Service 02
Converted to AI-native operation against a limit agreed in writing before anything is built, including when that limit is low. Every vendor promises more. We publish the honest number before a contract is signed, because a client who pays for a transformation that cannot deliver becomes a reference against us.
The Ceilings
These are our working estimates by department type. Your actual number comes from the audit.
| Department | Estimated ceiling | What limits it |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing & content operations | 90–95% | Strategy and positioning stay human |
| Data operations & reporting | 90% | Interpretation stays human |
| Document processing | 90% | Exception rules must exist in writing |
| Customer support, first line | 85–90% | Escalation path required |
| Sales research & outreach | 85% | The conversation itself is not automatable |
| Procurement | 75% | Spend approval stays human |
| Human resources | 70% | Hiring and exit decisions carry legal exposure |
| Finance & accounts payable | 70% | Money movement always requires sign-off |
| Legal operations | 50% | Advice and liability are the function |
The Six Stages
The audit is separable and separately priced. Some departments should not proceed past it, and we will say so.
01
What the department actually does, task by task, measured rather than described. Interviews with the people doing the work, not only the person who manages it. Output: the honest ceiling, in writing, and the cost of reaching it.
02
Every task sorted into execution, decision, authority or governance. Execution automates. Decisions get AI-assisted but stay human. Authority never moves. Governance is what watches the rest. The ceiling is arithmetic on this classification, not an opinion.
03
The target operating model, the systems required, the human oversight points, and the escalation paths. Reviewed with the department, not presented to it.
04
The systems, with governance active from the first deployment. Provenance, sampling and authority limits are part of the build, not a later phase.
05
The department operates the new model with every AI output reviewed before it takes effect. This is where the real exception cases surface, and where the ceiling gets corrected if the audit was optimistic.
06
Documentation, the sampling process, the drift indicators, and training for whoever owns it after we leave. We do not stay on as a dependency.
What We Decline
Each of these will cost us revenue. They are written down so the decision is made before the pressure arrives.
Decline 01
If the achievable automation does not justify the cost of getting there, the honest answer is not to do it. We tell you during the audit, and you pay for the audit only.
Legal operations frequently falls here. We say so.
Decline 02
Automation requires knowing what the exceptions are. If they exist only in someone’s head, the honest ceiling is very low, and the first project is documenting them rather than automating anything.
This is a common audit finding. It is not a failure.
Decline 03
Every system we build requires a named human owner with authority to intervene. Legal accountability requires a person. If the requirement is a department with nobody in it, we are the wrong firm.
We correct the expectation rather than take the engagement.
You get the honest ceiling for your department in writing, the task classification behind it, and the cost of reaching it. If the number does not justify the work, that is the deliverable.