Key points
- When you approach AI suppliers, tell each of them the same thing. Put it in a brief: a short account of what's going wrong and what you hope for.
- A brief is the single most useful step a buyer can take: every supplier answers the same one, so their proposals can be compared, and writing one shows you are serious.
- Describe your business, roughly how many staff, and your everyday tools. Then the problem in your own words, what happens now and what it costs, and the number that should change, with today's figure.
- Say who handles the task today, and how many staff. Be candid about your systems and records: admitting your price list spans three clashing spreadsheets helps far more than saying nothing.
- Note which tasks must stay with a person. Add your spending range, your deadline, and any limits on where your data can go. Say what you expect to own afterwards, and who will run the finished work.
- Ask openly whether each supplier would recommend AI here at all, and what they would do instead. Include a small sample of real cases, with sensitive details removed.
- State your budget as a range. Without one, suppliers' guesses vary for reasons unrelated to your problem. With a range, they can fit a proposal or say plainly they can't. If you can't even guess, admit that, and invite fixed-price offers for a modest opening step.
- A couple of pages, or perhaps three, is all a brief needs. Brief replies are fine, and admitting what's still unknown helps. Describe the problem, not a fix, so each supplier can show how they'd tackle it.
- AI Consultancy Finder offers a free template called AI project brief.
Transcript
When you approach AI suppliers, tell each of them the same thing. Put it in a brief: a short account of what's going wrong and what you hope for. A brief is the single most useful step a buyer can take: every supplier answers the same one, so their proposals can be compared, and writing one shows you are serious.
Describe your business, roughly how many staff, and your everyday tools. Then the problem in your own words, what happens now and what it costs, and the number that should change, with today's figure. Say who handles the task today, and how many staff.
Be candid about your systems and records: admitting your price list spans three clashing spreadsheets helps far more than saying nothing. Note which tasks must stay with a person. Add your spending range, your deadline, and any limits on where your data can go.
Say what you expect to own afterwards, and who will run the finished work. Ask openly whether each supplier would recommend AI here at all, and what they would do instead. Include a small sample of real cases, with sensitive details removed.
State your budget as a range. Without one, suppliers' guesses vary for reasons unrelated to your problem. With a range, they can fit a proposal or say plainly they can't. If you can't even guess, admit that, and invite fixed-price offers for a modest opening step.
A couple of pages, or perhaps three, is all a brief needs. Brief replies are fine, and admitting what's still unknown helps. Describe the problem, not a fix, so each supplier can show how they'd tackle it. AI Consultancy Finder offers a free template called AI project brief.