PIPELINEGuide
What do you need for AI consulting? The requirements
Before AI consulting even makes sense, a few things need to be in place in the business. Which ones those are — and which supposed requirements actually aren't.
For AI consulting, a business needs three things: a specifically named process that currently costs time or orders, existing content or data to work with, and a person authorized to make decisions. Technical expertise is explicitly not one of them.
01 — Requirements
What you need for AI consulting
- A clearly defined trigger. Not “we should do something with AI,” but a process that demonstrably costs time or orders today.
- Existing content or data. AI consulting works with what's already there. The more complete the starting point, the shorter the setup.
- Access to the systems involved. Whoever manages the credentials needs to be involved from the start — this is, in our experience, the most common cause of delays.
- One decision-making contact person. One, not three.
- Willingness to refine after launch. The first weeks in real operation show what was missing in the concept. That's normal and accounted for.
02 — Participation
What we need from you
- A contact person who can make decisions — not just forward them.
- Access to the affected systems, in time and not on launch day.
- Real examples from daily business — the messier, the more useful for testing.
- Two to four hours for coordination, distributed over the project duration.
- An answer to the question of what success means. Without it, nothing can be assessed afterward.
03 — Fit
When it's worth it
- The process in question occurs at least weekly.
- It follows rules you can write down — even if there are exceptions.
- Today it's manual work that no one enjoys doing.
- There's one person who decides, not three who need to coordinate.
- You can name what would tell you it worked.
04 — Questions
Frequently asked questions
What funding is available in Austria?
Options include KMU.DIGITAL and aws digitalization funding — current terms at kmudigital.at and aws.at. Both require the application to be approved before awarding the contract — that's why we bring it up early and not at the end.
What if nothing makes sense for us?
Then that's what the report says. It happens, especially with businesses that have very few recurring processes or no digital data foundation. An honest no is cheaper than a project that runs aground.
Isn't this just a disguised sales event?
The recommendation regularly includes items you can implement yourselves or with your existing service provider, as well as cases we advise against. The document is yours and works without us too.
How does this differ from consulting by the Chamber of Commerce?
The Chamber offerings provide a good overview of funding options and basics. We go a step further and look at your specific processes and systems — with effort estimates that we ourselves would have to meet.
What does it cost us if nothing comes of it in the end?
Only the agreed price for the workshop and document — there's no success fee and no hidden follow-up obligation. The preliminary conversation is free and is meant to catch exactly these kinds of mismatched inquiries beforehand.
Do we also get recommendations for providers other than you?
Yes, where it makes sense. Some use cases are better suited to standard software or a specialized provider — that's stated in the document, not hidden.
Isn't a conversation with management enough?
No, that's the most common reason for a list that doesn't work later. The people who do the processes daily know the exceptions that an outside perspective never sees.
05 — Next
Related pages
- AI consulting — Overview
- AI consulting — process
- AI consulting — common mistakes
- AI consulting — Data protection
- AI consulting — AI disclosure
- AI consulting — How it works
- AI consulting — small businesses
- AI consulting — checklist
- AI automation
- Process automation
- AI training
- All guides
AI consulting by region
Next step
Let's talk briefly about whether this makes sense for you.
A twenty-minute conversation is usually enough to clarify whether a project makes sense. If not, we'll say so — that's cheaper for both sides than an offer nobody needs.