AI consulting for businesses, from tested evidence.
For owners, founders and leadership teams deciding whether, where and how to use AI. We start from your operation, not from the tools.
The output is a short, honest plan: which tasks are worth automating, which tools held up when we tested them for that job, what to build in-house and what to buy, and what it costs to run once the novelty wears off.
What is included
- AI opportunity and readiness assessmentAcross your workflows, data and systems, with the tasks ranked by value and risk.
- Use-case selectionWhich work is worth automating now, which later, and which is better left to people.
- Tool and vendor selectionFrom our published test record, including the vendor claims we found to fail.
- Build-versus-buy and cost to runIncluding the pricing terms vendors do not show up front.
- Pilot designA small first deployment with written success criteria, so the result is a decision and not a demo.
- Rules for useWho may use which tool with which data, written so your team can follow it.
You get a written assessment, a ranked shortlist with evidence, and a plan you can execute with us or without us.
Who it is for
- Owners and foundersYou are asked about AI every week and want one clear plan.
- Teams that have already triedA pilot stalled or a tool disappointed, and you want a second opinion.
- Operations leadersYou run repetitive, document-heavy or request-driven work and want to know what is realistic.
- Boards and investorsYou want a plain reading of where AI helps this business and what it will cost.
Sectors
Each sector has its own regulation, systems and first safe process. These are the ones we know and deliver in, with our partners. All sectors
- BankingKYC and re-KYC processing, reconciliations and service desks connected to core banking, with DORA, GDPR and the EU AI Act as design input.
- Non-banking financial servicesLending, leasing, payments and wealth: document intake and checks, servicing communications and exception handling.
- InsuranceClaims intake and document processing, policy servicing and payout workflows with audit trails.
- TelecomNOC incident triage and runbook execution, and care agents that act rather than only answer.
- Healthcare & care providersAdministrative work first: referrals, scheduling and staff self-service. Data stays in the clinical system; a person signs.
- Legal & professional servicesIntake, document triage and matter summaries behind a one-page AI policy the tools enforce.
- Manufacturing & logisticsOrder-to-cash and procure-to-pay exceptions, maintenance ticket triage and shop-floor IT support.
- Public bodies, chambers & institutionsBriefings, readiness work and vendor due diligence for programmes and member organisations.
How an engagement runs
Scope
A short call about the operation and the decision in front of you.
Assess
We look at your workflows, data and current tools, and at the evidence we already hold on the candidates.
Recommend
A written plan: use cases, tools, build or buy, cost to run, and the rules for using them.
Pilot
A first deployment against written success criteria, then a decision to extend, change or stop.
Independence
Advice is only worth something if the adviser has nothing to sell you on the side. Three rules, the same on every engagement.
- No rated company pays for its rating.Hlido also runs an independent AI review desk. Its reviews, scores and re-tests are free and cannot be bought, sped up or removed. The practice is paid only by the organisation doing the work with us.
- Advisory work never changes a verdict.If a tool we have tested comes up in your project, you get the published evidence and our reading of it. A score does not move because someone is paying to hear it.
- Relationships are disclosed.Where we work with a company whose product is on the record, the record says so. See the conflict-of-interest policy.
Questions
- What makes Hlido's AI advice different?Hlido runs an independent AI review desk that tests AI agents and tools by hand against what their makers promise and publishes the evidence. The advice starts from what was measured, including the claims that failed, not from a vendor's brochure.
- Is Hlido paid by AI vendors?No vendor on the review record pays for a score, and the practice is paid by the client. Two service lines are delivered with named channel partners, AutomationEdge for automation and IrisInfosec for cybersecurity, and we say so before any recommendation that involves them.
- Do you also implement what you recommend?Yes, through custom software development and AI implementation. The plan is written so that you can also execute it without us.
- How is the work priced?Every engagement is scoped and quoted per engagement, in writing, before work starts. There is no charge for the first conversation.
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.
Related services
- EU AI Act & AI governanceEU AI Act readiness for deployers, Article 50 transparency checks on the tools you use, vendor due diligence, procurement evidence and AI governance.
- Software development & AI implementationDesign, development and delivery of custom software and AI systems: integrations, AI agents and workflow automation, acceptance testing before go-live, training and hand-over.
- IT operations automationAgentic service desks for IT, HR and finance, IT operations automation, RPA, intelligent document processing and conversational AI, delivered with channel partner AutomationEdge.