AI consultancy · UK SMEs
AI consultant for UK SMEs. Plain advice, then the build.
We work with UK SMEs, from a few people up to about 250 staff. You don't need to know what AI can do, only where the time goes each week. As your AI consultant, we work out which of those hours AI can take on, and we're straight with you about the rest.
What does an AI consultant do?
An AI consultant looks at how a business works and finds the tasks where AI, or plain automation, would save time, and where it wouldn't. The useful result is a written plan: which tasks to tackle first, which tools to use, and how many hours each will take.
Not every task needs AI. Moving an enquiry from your website form into your inbox is plain automation, and we'll call it that. We use AI where it does something plain automation can't, such as drafting a reply for a person to check, or sorting messages by what they're about.
An AI consultant for small businesses
Is AI worth it for a business your size? It can be, for the right jobs. The size of the task matters more than the size of the business. A job is worth handing over when it takes enough of someone's time, often enough, to pay back the build.
So as a small business AI consultant in the UK, we start small too: the one or two jobs that take up the most time each week. Our guide How can AI help my business? looks at the everyday jobs where AI helps, and where it doesn't.
How our AI consultancy for SMEs works
- 01
A free call
You tell us what fills your week. There's no obligation.
- 02
A first AI review, if the scope is unclear
Simple, well-defined jobs go straight from the free call to a written plan with the hours. That plan is free: it's your quote. Bigger or less clearly defined jobs start with a first AI review: a fixed-length session, charged by the hour, with its length agreed with you and written down first. It looks at your repeat tasks and current tools.
- 03
A written plan
What to tackle first, and the hours each part will take.
- 04
Your decision
Go ahead with us, do it yourself, or leave it. Nothing is built until you agree the plan.
Your AI strategy, in writing
Your written plan is your AI strategy, set out so you can act on it.
| The plan covers | What that means |
|---|---|
| What to do first | The tasks worth tackling, in order, and why |
| Build or buy | Whether a tool you have, or can buy, already does the job |
| AI or plain automation | Which steps need AI and which don't |
| The hours | How long each part will take |
| Go or no-go | An honest view on each task, including "not worth doing" |
If you'd like a rough answer before we talk, try our AI readiness assessment for your business. It's ten questions, with your result and one next step shown straight away.
When you don't need an AI consultant
Sometimes the right answer is to build nothing. You probably don't need us when:
- a tool you already pay for has a feature that does the job;
- an off-the-shelf tool does it well enough, so buying makes more sense than building;
- the task only comes up a few times a year;
- the process changes every time, so it needs settling before anyone automates it;
- the information the task needs is scattered, or only in someone's head.
We'd rather say that early than charge you for a build you don't need.
AI implementation: if you'd like us to build it
When the plan says go, the people who wrote it build it. Before we change a task, we note how long it takes today, so you can compare afterwards.
- Automations. As an AI automation agency, we take the admin that repeats every week and set it up to run in your own accounts.
- Assistants. An AI receptionist for business to answer incoming calls, or a chatbot for your website. Standard messages like booking reminders go out automatically, in wording you've approved. Anything AI writes for one particular customer is checked by a person before it goes out. Live assistants, such as website chats and phone receptionists, always say they're AI, hand over to a person on request, and have their conversations reviewed afterwards. No outbound AI marketing calls.
- Training. AI training for business, run online for 2 to 6 people, on fixed dates agreed with your team.
- Custom tools. If nothing off the shelf fits, we can build a small tool around the way you work.
Before we build, we tell you in writing which tools will handle your data, and where. If customer details are involved, you may need a data protection impact assessment (DPIA), and we'll help with it.
How we charge
The work itself is charged by the hour, with the hours written down before we start, and we won't go over them without asking. You pay software and AI usage fees in your own accounts. How we price covers the rest, including invoices and VAT.
Who you'll work with
You deal with the two people who do the work: Regan Fisher, founder and developer, and Brandon Fisher, AI and automation consultant. Brandon has worked with AI since 2022, and has 18 years' experience in the IT sector, working with large organisations across sectors including medical, insurance and law. Regan has been building websites for 3 years, as well as many AI projects.
Between us, we've built full company automation across all of a business's documentation, including the Microsoft suite, in an all-in-one AI assistant. We can show you examples of our AI work on the call.
We're based around Reading and Maidenhead and meet clients in Berkshire towns; elsewhere in the UK, we work by video call, phone and email. More about NetVortex, or about working with an AI consultant in Berkshire.
Questions
An AI consultant helps a small business decide where AI is worth using, and where it isn't. That usually means everyday work such as enquiries, quotes, invoices and follow-ups. A good one will also tell you when a tool you already have will do, or when nothing needs to change.
It depends on the hours the work takes, so we don't have a price list. The first call is free, and so is the written plan for a simple, well-defined job, which is your quote: it shows the hours next to our rate.
Roughly, a consultant advises and an agency builds. We do both, in that order: advice and a plan first, then the build if you want it.
We build with Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft tools. If a tool you already pay for can do the job, that's where we start. Our guide to the best AI tools for business compares the main four.
No. The plan is yours to use however you like. If we build it, it's set up in your own accounts and belongs to you once paid for, data included.