What does AI consulting cost?

The first call is free and so is the readiness assessment. After that it depends on the shape of the work, and I quote once I know what the work is rather than before. I will also tell you when the answer is that you do not need me, which costs you nothing and costs me a project.

How long does an engagement take?

Working out the requirement is usually a matter of weeks, not months, because it is interviews and reading rather than a programme. A build is as long as the build is, and I would rather quote one narrow thing that ships than a wide thing that does not.

We have already chosen a vendor. Is it too late to talk?

No, and this is the most common call I take. Before signature there is time to check the requirement against what is actually being sold. After signature the work is making the thing earn its licence, which is a different job and still worth doing.

What do you need from us to start?

Nothing prepared. An hour with the people who do the work, sight of the systems you already run, and someone senior enough to decide. Slide decks are not required and rarely help.

Do you work outside Riyadh?

Yes. Riyadh is home and I am in the room when it matters, but the advisory work runs remotely across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. I have worked with teams in Türkiye, the Levant and North America, so a time zone is not the obstacle.

Do we need AI at all?

Often not. Most of what gets called an AI problem is an integration problem or a process nobody has written down. Fixing that is cheaper, faster and more durable, and it is what I will recommend when it is true.

Riyadh · Saudi Arabia · The Gulf

AI consulting and digital transformation, in the order that actually works.

Requirement first. Technology second. Build third. Reverse those and you get the project everybody has seen: a licence renewing every year for something nobody opens.

I am independent. I resell no software, I take no commission from any vendor, and I have no partnership to protect. The only thing I have to defend is the recommendation.

Book a call Take the free assessment

Three ways I work, and they run in this order

Advice, choice, build

You can buy any one of the three on its own. Most people arrive wanting the third and leave having discovered they needed the first, which is the cheapest discovery available.

01
Work out the requirement

Before a single product is named. I sit with the people who actually do the work, read what your systems already hold, and write down what the business needs in language a supplier cannot bend. This is the part that decides whether the rest is money well spent.
- An AI and digital readiness read: where the operation stands today, on a five-stage scale
- The requirement, written down, in terms that can be tested against an offer
- What to do first, what to leave alone, and what is not a technology problem
- An honest view on whether AI belongs in this at all — frequently it does not
02
Choose the technology

Every vendor in the room is telling you the truth about their own product and nothing about the alternative. I compare the options actually on your table against the requirement from step one, and end with one recommendation, not a matrix that leaves the decision back with you.
- Enterprise software and AI platform selection, scored against your requirement
- Build, buy or leave it alone — answered, with the reasoning shown
- A read on total cost: licences, the integration nobody quoted, and the year-two renewal
- Nothing resold, no referral fee, no reseller agreement anywhere behind the advice
03
Build it

When nothing off the shelf fits, or the fit needs work, I build it rather than hand you a deck and leave. Small, shipped, and yours: no dependency on me afterwards.
- Workflow automation for the work your team retypes, chases, or remembers to send
- AI assistants that answer customers in Arabic and English, around the clock
- Systems integration, so one customer, one order and one number live in one place
- Private AI on open-weight models, on your own servers, when data cannot leave the country
- Documentation and handover written for whoever maintains it after me

Where digital transformation actually starts

The five stages

Digital transformation is a phrase that has been stretched until it means everything, so here is the version I use. There are five stages, and an operation moves up them one at a time: Manual, Digitised, Connected, Automated, Intelligent.

Almost every expensive failure I have seen came from skipping one. A business at stage 01 buys an AI product built for stage 03, because somebody senior saw a demo. The product works exactly as advertised and delivers nothing, because the data it needs is still in four systems that disagree with each other.

Past stage 03 the returns shrink and the requirements get harder. Most companies should stop there, and I make less money saying so.

Four questions will tell you which stage you are on → It takes ninety seconds, asks for no email address, and nothing you answer leaves your browser.

How an engagement runs

From the first call to the handover

The first call: Thirty minutes, no charge, on Google Meet, Sunday to Thursday. You describe the problem in the words you would use to a colleague. I tell you whether it is the problem you think it is, and whether I am the right person for it.
The read: If it is worth going on, I spend time with the people doing the work and the systems already running. This is interviews and reading, not a programme, and it is usually weeks rather than months.
The recommendation: One document. What you need, what it is worth, what to do first, and what to ignore. Written so that you could hand it to any supplier and hold them to it — including a supplier who is not me.
The build, if there is one: Scoped narrowly enough to ship. I would rather deliver one thing that works in six weeks than four things that are all nearly ready in six months.
The handover: Yours, documented, running on infrastructure in your name. If the arrangement ends and nothing breaks, that is the job done properly.

What I will not do

The short list that makes the rest credible

Recommend a product I earn anything from — there is no such product
Sell you AI when the problem is a process nobody has written down
Start a build before the requirement exists in writing
Take an engagement where the honest answer is that you do not need one
Leave you dependent on me to keep your own systems running
Quote a number before I know what the work is

Who this is for

Businesses in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf that have digitised something already and are now deciding what comes next. By the time somebody calls me they usually sit at stage 01 or 02, with several systems, a procurement decision in front of them, and nobody in the room whose interests are purely their own.

Founders and operations leads with a team retyping the same thing every week. Executives holding three proposals that all sound identical. Companies that have been told they need AI, and want somebody outside the sales process to say whether that is true.

It is not for organisations wanting a body to run someone else's implementation plan, or a second opinion that has already been decided in advance.

Cost, timing, and the rest of it

Frequently asked, answered here rather than on the call

What does AI consulting cost?: The first call is free and so is the readiness assessment. After that it depends on the shape of the work, and I quote once I know what the work is rather than before.; I will also tell you when the answer is that you do not need me. That costs you nothing and costs me a project, which is rather the point of hiring someone with nothing to sell.
How long does an engagement take?: Working out the requirement is usually weeks, not months, because it is interviews and reading rather than a programme. A build is as long as the build is — and I would rather quote one narrow thing that ships than a wide thing that does not.
We have already chosen a vendor. Is it too late?: No, and it is the most common call I take. Before signature there is still time to check the requirement against what is actually being sold. After signature the job changes to making the thing earn its licence, which is different work and still worth doing.
What do you need from us to start?: Nothing prepared. An hour with the people who do the work, sight of the systems you already run, and someone senior enough to decide. Slide decks are not required and rarely help.
Do you work outside Riyadh?: Yes. Riyadh is home and I am in the room when it matters, but the advisory work runs remotely across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. I have worked with teams in Türkiye, the Levant and North America, so a time zone is not the obstacle.
Do we need AI at all?: Often not. Most of what gets called an AI problem is an integration problem, or a process nobody has written down. Fixing that is cheaper, faster and more durable — and it is what I will recommend when it is true.

Next step

Thirty minutes, no charge, and a straight answer at the end of it.

Book a call

Or write to [email protected] if a call is not how you prefer to start.