HL Hlido Technology consulting & implementation · Prague

Technology,
delivered.

Hlido is a technology consulting and implementation practice. Standalone technology projects and support for businesses in strategy consulting, advisory and implementation, from ideation to development to delivery to post-production support, with AI where it earns its place.

AI transformation and IT operations automation are delivered with our channel partner AutomationEdge, cybersecurity with our channel partner IrisInfosec, and the practice runs an independent AI review desk whose evidence informs the advice. Sectors: banking and non-banking financial services, insurance, telecom, healthcare, legal and professional services, manufacturing.

Talk to us See the services ↓ Automation ↓ Cybersecurity ↓ AI review desk ↓

At a glance

The practice consulting, implementation and support

What we do for a client, from the first idea to a system in production.

  • Technology & strategy consultingStandalone technology consulting for projects, and strategy consulting for the business behind them: what to build, buy or leave alone, and how to run it.
  • AI consultingWhere AI earns its place in your business, which tools hold up under testing, and what it will cost to run.
  • AdvisoryEU AI Act readiness, procurement evidence, vendor due diligence, and governance for the AI systems you already operate.
  • Implementation & deliveryFrom ideation through design, development and delivery: built, integrated with your systems and accepted against an agreed list before go-live.
  • Post-production supportMonitoring, fixes and improvements, incident watch, and hands-on help for your team once the work is in production.

Specialist lines under the same engagement

Three lines that sit beside the practice, each with its own rules.

  • AI transformation & IT operations automation Channel partner · AutomationEdgeAgentic service desks for IT, HR and finance, runbook and infrastructure automation, RPA, document AI and conversational AI, delivered on a proven automation platform on top of the systems you already run.
  • Cybersecurity Channel partner · IrisInfosecRegulatory compliance, security risk and gap assessment, VAPT, AI security and governance, threat intelligence, endpoint protection, and cloud and network security with SOC/NOC support.
  • Independent AI review deskAI agents and tools tested by hand against what their makers promise, with the evidence published. Free to read, and no vendor pays for a score.
  • Partnerships & collaborationChambers of commerce, trade bodies, institutions, universities and cross-border programmes, including Czech–Indian and EU–India business links.

One rule across all of it: the review desk stays independent. A vendor cannot buy a score, the practice advises the buying side, and advisory work never changes a published verdict.

The practice, in detail

Five service lines of our own and two delivered with specialist partners, across one lifecycle: ideation → development → delivery → post-production. Each engagement is scoped and quoted in writing before work starts.

Technology & strategy consulting

For businesses with a technology project or decision in front of them, with or without AI in it, and for leadership teams that want a plan they can execute.

Standalone technology consulting: we take a project from the idea to a plan, and the plan to a delivered system. Strategy consulting for the business behind it: where technology earns its place, what to build, buy or leave alone, and what it costs to run.

  • Technology strategy and roadmap, from a first CTO-level view for a growing company to a specific project.
  • Architecture, build-versus-buy and vendor selection, using the tested record where AI tools are involved.
  • Project scoping and delivery planning: milestones, acceptance criteria, cost to run.
  • Fractional technology leadership for the duration of a project.

You get a written strategy, an executable plan, and a desk that can deliver it or hand it to your team.

More about technology and IT consulting →

AI consulting

For owners, founders and leadership teams deciding whether, where and how to use AI, and for teams that have tried and want a second opinion.

We start from your operation, not from the tools. The output is a short, honest plan: which tasks are worth automating, which tools survived our testing for that job, what to build in-house versus buy, and what it costs to run once the novelty wears off.

  • AI opportunity and readiness assessment across your workflows, data and systems.
  • Tool and vendor selection using the tested record, including the claims we found to fail.
  • Build-versus-buy and total-cost-of-running analysis, including the pricing terms vendors do not show up front.
  • Broader technology consulting where AI sits inside a wider system, from automation and integrations to a first CTO-level roadmap for a growing company.

You get a written assessment, a ranked shortlist with evidence, and a plan you can execute with us or without us.

More about AI consulting →

Advisory

For compliance, procurement and operations leads who are answerable for the AI their organisation already runs, and for boards that want a plain reading of the risk.

The EU AI Act now applies to the AI tools you deploy, not only to the companies that build them. We turn that into a checklist you can act on, backed by what we measured on the tools you actually use.

  • EU AI Act readiness: which obligations apply to you as a deployer, and what each of your tools discloses today, from the Article 50 register and live checks.
  • Procurement evidence and vendor due diligence: independent findings a procurement desk, an auditor or an insurer can rely on, never a vendor's self-assessment.
  • AI governance for small and mid-sized organisations: who may use what, with which data, and how incidents are handled.
  • Written positions and briefings for leadership, chambers and institutions on the practical state of AI tools in a sector.

You get an evidence file for your AI stack, a gap list with owners and dates, and the reasoning in plain language.

More about EU AI Act readiness and AI governance →

Implementation & delivery

For organisations that want a system built and working inside their real processes, systems and data, not in a demo: a technology project, an AI deployment, or both.

