AI consultancy sounds like something for large companies with an innovation department. It is not. More and more SMB owners just want someone who makes clear where AI saves time or money in their business, and where it is mostly noise. That is exactly what AI consultancy should do: make the right choices before you build anything. This article explains what an AI consultant does, what it costs in 2026, and the biggest trap, which is advice that looks great but lands nowhere. Want the wider picture first? Start with our guide to AI automation for SMBs. Looking for concrete use cases, see our real-world AI automation examples.
What is AI consultancy?
AI consultancy is advice that helps an organization decide where artificial intelligence adds value and how to introduce it safely. An AI consultant looks at your processes, your data and your goals, and delivers a concrete plan: which use cases first, which tooling, which risks and what it costs. The point is not a report, but a decision you can act on tomorrow.
Put simply: strategy before technology. And that is needed, because the question is no longer whether you do something with AI. According to McKinsey’s State of AI (2025), 78 percent of organizations now use AI in at least one business function (McKinsey). The real question is where it pays off and where you burn money. That is what consultancy is for. If you want to know upfront what the build costs afterward, our price guide for AI agents gives you a grip.
What does an AI consultant actually do?
An AI consultant turns “we want to do something with AI” into a list of choices you can make. No buzzwords, concrete steps. In practice that produces six things, and the order is not accidental.
- Find and prioritize use cases. Which task costs the most time or errors right now? That becomes the first candidate, not the most futuristic one.
- Map data and systems. AI is only as good as the data under it. The consultant checks what exists, where it sits and whether it is usable.
- Tooling and model choice. An off-the-shelf tool, a no-code option or custom? Each fits a different goal and budget.
- Governance, GDPR and the AI Act. If you work with personal data or AI makes decisions, rules apply. The EU AI Act has been in force since August 2024 and applies in phases (European Commission).
- A roadmap with costs and order. What first, what later, and what each step costs. This is the document you actually use.
- Training and adoption. The best tool is worthless if nobody uses it. Good consultants also handle the rollout to your team.
The core sits in point five. An AI consultant who only tells you “AI is important” is not doing the job. You pay for choices, not for a sermon about the future.
What types of AI consultancy are there?
“AI consultant” is a broad label. One person builds strategy, the next builds models, the third trains your people. Know which you need, or you pay a strategist for work a builder should do. Below are the five flavors you meet in the Netherlands.
| Type | What it delivers | When you want it |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy and roadmap | Use cases, priorities, a costed plan | You do not know where to start |
| Implementation and build | Working AI in your systems | You know what you want, you lack hands |
| Data and models | Data in order, model choice, RAG setup | You have lots of own data to open up |
| Governance and compliance | GDPR check, AI Act, policy, limits | You work with sensitive or personal data |
| Training and adoption | A team that actually uses the tools | The tools exist, the people drop off |
Most SMBs do not need all five separately. Often you want someone who combines the first three: strategy, data and build. That saves handovers, and handovers are where plans die.
What does AI consultancy cost in 2026?
An AI consultant in the Netherlands charges roughly €90 to €175 per hour, or a day rate of €800 to €1,400. Separate tracks often have a fixed price: a quickscan to find opportunities, or a full strategy track with a roadmap. Here are the figures you see in practice.
| Format | What you get | Indication |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | Loose hours of advice or sparring | €90 to €175 per hour |
| Day rate | A consultant on site for a day | €800 to €1,400 per day |
| Quickscan | Map opportunities, short report | €1,000 to €3,000 |
| Strategy track with roadmap | Use cases, priorities, costed plan | €3,000 to €10,000 |
| Pilot or proof of concept | Get one use case working and measured | €5,000 to €15,000 |
Rates verified 2026-07; scope and seniority set the figure, so always ask what you concretely take away. Watch one thing: a three-thousand-euro quickscan that ends in a nice PDF is not yet a result. The value sits in the pilot that then proves it works. Work that out upfront the way we describe in our guide to calculating automation ROI.
Advice, or a partner that also builds?
This is where most budgets evaporate. You can hire a pure AI consultant who delivers a strategy and then leaves. Or you pick a party that turns the advice into working software too. The difference is large, and it hits your wallet.
| Advice-only consultant | Agency that advises and builds | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivers | Strategy, report, roadmap | Strategy plus working software |
| Owns the result | No, you execute it | Yes, until it runs |
| Risk | Plan sits still | Smaller, advice and build in one hand |
| Cost | Advice now, build separately later | One track, no double learning curve |
| Fits | Big call, several departments | Concrete goal, something working fast |
Why does this weigh so heavily? Because many AI projects stall after the advice. Gartner predicts that over 40 percent of agentic AI projects will be canceled before the end of 2027, mainly due to escalating costs and unclear returns (Gartner, June 2025). A strategy on paper does not prevent that. Someone who owns the responsibility until it runs does. At TopDevs we are deliberately a sparring partner that builds along, not an advice desk that walks off after the slides. Advice that lands nowhere is expensive paper.
When do you need AI consultancy, and when not?
Not every business needs a separate AI strategist. Sometimes it is smart, sometimes it is throwing money away. A simple rule: the bigger and vaguer the question, the more you gain from consultancy. If you already know exactly which task you want to tackle, you can often skip that step.
Worth it:
- You are torn between several departments or processes and want to know what pays off first.
- You work with sensitive data and want GDPR and the AI Act right before you begin.
- You need to build internal buy-in and want an independent story.
Usually overkill:
- You have one clear task that costs a lot of time. Then start small and validate it first, as in no-code versus custom automation.
- You just want to see if it works. A cheap pilot teaches you more than an advice report.
The direction is clear: AI is becoming the norm, not the exception. Gartner expects that by 2028 around 33 percent of enterprise software will include a form of agentic AI, up from less than 1 percent in 2024 (Gartner). Waiting for the perfect plan is more expensive than starting small. A simple checklist for automating processes often gets you further than a pricey strategy session.
What to look for when choosing an AI consultant
The title “AI consultant” is not protected. Anyone can carry it, from a seasoned builder to someone who took a course last month. These six points separate the sparring partner from the salesperson.
- Does he ask about your process first, not your budget? A good consultant starts with your problem, not with his solution.
- Can he also build it or have it built? Advice without execution sits still. Ask what happens after the report.
- Does he talk in concrete use cases and euros? Not in “possibilities” and “potential”, but in time, cost and return.
- Is he honest about what AI cannot do? Whoever promises everything is selling. Whoever names limits is advising.
- Does he handle governance and GDPR? Without attention to data and the AI Act, you buy a problem later.
- Do you stay the owner of your setup? Prompts, data and code should be yours, so you can switch later.
A handy counter-check: get a price for the build, and compare it with a separate party. Our price guide for custom software shows how such a figure is built up, so you do not mix up an advice price and a build price.
How do you actually get started?
Start small and sharp. A quickscan or discovery of one to two weeks costs €1,000 to €3,000 and produces a clear picture: which use case, which data, which limits, and an honest price indication for the build. That document is your insurance against apples-to-pears comparisons and against hidden extras later. More important still: let it end in a pilot, not a report. Only once one use case actually runs do you know whether the rest is worth it. What that looks like in practice, you can see in our AI assistant at Planit Consulting.
Book a free intake call. In thirty minutes we look at your process, name the use cases that pay back, and tell you honestly where you are better off waiting a while. With or without working together, you walk away with a clear picture.
