Everyone is an AI company now
Your IT provider sells AI. Your software vendors sell AI. A dozen agencies in your inbox sell AI. Some of them are excellent. Many are reselling the same tools with a markup and a slide deck.
Choosing well matters more than choosing fast. The wrong partner costs you the fee, the licenses, the staff time and, worst of all, your team's willingness to try again.
Start with what you need, not what they sell
Before you talk to anyone, write down:
- The business result you want. Hours saved on a specific process, faster quotes, fewer errors, better answers for customers.
- The processes involved. Who does the work today, in which systems, and how often.
- Your constraints. Budget, timeline, the data you can't risk and the tools you already own.
A good partner will ask you for exactly this in the first call. A weak one will start with a demo.
Seven questions to ask any AI partner
- What will you need from us, and how much of our time? Every real project needs your people. A partner who says otherwise hasn't done many.
- Do you resell software or licenses? If they make money on licenses, their advice will lean toward more licenses. Ask directly.
- What will we own at the end? You should own the automations, the documentation and the admin access. No black boxes.
- How will we know it worked? Ask for the baseline they'll measure against and the number that defines success.
- What happens to our data? Which tools, which regions, who can access it and whether it's used to train models.
- What's the price, and what changes it? Fixed fee or clear rates, and a written process for any change in scope.
- Who actually does the work? The person who sold it, or someone you haven't met?
Red flags
- "Our AI platform does everything." Small and mid-sized businesses rarely need a platform. They need a few well-built automations and clear rules.
- No mention of security or policy. If a partner never asks how your team uses AI today or what data is sensitive, they're adding risk.
- Hourly billing with no cap. Open-ended meters reward slow work.
- Long contracts before any result. Start with a defined project. Earn the long-term relationship.
- Big claims with no specifics. "Cut costs by 40%" means nothing without your numbers.
Green flags
- They start with a readiness review or a scoped discovery, not a sale.
- They're happy to tell you a project isn't worth doing.
- They build on tools you already pay for when possible.
- They put the price and the scope in writing before work starts.
- They hand over documentation and training so you're not dependent on them.
Where to start
Before you call anyone, take our free AI readiness assessment. It takes about seven minutes and shows where your business stands on strategy, processes, data, people and budget, so you walk into any vendor conversation knowing what you need.
Take the free AI readiness assessment
If you'd like us to do the full review, our AI Readiness Assessment is a fixed fee, we don't resell software, and the fee is credited toward any project you book within 90 days. See the AI Readiness Assessment.