From ideation through design, development and delivery. We build the way we test: against a written list of what the system is supposed to do, with the evidence kept.

  • Design and development of the system, with milestones in writing.
  • Deployment of selected tools and AI agents into your workflows, with integrations to the systems you already run.
  • Workflow automation and agent set-ups, including MCP servers and connectors, built and configured for your environment.
  • Acceptance testing against the agreed claims before go-live, with a record of what passed and what did not.
  • Training for the people who will use and supervise the tools, and a hand-over your team can maintain.

You get a working system, an acceptance record, and a team that knows how to run it.

More about custom software development and AI implementation →

Post-production support

For anyone running a system or AI tools in production, whether or not we built them. Products change under you; someone has to watch.

Support after go-live for what we delivered and for what you already run: fixes and improvements, plus the same monitoring that feeds our public incident record, pointed at your stack, and a person to call when something drifts.

  • Fixes, improvements and small changes to the delivered system, on a cadence you choose.
  • Monitoring and re-tests when a vendor ships a new version, so a regression is caught before your customers find it.
  • Incident watch across the tools you depend on, drawn from the public incident registry and your own environment.
  • Periodic reviews of cost, usage and outcomes, with recommendations to keep, change or retire tools.
  • Hands-on help for your team: questions, fixes, and adjustments as your processes change.

You get a retained point of contact, a monitoring report on a cadence you choose, and no surprises when a vendor changes something.

More about application support and maintenance →

Cybersecurity & managed security

Delivered by our channel partnerIrisInfosec

For organisations that need their systems, data and AI secured and compliant, as part of a project we deliver or on its own.

Security work is delivered by IrisInfosec s.r.o., a Prague-based cybersecurity solutions company initially focused on Central Europe. You keep one engagement and one point of contact at Hlido; the specialists do the security work.

  • Regulatory compliance, and end-to-end security risk and gap assessment.
  • VAPT: vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.
  • AI security and governance for the AI systems you build or deploy.
  • Threat intelligence and endpoint protection.
  • Full cloud and network security with complete SOC/NOC support, including IT infrastructure support, through experienced technology partners.

Scale Large projects are welcome: a team can be ramped up for the work and managed locally.

More about cybersecurity and penetration testing →

AI transformation & IT operations automation

Delivered with our channel partnerAutomationEdge

For organisations that want AI to resolve real operational work, IT, HR, finance and customer operations, without replacing the systems they already run.

Hlido scopes the transformation and stays accountable for it; the automation is delivered on the AutomationEdge agentic automation platform through our partnership for project delivery. One engagement, one point of contact, and every result written back to your system of record.

  • Agentic service desks: IT, HR and finance requests resolved end to end on the channel your people already use (Teams, WhatsApp, email, web), with a clean hand-off to a person for the exceptions.
  • IT operations automation (ITOPA): incident triage, runbook execution, patching, restarts and access requests on top of ServiceNow, BMC, ManageEngine, Jira and your monitoring stack.
  • Process automation: RPA, intelligent document processing and workflow automation for back-office work such as onboarding, KYC and re-KYC, reconciliations, claims and invoice handling.
  • Conversational AI for customers and employees, with EU AI Act Article 50 disclosure designed in from the first message.
  • Integration with core banking, insurance, healthcare and HR systems through pre-built connectors, so the work is a configuration, not an integration project you have to staff.

Rules The agent prepares, a person decides above an agreed threshold; nothing gets replaced; autonomy is earned per process with evidence, then extended.

More about IT operations automation →

What each line includes

The same desk, five ways in. Read down a column to see what you get; read across a row to see where it appears.

DeliverableTechnology & strategyAI consultingAdvisoryImplementation & deliveryPost-production support
Written assessment and plan✓✓✓––
Tool and vendor selection from the tested record✓✓✓––
Build-versus-buy and cost to run✓✓–––
EU AI Act readiness and evidence file––✓––
Architecture, development and integration–––✓–
Acceptance against agreed claims before go-live–––✓–
Team training and hand-over–––✓✓
Monitoring, re-tests and incident watch––––✓
Fixes and improvements on a cadence––––✓
Named point of contact✓✓✓✓✓

Sectors we serve

The same practice, applied where the operational work is. Each sector has its own regulation, systems and first safe process; these are the ones we know and deliver in, with our partners.

  • BankingKYC and re-KYC processing, reconciliations, customer service desks connected to core banking, IT operations automation. DORA, GDPR and the EU AI Act (credit scoring is high-risk) as design input.
  • Non-banking financial servicesLending, leasing, payments and wealth: loan document intake and checks, servicing and collections communications, exception handling in operations, with a person approving above an agreed threshold.
  • InsuranceClaims intake and document processing, policy servicing requests resolved end to end, payout workflows with audit trails, agent and employee onboarding.
  • TelecomNOC incident triage and runbook execution, care agents that act (plan change, outage status, invoice) rather than only answer, field service scheduling.
  • Healthcare & care providersAdministrative automation first: referrals, scheduling, prior authorisation and coding support; staff self-service for IT and HR on shift. Data stays in the EMR/EHR; a person signs.
  • Legal & professional servicesIntake and conflict checks, document triage, matter summaries and time capture, behind a one-page AI policy that the tools enforce: approved tools, data residency, verification of every citation, client disclosure.
  • Manufacturing & logisticsOrder-to-cash and procure-to-pay exceptions, maintenance ticket triage, shop-floor IT support on the channel workers already use.
  • Public bodies, chambers & institutionsBriefings, EU AI Act readiness and vendor due diligence for programmes and member organisations, through our partnerships.

