AI Strategy & Advisory
Decide what to build, buy or leave alone - with reasons your partners can defend.
Your IT provider can switch on an AI assistant this week. A vendor can demo an agent tomorrow. Before either touches client work, someone who didn't build or sell it should check it. We take your brief through a high-level design, an honest comparison of options - including the one you would choose by default - and a recommendation with its rationale. You see scope, design and timeline before you see a number.
In plain terms: we help you choose. Every option - the AI assistant in your office suite, a vendor product, a custom build, or waiting - is assessed against the same eight principles and the evidence each would produce. You get a recommendation, the reasons, and a scoped first step.
Six steps, in order. Each one is reviewed before the next begins.
Brief
Background, context and requirements, plus an inventory of the AI already in use, scored against the Manifesto.
You receive: A confirmed brief
High-level design
How AI would sit in your practice: data, tools, permissions and the points where a person signs off.
You receive: A high-level design
Options evaluation
Each credible option, your default included, assessed against the eight principles and the evidence it would produce.
You receive: An options comparison
Recommendation
One option, the reasons, and what would change our view.
You receive: A recommendation and its rationale
Pricing model
Costed only now, once scope, design and timeline are clear.
You receive: A costing
Statement of Work
Scope, deliverables, acceptance criteria and change control.
You receive: A Statement of Work
A price before a design is a guess. A recommendation without your default on the table is a sales pitch.
What you would do anyway - on the table, not around it
| Option | What it does well | What it may not give you | How we treat it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your IT provider switches on the AI assistant in your office suite | Fast, familiar, inside tools you already license | An independent check of what it can reach on client matters; evidence to show a client | Assessed on equal terms. If it wins, we say so |
| A large consultancy | Breadth and board comfort | A first step sized to your firm | One accountable person, one decision at a time |
| The vendor's solution architect | Deep product knowledge | Independence - a vendor cannot evaluate its own product | We sit on your side; vendor claims stay unverified until tested |
| Waiting | No spend today | Anything to show a client, insurer or regulator who asks | The free Manifesto scorecard shows the gap in 10 minutes |
A 40-person industrial-relations firm
A day in the life - hypothetical. An illustration, not a client and not a prediction.
Monday, the office-suite AI assistant is enabled for all staff. Tuesday, an associate asks it to summarise a dispute file; it can draw on anything the associate has permission to open, including a matter they left months ago. Thursday, a client questionnaire asks which AI systems touch its data and who reviews them; three people spend a week on the answer.
Before rollout, an inventory lists what the office-suite AI assistant can reach, and stale matter permissions are closed. A partner who did not configure it runs five Manifesto tests; the log is kept. Thursday's questionnaire can be answered from the evidence file.
The assistant is in both columns. The difference is the evaluator.
Who it's for
Managing Partners and Directors of professional-services firms facing a first or next AI decision. SME and enterprise leaders holding a vendor proposal.
Not a fit: legal advice on your AI obligations - your lawyers advise.
Where it can lead
Dr George Vossos · Melbourne, Australia
Who leads it
PhD in Artificial Intelligence; co-founder and CAIO of WealthPilot Investment Services; former senior roles at IBM and Deloitte; leader of the genAI for Developers Meetup in Melbourne.
Full background →Common questions
When do we see a price?+
After scope, design and timeline are agreed. You see scope, design and timeline before you see a number.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the decision. The timeline is set in the brief and agreed before any pricing.
Is this legal advice?+
No. Netlifestyle AI provides engineering and architecture input; your lawyers advise on your obligations.
Can you build what you recommend?+
Yes, as a separate engagement - see AI Software Development. We don't review agents that Netlifestyle AI or a related party built. Where a related party builds, we disclose it in the Statement of Work, and acceptance tests are run by someone other than the builder.
Advisory or Fractional CAIO?+
Advisory takes one decision from brief to recommendation. A Fractional CAIO owns the AI agenda over time, from a monthly cadence up to two days a week.
Bring the decision you're facing.
One call to hear the brief. If advisory isn't the right step, we'll say which one is.
Who checks your agent that didn't build it?
Eight principles for deploying AI agents, each with a test you can run inside your own firm. PDF by email.