Strategy and implementation for organisations that want to get started with AI: vendor-independent, mid-market to enterprise. We advise on use cases, choose tooling, address the AI Act and GDPR, and also build where needed.
Most AI challenges don't stall on the technology but on the choices behind it: which use case first, which model, how it fits within the AI Act and GDPR, and how to measure success without it becoming an expensive playground. These questions call for a consultant who understands the difference between a RAG implementation and an agent, who can see past vendors' marketing claims, and who has written code themselves.
We combine strategy work with building capacity. Not a pure advisor who hands the implementation to another party and hopes the assumptions hold, but also not a build shop that skips the strategy work and comes up with an impressive demo that never makes it into production. We help SMEs with their first AI project, mid-market companies with scaling pilots into production, and enterprise CIOs with a portfolio approach and governance.
Our positioning is deliberately mid-market: we are more pragmatic than the Big Four and MBB strategy firms, and we are vendor-independent where Microsoft or AWS partners cannot be. We work from our Amsterdam office, with EU data residency as standard, and at a pace that suits how your organisation actually moves, not how a sales deck imagines it. For a large enterprise AI implementation programme, we fold this approach into a multi-year portfolio; for a small or medium-sized business, it may simply be one sharply scoped use case.
Three types of engagement we are asked for most often. The right choice depends on where your organisation stands and how much room there is for experimentation.
For organisations that know AI will matter but are still looking for focus. We interview stakeholders from business, IT and compliance, map where AI could add value, and deliver a prioritised shortlist of use cases with an honest ROI estimate. This includes tooling advice, an AI Act impact scan per use case, and a clear view of where your organisation is not yet ready. We typically complete discovery engagements within a few sprints.
The next step once discovery is complete: a concrete roadmap, a governance framework, and the first pilot. We define the success criteria up front, build the pilot ourselves or guide your team through it, and make sure the outcome gives you a sound go/no-go decision rather than a non-committal demo. This is the phase where you can draw on our experience with multi-LLM architectures, RAG on your own data, and setting up an evaluation set that stays under control.
For organisations that are past the pilot phase and want to embed AI as a lasting capability. Think of an LLM gateway for multiple departments, a RAG infrastructure on your own data, vendor-independent model routing, cost monitoring per team, and a governance layer that reassures the audit committee. For specialist use cases we also build custom, such as an AI agent that carries out tasks independently, or a document pipeline with human review.
An AI consultancy engagement is only successful once your organisation can carry on without us. These are the concrete deliverables we provide as standard:
The AI consultancy market is broad. Here is a brief orientation on where we do and don't fit, which is more honest than a comparison table with green ticks everywhere on our side.
Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC offer scale and multidisciplinary teams, but their mid-market offerings are typically expensive and tend to stall at the strategy stage. We work with smaller teams, shorter lead times, and we also handle execution.
McKinsey, BCG and Bain deliver excellent strategy, but not technical implementation. For AI, that is a gap: without hands-on building experience, you cannot realistically assess models, RAG architecture and evaluation sets.
Microsoft AI advisers, AWS partners and OpenAI consultants have commercial interests in their own platforms. We have no reseller agreement and choose the model that fits, even if it is open-source and earns us no margin.
An experienced AI freelancer is a good choice for clearly defined questions. For longer engagements or build capacity, organisations face single-point-of-failure risks. We offer a team that can combine strategy and build.
Four situations in which our AI consultancy typically fits. If you recognise yourself, we are likely a good conversation partner.
You know colleagues are using ChatGPT, but you want control over data, costs and risks. We help you choose between a team licence, a secure enterprise version or your own solution on your data, including honest advice on when an expensive custom route isn't worth it yet.
A working proof of concept exists, but now the harder questions arrive: security review, GDPR, change management, ownership. We bring structure to this phase without stifling the innovative tone, and ensure the pilot receives a fair production benchmark.
The board has named AI as a priority, and you need to build a portfolio. We deliver the discovery, governance and multi-LLM platform architecture that this scale demands, either alongside or in collaboration with the large strategy firms already advising the board.
You represent a sector where AI is moving in quickly. We help develop sector-wide frameworks, set up knowledge sessions and write pragmatic guidance for your membership, translated to the reality of your members rather than generic whitepaper language.
You need to make decisions about AI without being a developer yourself. We translate the choices into understandable questions, shield you from vendor spin, and where needed help build an AI steering group with you that can keep asking the right questions of IT and the business.
Your organisation wants AI literacy and has a budget, but no idea where to begin. We help structure the training offering, develop role-specific learning paths and document AI Act Article 4 compliance in a single engagement.
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →A conversation in which we understand where your organisation stands, what the board's question is, and which risks or compliance themes have already been identified. No sales patter: we will also tell you honestly when you do not yet need a consultant, or which question must be answered first for an engagement to make sense. This conversation is non-binding and typically takes half an hour to three quarters of an hour.
Stakeholder interviews with business, IT and compliance, an AI maturity scan, and a working session to cluster and prioritise use cases. Outcome: a prioritised shortlist with an ROI estimate, complexity score and AI Act risk classification for each use case. This forms the foundation for a sound AI strategy. We make sure the output is immediately usable, even if you decide to pause after this phase.
We translate the shortlist into a phased roadmap, set up the governance framework (AI Act, GDPR, and where relevant DORA or NEN 7510), and align with IT, legal and the business owners. This includes vendor-neutral tooling advice and a candid conversation about which use cases are better not pursued. The governance layer is kept lightweight where possible and stricter where it needs to be, depending on your sector and risk profile.
The first use case is delivered. We either build it ourselves or guide your team through the build. We agree a measurable success criterion upfront, an evaluation set to assess quality objectively, and an honest go/no-go decision at handover. We often provide an interim AI tech lead during the first sprints to steer the technical direction and bring your team along with the way of working.
Successful use cases become part of a platform approach: an LLM gateway, RAG infrastructure, monitoring, and cost control per team. We can stay involved as a fractional partner on a fixed number of hours per month, or hand over fully to your team, depending on what suits you best. Choosing between the two is not a matter of pride: for some organisations, full handover is precisely the success criterion of the engagement.
The legal landscape around AI in 2026 is more mature than it was two years ago, but it is still evolving. We help you navigate the regulatory landscape without unnecessary pessimism or false certainty.
The common thread: document what you do, classify your use cases, and make sure the people who carry out or review the work understand why they are working with AI. The rest is detail specific to each sector. In practice, we see that organisations with this foundation in place start AI projects more quickly, because review points become predictable. Not because the rules are lighter, but because they know what they need to demonstrate.
The questions that boards, IT managers and compliance officers usually ask us in the first conversation.
A no-obligation introductory call of half an hour. We listen to where your organisation stands, ask questions that make the right next step clear, and will also tell you honestly when you don't yet need a consultant. Call or email Fabian directly at fabian.vandijk@appfront.nl, or book through the contact form.
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