By SmartWeb AI Labs · Published
Start with one workflow
Describe what a person does today, which information they use and what a successful outcome looks like. “Add AI to our business” leaves too many choices open. “Find the relevant policy and prepare a cited draft response for a support specialist” is a workflow that can be evaluated.
Choose a first release that is complete enough to use but limited enough to test. A focused knowledge assistant and an agent that changes records across several systems have different development and operational requirements.
The main cost drivers
| Driver | What changes the work | What to bring to discovery |
|---|---|---|
| Data preparation | Inconsistent files, missing metadata and document permissions | Representative files and an explanation of who may access them |
| Integrations | API access, authentication, rate limits and write operations | System names, API documentation and available test accounts |
| User experience | Internal tool versus customer-facing product; roles and approvals | User types and the intended journey |
| Evaluation | Task variety, consequences of errors and required human review | Real examples of successful and unacceptable outputs |
| Operations | Usage, monitoring, deployment and support expectations | Expected users, hosting constraints and support requirements |
Budget for evaluation, not just a demonstration
A demonstration can show a model answering a few selected questions. A production workflow also needs to handle missing information, conflicting sources, denied access and external system failures. Include test examples that reflect those conditions.
Agree how the result will be assessed: source accuracy, task completion, unacceptable actions, response time or another measure relevant to the workflow. The assessment method should be defined before the team declares the prototype ready.
Separate build costs from operating costs
Model usage, retrieval infrastructure, hosting, storage and monitoring may continue after development. Estimate them using expected traffic and the size of a typical task. A long conversation or a multi-step agent can use more resources than one short response.
Ask which accounts belong to your business, who can view usage and how budgets or limits will be set. Clarify whether maintenance and incident response are included or quoted separately. A low initial build estimate can omit work that becomes necessary immediately after launch.
Compare proposals on the same assumptions
- The exact first-release workflow and what is outside scope
- Required data preparation and who provides source access
- Integrations, permissions and consequential-action approvals
- Evaluation examples and agreed acceptance criteria
- Deployment, account ownership and handover deliverables
- Recurring costs, support coverage and change-request handling
A discovery brief you can prepare today
Write a short description of the business problem, the current process and the intended users. Add representative documents or inputs without sending confidential material through a public enquiry form. List the systems to connect and identify any deadline or hosting constraint.
If the workflow is still uncertain, ask for a discovery or prototype scope before requesting a complete product price. We provide project-specific estimates after discussing those inputs; this guide does not invent a universal price or delivery date.