AI consulting firms earn their fees producing clear thinking. They interview stakeholders, map workflows, evaluate tools, and deliver a roadmap. That roadmap is genuinely useful. The problem is what comes next: your engineering team now owns implementation of a system in a domain most of them have never shipped before. The 67% failure-to-production rate is not a planning failure. It is a delivery failure.
An AI services company takes a different accountability position. Altor scopes one workflow, builds the system, deploys it into your production stack, and stays accountable for it running and improving. The deliverable is not a document - it is a system with measurable outcomes. First production investigation in 14 days from kickoff.
Deliverables comparison
| Category | Altor (AI Services) | AI Consulting Firm |
|---|---|---|
| Deliverable | Production AI system, running on your live data | Strategy document, architecture plan, implementation roadmap |
| Time to first result | 14 days to first live AI investigation | 3-6 months to end of consulting engagement (no production system yet) |
| Accountability | Altor stays accountable for the system running | Consulting firm's accountability ends at document delivery |
| Implementation | Altor builds and deploys the system | Your team implements from the roadmap (where most projects stall) |
| Pricing | Usage-based per workflow event in USD | Project-based or day-rate; typically $50K-$500K for a scoped engagement |
| Risk | Low - Altor has shipped this system before in similar stacks | Higher - implementation is your team's first time building this type of system |
Best for
Choose AI services when…
You have identified a specific high-cost workflow - support investigation, ticket triage, escalation handling - and need it automated in production this quarter. You do not need a strategy; you need a working system accountable to your metrics.
Choose consulting when…
You are early in your AI journey and need board-level alignment on an AI strategy across multiple business units. You want an independent assessment of AI readiness or tooling choices before committing to builds.
FAQ
What is the difference between an AI consulting firm and an AI services company?
An AI consulting firm delivers strategy: roadmaps, assessments, architecture recommendations, and implementation plans. An AI services company like Altor delivers production: a working AI system deployed in your stack, accountable for measurable outcomes. Consulting ends with a document; services ends with a system running on your data.
Why do 67% of enterprise AI projects fail to reach production?
The primary reason is the gap between strategy and implementation. Most AI consulting engagements produce a roadmap and then hand off implementation to a team that lacks the AI expertise to execute it. The plan is sound; the production system never ships. AI services companies close this gap by being accountable for production, not just the plan.
How long does a typical AI consulting engagement take?
An AI consulting engagement for a workflow automation initiative typically runs 3-6 months and ends with a strategy document and architecture plan. A production AI system deployment with Altor takes 14 days from kickoff.
When does consulting make more sense than services?
Consulting makes sense when you need an AI strategy across multiple business units, board-level buy-in on an AI roadmap, or organizational readiness assessment before committing to builds. Services make sense when you have identified a specific workflow and need it automated in production.
Related pages
Skip the strategy phase. Get to production in 14 days.
Bring one workflow. We scope the system, map your stack, and show what a working production AI investigation looks like on your actual data. No discovery deck. No 6-month roadmap.
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