AI advisory

Maybe not. A good share of the businesses we talk to do not have an AI problem, they have a systems problem — and no software fixes that. Start with where your week actually goes and which tasks you repeat without variation. If those come back to convoluted process, reorganise the process first. If they come back to an hour a week of the same tedious work, that is the kind of thing AI genuinely removes. We will tell you which one you have, and telling you it is the first one costs us the engagement.

For most small businesses, a general assistant subscription is the only rung worth buying at first. Around $20 per person per month covers email, calendar, and the repeat tasks — the hour you currently spend writing and costing an employee schedule is a fair example. The price is close to identical across the major vendors, so cost is not what stands between you and trying it; the learning curve is. Anything beyond that rung — reading large sets of contracts or records, a chat agent answering customer questions, something built to your process — is worth paying for only once you can name the specific problem it solves.

Not the way the headlines suggest. What it reliably takes off a team is tedious repeat work — the hour spent costing a schedule, the same five questions from every new customer. What it does not replace is judgement, and it still needs a person giving it real input and checking what comes back. Treated as an assistant it makes a small team noticeably more capable. Handed a job and left alone, it produces sloppy work with your name on it.

At the entry rung, about $20 per person per month, and that is the whole cost. As of August 2026 a Claude Pro subscription is $20 a month billed monthly or $17 billed annually, and ChatGPT Plus is $20; team seats at both run $25 a month, or $20 on annual billing. Free tiers exist at both and are worth trying, though scheduled and file-handling features generally sit behind the paid tier. Heavier work is priced separately and is a different conversation. AI pricing moves quickly, so check the vendor before you buy.

Anything you are going to publish without reading it. AI is a starting point for ideas and a genuine help with automation; it is not a finished product, and content generated and shipped unchecked is something your customers can smell. Do not use it to replace your own judgement on decisions that matter, and do not set it running on a job you never follow up on. Like any employee, without follow-up it gets sloppy and misses the mark of your mission.