comes first
- The right architecture for it, on-premise or cloud, with the reasoning
- Security and data handling reviewed with your IT
- A fixed-price proposal with defined success criteria
What happens, week by week.
Two weeks for a single department. Up to four for a plant, a multi-site operation or a municipality.
Before we start
A short kickoff with the executive sponsor to agree scope: which operations, which people, which systems. A data and access request goes to IT.
Week 1
On site. Interviews with the people who do the work, not only the people who manage it. We follow real units of work from start to finish and note every hand-off, wait and retype.
Week 2
Systems and data review. What each system holds, how it is accessed, what is regulated. A working session with IT on security requirements, network, identity and where a model could run.
Weeks 3 to 4
For larger scopes: additional sites or departments, robotics feasibility and payback measurement on the floor, and validation of the early findings with the sponsor.
Readout
The six deliverables, presented to the sponsor and whoever they want in the room. You keep everything whether or not you proceed.
What we need from you: an executive sponsor, an IT contact, access to the relevant documents and systems, and the people who do the work for an hour or two each. We do not need anyone to prepare anything in advance. The point is to see how it actually runs.
What happens after.
If you proceed, the proposal becomes the contract and the assessment fee is credited against it. Six to ten weeks from signature to something running, depending on hardware lead time. Not a pilot that ends in a slide deck.
Week 0
Signature, kickoff, access arranged, hardware ordered.
Weeks 1 to 2
Discovery completed, data inventoried, security review with IT, success criteria locked.
Weeks 2 to 4
Hardware configured, model installed, documents and systems connected, first working version tested internally.
Weeks 4 to 6
Pilot with a small group of real users, weekly check-ins, tuning against how people actually work.
Weeks 6 to 8
Handoff. Administrator documentation, user training, acceptance against the agreed criteria, then ongoing support.
What we need from you during the build: an executive sponsor, an IT contact, access to the relevant documents and systems, and a few pilot users for an hour or two a week. We start with one department and expand from there.
If you do not proceed.
You have a process map, a prioritized list and an architecture recommendation that any competent provider could build from. That is a fair outcome, and it is the reason we can charge a fixed fee for the assessment rather than giving it away to win the build.
Common questions
Why is there a fee?
Because a free assessment is a sales call. A paid one is work product you own, done by people who are not trying to justify a sale at the end of it. The fee is fixed, agreed in advance, and credited toward the build if there is one.
Do we have to commit to a build?
No. About half of what we look at is worth building and half is not. The readout tells you which, and the decision is yours.
Can we do this without disrupting operations?
Yes. We work around shifts and deadlines, and the people we interview give us an hour or two each, once. Nobody needs to prepare a presentation.
Who needs to be involved?
An executive sponsor who can make the decision, an IT contact for the security review, and the people who actually do the work. For robotics, someone from maintenance and someone from production.
What if our data cannot leave the building?
Then it will not. The assessment itself is conducted on site and through access you control, and the architecture recommendation will say plainly whether the build needs to be on hardware you own.