Buying AI work

Advice for buying AI work.

The hard part is not finding an agency. It is knowing what to ask before you believe the pitch.

Browse the library

Filter by category or tag

Showing all 11 buyer guides.

Project planning 2026-07-29 · 8 min read
ScopingProposalsProcurement

Write an AI Project Brief That Gets Comparable Proposals

A one-page brief for defining the workflow, data, success measure, boundaries, and handoff before you ask consultants to price the work.

Read the guide
Security 2026-06-26 · 7 min read
AI agentsSecurityProcurement

AI Agent Security: What Buyers Need to Ask

Questions to use when an AI system can call tools, read private data, or trigger workflows, from permissions to production controls.

Read the guide
Governance 2026-06-26 · 6 min read
GovernanceComplianceProcurement

AI Compliance Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Agency

Questions for checking governance, data handling, risk classification, and launch evidence before implementation begins.

Read the guide
Architecture 2026-06-26 · 7 min read
RAGFine-tuningArchitecture

RAG, Fine-Tuning, or Neither? Questions to Ask Before You Build

How to ask whether retrieval, fine-tuning, both, or a simpler workflow fits the job before you approve a build.

Read the guide
Strategy 2026-04-06 · 7 min read
AI agentsProductionOperations

What Actually Breaks When AI Agents Reach Production

Where connected AI workflows fail in production, including permissions, cost overruns, and missing controls.

Read the guide
ROI & Strategy 2026-03-11 · 7 min read
ROIAutomationBudget

How to Calculate the ROI of AI Automation

How to put costs, payback, and measurable workflow changes into an automation business case.

Read the guide
Integration 2026-03-02 · 7 min read
MCPIntegrationSecurity

What MCP Changes About an AI Integration

What MCP changes about integration work and what to ask before an agency connects AI to business systems.

Read the guide
Strategy 2026-03-01 · 6 min read
Vendor riskPortabilityProcurement

Your AI Vendor Can Become a Business Risk

A buyer’s look at model pricing, policy, data retention, procurement exposure, and portability.

Read the guide
Guides 2026-02-17 · 8 min read
Agency selectionProcurementDue diligence

How to Choose an AI Agency Without Buying the Pitch

A checklist for testing an agency’s evidence, delivery team, scope, pricing, and handoff terms.

Read the guide
Pricing 2026-02-17 · 6 min read
PricingBudgetProposals

What AI Agency Work Costs and What Changes the Price

Planning figures from $5K chatbots to $500K+ enterprise AI integration, with the assumptions and proposal details that move the price.

Read the guide
Education 2026-02-17 · 7 min read
ServicesScopingProcurement

Ten Types of AI Agency Work, Explained

Ten common service labels translated into the business problems, systems, and buying questions behind them.

Read the guide

Have a project to describe?

Write down the job, the systems involved, the budget, and the limits an agency needs to work within.

Describe your project