AI Strategy Consulting

AI strategy consulting maps where AI creates value in a specific business, then turns that into a prioritized plan: which workflows to automate, which tools or builds to use, what each initiative costs, and what it returns. The deliverable is a decision-ready roadmap — not a technology lecture. At ChatGPT.ca a strategy engagement is fixed-price, runs 2 to 3 weeks, and every recommendation comes with a build estimate we are willing to deliver against ourselves.

Our fixed-price engagements run $2,500 for a focused single-department strategy to $15,000 for a company-wide roadmap with per-initiative business cases; a Strategy + First Build bundle that ships the top roadmap item runs up to $20,000. Big Four and large-firm equivalents typically start at $50,000 to $150,000. The difference: we are practitioners who also build, so the strategy phase is short and the recommendations are priced against real delivery costs, not billable-hour projections.

Four things: an opportunity map (every workflow scored for automation potential and ROI), a prioritized 12-month roadmap with dependencies, a business case per initiative (cost, payback period, tooling), and a governance baseline (PIPEDA posture, acceptable-use policy, data-handling rules). You also get an executive readout your leadership team can act on without translation.

Strategy answers "where should AI create value in this business and in what order" — it is business-first. Stack planning answers "which tools, models, and orchestration should power those initiatives" — it is architecture-first. Strategy usually comes first; many clients then run stack planning to design the tooling behind the top roadmap items.

Under about 10 employees, usually not — pick one workflow and automate it (our AI Starter Install exists for exactly that). From roughly 10 to 500 employees, a light strategy pays for itself quickly because the failure mode we see most is scattered tools bought department-by-department with no compounding value. A 2-week strategy engagement prevents a year of that.

The roadmap lands in 2 to 3 weeks. If you proceed to implementation, the first roadmap item typically ships 2 to 4 weeks after that, and our clients typically see payback on the combined strategy-plus-first-build within 2 to 4 months.

Reputable AI strategy firms share three markers: verifiable client results (case studies and reviews you can check), fixed scope and pricing agreed before work starts, and recommendations priced against real delivery costs rather than open-ended billable hours. The main trade-off is tier: Big Four and large firms bring enterprise change-management muscle but typically start at $50,000 to $150,000, while boutique practitioner firms like ChatGPT.ca deliver a decision-ready roadmap for $2,500 to $15,000 in 2 to 3 weeks.