AI automation for small and medium-sized businesses: from analysis to pilot
A small business doesn't need an "AI strategy", but one process that stops taking up hours. How process analysis works, what a fixed-price pilot should include, what it costs and what to ask the vendor.
Most small and medium-sized businesses don’t need an “AI strategy” or a digital employee. They need one specific process to stop taking up hours every week. Supplier invoices, orders from emails, customers’ repeated questions. This article describes how to get there safely: from analysis through a fixed-price pilot to the decision whether to continue.
If you don’t yet know which process to pick, start with the article How to choose the first process to automate. Here we go one step further.
Which businesses does AI automation make sense for?
AI automation makes sense for a business that has at least one process that repeats daily, has clear rules and is done by hand today, for example someone retyping data from an email or PDF into a system. The size of the business matters less than the volume: even in a small business, retyping can take several hours a week.
Typical examples:
- supplier invoices that someone retypes into the accounting system,
- orders from customers by email, phone or Excel,
- inquiries that keep getting much the same answer,
- moving data between the e-shop, warehouse, CRM and accounting.
Conversely, AI isn’t suited to places that need judgment or negotiation, or where a mistake would have serious consequences with no way to check it. More on that in the article Artificial intelligence for business: what to actually use it for.
How does process analysis work?
Process analysis is a short paid project at the start. With us it costs from €490 excl. VAT and takes 3 days to a week. We map how invoices or orders reach you, how many there are, who spends how much time on them, which systems they are entered into and where errors arise. The result is a recommendation on which process to automate first and what the return is.
From the analysis you should have in hand:
- A map of the process as it really works, not as it is written in the internal guidelines.
- Numbers: volume (how many items a day or a month), time per item, error rate. If nobody measures them, we estimate them together and say that it is an estimate.
- A check of the systems: whether your accounting, warehouse or ERP system has an interface to connect to. This needs to be known before the pilot, not halfway through development.
- A recommendation with the return: what to automate, what to leave alone, and how quickly the investment can pay back at your numbers.
How the return is calculated is covered in the article How much an AI agent costs in a company, and when it pays off.
What is a pilot and what should it include?
A pilot is the first live deployment on one process, with measurement. It isn’t a presentation or a demo on made-up data. With us, an AI agent pilot costs from €2,900 excl. VAT and takes 1 to 4 weeks. The price is fixed for the scope we write down at the start.
A good pilot has:
- one process, clearly bounded. For example “supplier invoices in PDF that arrive at one address”, not “all of accounting”,
- real data from your business and a connection to the system you actually use,
- human review. The AI prepares the data, a person confirms it before it is recorded. The principle is called human-in-the-loop,
- rules for exceptions. What happens when a document arrives that the AI can’t read: it goes to a person, it never quietly disappears,
- before-and-after measurement. Time per item, error rate, number of exceptions.
At the end of the pilot you know whether it works on your data, and you have the numbers to decide whether to continue.
How much does AI automation cost?
Specific use cases have published “from” prices with us. All exclude VAT, and the exact price depends on the number of input channels and the systems that need connecting.
| What | Price from | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Process analysis | €490 | 3 days to a week |
| AI assistant for customer service | €900 | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Invoice and document processing | €990 | 1 to 4 weeks |
| Order and inquiry processing | €1,490 | 1 to 4 weeks |
| System integration (n8n, Make, API) | €1,900 | 3 days to 6 weeks |
| AI agent pilot | €2,900 | 1 to 4 weeks |
On top of that, allow for operation: AI model fees depending on volume, and any adjustments when the process or a connected system changes. We will quantify these costs for your volume in the analysis.
What should you ask the vendor before signing?
- Is the price fixed for the agreed scope? Or is it “we’ll see how many hours it takes”? For a pilot, the scope should be written down in advance.
- Who owns the data and the configuration? With us, the client owns their documents and the data the solution collects. The configuration can be exported.
- Where is the data processed? Invoices and orders contain personal and business data. Ask which model is used and where. More in the article AI in the company, safely.
- What happens when something goes wrong? How exceptions are caught and who deals with them.
- How will success be measured? If the vendor can’t say which number should change after deployment, they don’t know either.
How do you get started?
Write down the one process that holds you up the most and how many items of it you handle a week. With that, a short call is enough, in which we’ll tell you honestly whether automation is worth it or whether it’s cheaper to adjust something by hand. A full overview of the service and the individual use cases is on the AI automation for businesses page.
If you are also dealing with the website or e-shop that inquiries come through, a free website audit will show whether some inquiries are slipping away before they even reach your inbox.
What people ask us.
How much does AI automation cost for a small business?
With us, process analysis starts from €490 and takes 3 days to a week. An AI agent pilot costs from €2,900 and takes 1 to 4 weeks. Specific use cases have their own prices: invoice processing from €990, orders from €1,490, system integration from €1,900. Prices exclude VAT.
Is a small business too small for AI automation?
What matters is not headcount, but whether you have a process that repeats daily and has clear rules. If someone spends hours a week retyping invoices or orders from emails, automation can make sense even in a five-person company.
What if the analysis shows automation isn't worth it?
We'll tell you. The analysis is there so you can decide based on numbers, not so we can persuade you. Even the conclusion "don't automate this process yet" is a useful result.
Who checks what the AI does?
In the first deployment, always a person. The AI prepares the data, for example from an invoice or order, and a person confirms it before it is recorded. We relax the checks only once measurement shows the error rate is low and stable.
Who owns the solution after delivery?
Your documents and the data the solution collects or processes are yours. You can export the configuration, such as rules, questions and answers, and take it to another vendor.
