AI consulting for UK SMBs
I help CEOs, MDs and operations leads at UK firms with £2m to £20m revenue turn the AI they have already adopted into systems that work on repeat. Not more tools. Not another subscription. The judgement to know what is worth doing, in what order, with the evidence to prove it. Work with AI. Do not bolt it on.
What AI consulting actually is
AI consulting is hands-on help to make a firm's existing AI pay back. The work diagnoses before it prescribes: measure what the current setup does, find where it leaks value, then sequence the fixes by what returns the most. Done well, it moves a firm from one-off prompts that work most of the time to systems that work on repeat.
Most firms have already started. Few can tell if it is working.
The firms getting least from AI are not the ones that refused to adopt. They are the ones that bought every tool, rolled it out to everyone, and never measured whether any of it paid back. Good AI consulting does not add to that pile. It tells you what to fix first, and proves it before you spend another pound.
Two ways in
There are two ways to work together. They run in parallel, not as a ladder. One looks outward at how AI tools see your firm. One looks inward at where AI should be doing the work.
The AI Visibility Scorecard
A 10-day audit, fixed scope, fixed price. I test what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say about you and three named competitors, then score your firm across five buyer-facing dimensions. You leave knowing exactly where you stand and what to fix first.
The AI Opportunity Roadmap
A focused 3 to 4 week engagement, priced per project. I map where AI should already be earning its place in your operations, put a number on each opportunity in hours and cash recovered, then set the order to tackle them in. You finish with a costed, sequenced 90-day plan. Not a list of tools to chase.
What AI consulting costs
Cost is not the day rate. It is whether the engagement pays back, and how fast. Both have a defined scope, agreed up front, so you know what you are committing to before you start. I break down what AI consulting actually costs in the UK, with real numbers, in a separate guide on what AI consulting costs.
Built for established UK firms, £2m to £20m revenue
This is for CEOs, MDs and operations leads at established UK firms with £2 million to £20 million in revenue. You have invested in AI, but you cannot point to firm-level results. You are past the curiosity phase and done with generic advice. What you want is capability that compounds inside your business, not a consultant on permanent retainer.
Steve Quinlan · Technical Curator
Judgement, not cheaper execution
Most AI consultants have 18 months of AI and borrowed business experience. I have the inverse. I spent a decade running experimentation programmes for Vitality, LV=, NatWest, RNLI and Farrow & Ball: testing what works, prioritising what pays back, and shipping systems that land.
Since 2023 I have spent three years building production AI inside NatWest. Same discipline, new context. The edge is not the AI. It is knowing what is worth doing, in what order, with the evidence to prove it.
The capability stays with you. As the systems get built, the people who run them learn them. The firm benefits twice: the systems pay back now, and the team compounds for years after.
AI consulting: common questions
Know what to fix first
Start with the outward view or the inward one. Either way, you leave with evidence and a sequence, not a list of tools to chase.