How an engagement runs

Scope

A short call to understand the operation and the decision you need to make. If we are not the right desk for it, we say so and point you elsewhere.

Assess

We look at your workflows, data and current tools, and at the evidence we already hold on the candidates. Findings in writing, with what they rest on.

Build

Implementation against an agreed list of what the system must do. Acceptance tests before go-live, evidence kept, your team trained.

Run

Monitoring, re-tests and support on a cadence you choose. Tools are re-checked as vendors change them; you hear about it first.

The independent AI review desk

Alongside client work, Hlido keeps a public record of AI agents and tools tested by hand against their own claims: 1017 so far, latest 02 Oct 2026. It is free to read, for people and for AI agents, and it is the evidence our AI advice rests on.

Latest tests

AgentCategoryEvidenceScoreVerdictTested
Top this week
1 Foremerge Coding 80/100STEADY A deterministic, MCP-first coordination protocol for multi-agent coding — unusually honest about its own limits, and ex…
2 rustunnel Infrastructure 80/100STEADY An open-source, Rust-fast tunnel with a first-class MCP server — genuinely agent-drivable, priced to punish idle time,…
3 trace-mcp Coding 77/100STEADY A genuinely agent-native code-intelligence MCP server — open-source, local-first, broadly integrated — whose headline t…
Recently tested
Recurse Infrastructure 73/100STEADY Hosting-for-agent-apps that treats MCP as the output format — build an agent app, deploy it with one CLI command, publi…
Raven (EverMind) Workflow & Automation 70/100STEADY A multi-agent orchestration layer that sits above the coding agents you already run (Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Qwen…
Sparrow Infrastructure 68/100FADING Open-source, self-hostable 'message rooms' for humans and their agents — a trust-friendly take on the agent inbox probl…
OpenAPPA Infrastructure 64/100FADING A deterministic, policy-as-code guardrail for agents with real technical ambition (paper, benchmarks, OPA/Cedar compari…
Iris Workflow & Automation 62/100FADING A coherent enterprise pitch for custom 'operations' agents that run across your existing tools — but the entire product…
RxFilmStudio Image & Design 60/100FADING A native macOS 'film studio in one window' — score, narrate, caption and render with an agent in the director's chair.…

Browse all tests Check a tool How we test

The wall between the review desk and the practice

An advisory practice attached to a review desk is only worth anything if the desk stays independent. Three rules keep it that way, and they are the same rules we hold vendors to.

  • No rated company pays for its rating.Reviews, scores, re-tests and passports are free and cannot be bought, sped up or removed. The practice is paid by the organisation deploying AI.
  • Advisory work never changes a verdict.If a client asks us about a tool we have rated, they get the published evidence and our reading of it. The score does not move because someone is paying to hear it.
  • Relationships are disclosed.Where we have worked with a company whose product is on the record, the record says so. See the conflict-of-interest policy and the editorial policy.

Partnerships & collaboration

  • Channel partnerIrisInfosec s.r.o.Cybersecurity, compliance and managed security, Prague. Delivers our cybersecurity line.
  • Channel partnerAutomationEdgeAgentic automation platform for IT, HR and finance operations. Delivers our AI transformation and automation line.
  • MemberEU India ChambersThe Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India, the apex chamber for EU–India business, headquartered in Mumbai.

Hlido is a Prague-based desk that works in English across the EU, and with Indian and other international organisations entering the Czech and EU markets. Business collaboration can come from any sphere; these are the shapes it usually takes.

  • Chambers of commerce & trade bodiesMember briefings on the practical state of AI tools, sector round-ups drawn from the tested record, and an independent desk your members can be referred to.
  • Embassies, agencies & institutionsIndependent, evidence-backed input on AI adoption and the EU AI Act for programmes, delegations and market-entry support.
  • Cross-border business linksCzech–Indian and EU–India collaboration: helping companies on either side assess, choose and deploy AI in the other market, and connecting them to tested tools and to each other.
  • Universities & researchJoint studies on the tested corpus, student projects on real evaluation data, and access to the open dataset.
  • Training & workshopsPractical sessions for teams, boards and member groups on choosing and running AI tools, and on what the EU AI Act asks of a deployer.
  • Data & platform partnersThe record as a service inside other products: an API, an MCP server and a CC-BY dataset, with licensing for commercial use.

Start a conversation

Tell us what you are trying to do.

One message is enough: your organisation, the decision or problem in front of you, and how you would like to talk. You will hear back from a person, usually within one working day.

Scoped and quoted per engagement, in writing, before work starts. No retainer needed to ask.

Contact Hlido Prague, Czech Republic · English · remote or on site