AI Implementation › Strategy
AI Implementation Strategy for Small Businesses
A fixed-fee engagement for owners who want AI to take real work off their team, without hiring a CFO or CMO to get there. We find the workflows worth automating, build the first one, and leave you a 90-day plan for the rest.
Who it is for
Growth-minded companies doing $2M–$50M in revenue where AI has been talked about more than used. Usually one of these is true:
- Someone on the team is experimenting with AI tools, but nothing has changed how the work gets done.
- The same data gets typed into two or three systems, or a report takes a day to build every month.
- You have been pitched AI software and cannot tell whether it fits your business or just adds another subscription.
- You want a plan before you spend, written by people who run businesses rather than sell tools.
If the problem is mainly financial or mainly marketing, the work usually belongs inside a CFO- or CMO-led engagement instead. We will tell you which on the first call.
What you get
- A workflow and data inventory. Where the hours go, which systems hold which data, and which numbers people do not trust.
- Three to five opportunities, ranked. Each scored on hours saved, errors avoided and what it needs to work, with the reasoning written down.
- The first one, built. We build the top-ranked quick win with you so the team sees it working on real data, not in a demo.
- Ground rules for AI use. What data may and may not go into which tools, who reviews AI output, and how mistakes get caught.
- A 90-day roadmap. What to do next, in what order, and what each step should change, so you can run it yourselves or with us.
You own everything we build and document. There is no platform to subscribe to and nothing to resell.
How it works
Weeks 1–2: diagnose. Short working sessions with you and the people who do the work. We map the workflows, look at the data where it lives and agree on what “better” means in hours or errors.
Weeks 2–4: build the first win. We build the top-ranked opportunity, test it against real records and tie out every figure before anyone relies on it.
Handover. Documentation, a walkthrough with the team, and the 90-day roadmap. If you want help with the next steps, that is a separate decision.
This is the same diagnose, build, sustain approach behind every engagement on our AI Implementation page, scaled to one focused project.
What it costs
It is a fixed fee, scoped on the free Intro & Assessment call once we know how many workflows and systems are involved. You get the price in writing before any work starts, and it does not change because a meeting ran long.
We do not take referral fees from software vendors. If the right answer is a tool you already pay for, we will say so.
Common Questions
Most take three to four weeks from kickoff to handover: about two weeks to diagnose and two to build and test the first win.
No. Finding out how clean the data is is part of the diagnosis. If a workflow depends on data nobody trusts, fixing that becomes the first step on the roadmap, and we say so rather than building on top of it.
Whatever fits the problem and the systems you already have. Often that means the AI features inside software you already pay for, a general-purpose assistant with clear rules, or a small custom integration. We do not resell software.
We agree up front which data may go into which tools, keep sensitive financial and customer data out of tools that would train on it, and write those rules down as part of the engagement so the team follows them after we leave.
You can run it yourselves, bring us back for a fixed-scope build, or fold the work into a fractional CFO or CMO engagement. The roadmap is written so any of the three works.
Bring the workflow that eats the most hours
The 1-hour Intro & Assessment is free. We will tell you whether AI is the right tool for it and what a fixed-fee project would cover. If it is not worth doing, we will say so.
Book Your Intro & AssessmentOr email info@localfractional.com