AI strategy consulting is paid help to decide where AI will pay off in your business, in what order, and who should build it. A useful engagement ends with a ranked list of use cases, each with a cost, an owner and a first test, not with a slide deck about the future of work.
It matters because most companies are still stuck before the value. In BCG's October 2024 survey of 1,000 executives in 59 countries, 74% of companies had yet to show tangible value from AI, and only 26% had built the capabilities to move beyond proofs of concept. This guide shows what to ask for, what it costs and how to choose who does it.
What an AI strategy engagement should deliver
Ask for the deliverables before you ask for the price. Here's what a good engagement hands you at the end:
- A map of your processes where AI could help, built from interviews with the people who run them, such as support, sales operations, finance or recruiting.
- A ranked list of use cases. Each one shows the expected gain, such as hours saved or errors avoided. It also shows the cost to build and run it, the data it needs and the risk if it goes wrong.
- A data and tools check. Where your data lives, how clean it is, what your current software can already do, and what would need to change.
- Buy, build or wait, for each use case. Many needs are covered by a tool you already pay for, for example the AI features in your helpdesk. Others need a custom build, and some are not ready yet.
- One first project, specified. The task, the test set, the pass/fail number, the budget and the end date, ready for a proof of concept.
- A 90-day plan with names: who owns each step on your side and who builds.
If a proposal promises "transformation" without listing these, ask for a sample report from a past client with the names removed.
What it costs
Price depends on the size of the company and how many departments the review covers. Custom strategy work has no standard price, so the most useful reference is a packaged assessment. These are the starting prices RemoteAI suggests to specialists for a packaged AI readiness assessment in its service templates (October 2026):
Starting prices RemoteAI suggests to specialists for a packaged AI readiness assessment, October 2026. Bigger or custom scopes are quoted separately.
| Package | What's included | Delivery | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2 interviews, top 5 AI opportunities, 1-hour review call | 5 days | $300 |
| Standard | Up to 5 interviews, scored opportunity map, 90-day roadmap with costs | 10 days | $900 |
| Premium | Full assessment, AI policy for your team, 2-hour team workshop | 15 days | $2,000 |
Source: RemoteAI service templates (suggested starting prices), October 2026.
These packages fit a team with a handful of processes. A review across several departments, a data and architecture audit or EU AI Act readiness work has no standard price. Ask each consultant or firm for a fixed quote per deliverable, with the interviews, the report and the roadmap named in writing. A fixed price per deliverable is easier to compare across quotes than an hourly estimate, and you can find independent AI consultants to quote against the same brief.
The assessment is rarely the large part of the budget. The first project it leads to still has to be built, tested and run. If the assessment stops one wrong project, it has paid for itself.
How long it takes
RemoteAI's service templates suggest 5 to 15 days for a packaged assessment, from 2 interviews to a full assessment with a workshop. A review across several departments takes longer, mostly because of interviews and data access. What slows it down is rarely the analysis. It's getting two hours with each process owner and read access to real data.
So book the interviews and the data access before the consultant starts. A week lost waiting for a CRM export is a week you pay for.
Independent consultant, firm or your own team?
Three options cover most cases. Here's how they compare:
| Independent consultant | Consulting firm | Your own team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | One department, a first use case, a small or mid-size company | Multi-country programs, many departments at once | Companies with an AI lead and time to spare |
| Who does the work | The person you interviewed | Often a mix of senior and junior staff | Your people, alongside their usual job |
| Cost | Pay one person | Pay a team and its overhead | Salaries and time taken from other work |
| Watch out for | Capacity: one person, one project at a time | Generic frameworks, long timelines | Blind spots and internal politics |
In other words, a firm is worth it when you need many people in parallel and a formal change program. For an assessment or a first use case, one experienced independent consultant can often do the same work at a lower total cost. An internal review costs no fees, but it tends to confirm what the team already believed, for example that the tool someone already likes is the answer.
Red flags in a proposal
Watch for these when you compare offers:
- No interviews planned. A strategy built from a questionnaire alone misses how work actually gets done.
- Tool first, problem second. If the proposal names the platform before it has seen your processes, the answer was decided in advance.
- No numbers in the deliverables. "Identify opportunities" without hours saved, cost or a pass/fail test leaves you with nothing to decide on.
- Strategy and build sold together, with no exit. It's fine if the consultant can also build, but you should be free to hire someone else after the assessment.
- No mention of data or compliance. Personal data and regulated decisions, such as hiring, credit or health, change what you can do.
A brief you can copy
A one-page brief gets you comparable quotes. Replace the [fields]:
Company: [60 people, B2B software, US and EU customers.] Goal: [Find where AI can cut support and sales operations time this year.] Scope: [Support, sales operations and finance; 6 interviews; read access to helpdesk and CRM.] Deliverables: [Ranked use cases with cost and gain, data check, buy/build/wait per use case, one first project specified, 90-day plan.] Constraints: [No customer data leaves the EU; budget for the first project up to $20,000.] Timeline and price: [Fixed price, report within 4 weeks.]
Send it to two or three consultants. The ones who ask about your data, your owners and your budget before quoting are usually the ones who deliver something you can use.
What to do after the assessment
The report is only useful if one project starts. Pick the top use case, write its test set, and fund a capped first build. For the build, you may need an engineer rather than a consultant. Hire an AI agent developer for a support or sales agent, an automation specialist for workflows between your tools, or an AI engineer for a custom model. Our guide to AI development cost covers what running it costs afterwards.
What we see on RemoteAI
On October 26, 2026, 147 of the 3,480 approved public profiles on RemoteAI mention consulting in their headline or description, and 32 mention AI strategy specifically. Many of them also build. That helps when the first project starts: the person who wrote the plan can lead it or hand it over with a clear brief.
The short version
AI strategy consulting should hand you a ranked list of use cases with costs, an honest data check, one first project with a pass/fail test and a 90-day plan. A packaged assessment starts at $300 to $2,000 in the prices RemoteAI suggests to specialists (October 2026); a bigger review has no standard price and is quoted separately. Book the interviews and data access first, compare fixed-price quotes against the same brief, and start one project as soon as the report lands. You can post the project with that brief or browse AI consultants directly.
Sources: BCG press release, October 24, 2024 ("Where's the Value in AI?", survey of 1,000 executives). RemoteAI service templates (suggested starting prices), October 2026. Assessment durations: RemoteAI service templates (suggested delivery times), October 2026. RemoteAI figures: approved public talent profiles that mention consulting or AI strategy in their headline or description, counted October 26, 2026. The brief is an illustrative example.