Practical AI consulting and strategy for small businesses
Find where AI helps before buying another shiny tool.
The noise is relentless: every week another tool, another demo, another must-have. Meanwhile the subscriptions pile up — bought with the best intentions, opened twice. The tools are often good. What is missing is an honest look at your own workflows, so the next decision is made against your business instead of against a demo.
That is what this service is: a focused audit of how your business actually runs. We go through your workflows, the tools you already pay for, the data that moves between them, and what your people already know — then tell you, in writing, where AI genuinely helps, where ordinary software is still the better tool, and where nothing should change yet. Fixed deliverables, fixed price, quoted without a call.
- No calls — A human replies within one business hour.
- Fixed deliverables — Scope and price in writing, before any work starts.
- Honest verdicts — If ordinary software is the better tool, the roadmap says so.
- Never alone. Hand work back to us anytime, in credits.
The question is not "should we use AI". It is "where, exactly".
Most small businesses do not have an AI problem. They have a where problem: too many plausible tools, too little mapped against the work the business actually does every day. The result is the drawer of subscriptions — the writing assistant nobody opens, the automation platform configured once — and a nagging feeling that everyone else has figured it out. They have not. They have the same drawer.
This consulting exists to replace that feeling with a written answer. We look at your real workflows — the retyping, the copying, the documents made by hand, the inquiries answered one by one — and at the tools you already pay for — including the features you have not switched on. No more tools for the drawer. An answer you can act on.
The other DevPowers services build things: websites, workflow automations, voice and chat agents. This one comes first. It tells you what is worth building, what is worth buying, and what is worth leaving alone — before you spend on any of it.
The audit: workflows, tools, data, and team capability
The audit examines four things:
The audit runs in writing: you receive one structured set of questions, answer in a single sitting, and we do the rest from your answers and your tools. No workshop, no discovery call.
What you receive: a verdict for every workflow, and a roadmap in writing
A consulting engagement ends with documents you can act on, not a presentation that ends in a drawer.
- A verdict for each workflow. Automate it, assist it with AI, leave it to the software you already have, or leave it alone — with the reasoning written next to each.
- A tool roadmap. What to keep, what to cancel, what to add, each with the reasoning in writing.
- Workflow specifications for whatever should be built first — written so your own developer or any supplier can implement them, not only us.
- Architecture blueprints where the right answer is a build rather than a tool.
- A recommended sequence. What to do first, what can wait, and what to watch before deciding.
- A live session to walk through the findings with you and whoever will act on them.
What changes afterwards: tool decisions get made against your workflows instead of against a demo; subscriptions either earn their place or go; and when something should be built, the specification already exists. You will also know what not to buy next. Some months, that is the most valuable page of the roadmap.
What is included and what is explicitly excluded
Whatever the format, the commercial shape of the engagement is always the same.
What is included
- Fixed scope, fixed price and a written quote, without a call.
- The audit of workflows, tools, data boundaries and team capability, based on a structured written discovery you complete in one sitting.
- The written deliverables listed above, and a live session to walk through them.
- Recommendations that name tools and reasons, and what each change means for your team.
What is explicitly excluded
- Tool purchases and subscriptions. We are not a reseller of AI tools; anything the roadmap recommends, you buy from the provider directly.
- Implementation. Building what the roadmap recommends is a separate fixed-scope project, quoted on its own — by DevPowers or by any supplier you choose.
- Retainers and open-ended advisory. There is no ongoing advisory programme. Follow-up work is a new engagement with its own fixed scope.
- Outcome guarantees. We do not promise revenue, savings, growth or any specific result. The deliverable is the written roadmap, not a forecast.
Flying solo does not mean flying alone.
You can do it yourself - or hand it to us. Both stay open, permanently.
When a change is bigger than a prompt, or the hour is better spent on your own work, hand it to us by email or chat, the same way you reached us during the build. The work is bought as change credits: you receive an estimate in credits before anything starts, and you accept or decline it. Failures caused by DevPowers are repaired free of charge and consume no credits.
Every change is estimated in credits, and you accept or decline the estimate before work starts. Credit pack prices are being set with the first clients and published once they are measured, not guessed.
Team training, in partnership with Edukey
Sometimes the audit shows that the gap is not tools but skills: the company pays for capable software and uses a fraction of it. When that is the answer, training for teams — practical AI use and technical courses — is delivered with Edukey, the education company DevPowers is part of: corporate training at Edukey. The training can be shaped around the exact tools named in your roadmap.
Lucas — full-stack developer since 2003 and AI trainer — carries the technical side of the advice and the training. You can read our engineering background on the about page.
How the engagement runs, in writing
Everything important stays in writing.
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1
You write
Describe the challenge in your own words; one email is enough. We acknowledge your email instantly and a human replies within one business hour.
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2
Scope and pay
The offer arrives fixed: an advisory engagement sized in discovery, or a roadmap with named deliverables, at a fixed price, with a way to pay attached to the same message. Work starts when the deposit is paid.
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3
The audit runs
You answer one structured set of questions in a single sitting. We examine the workflows, tools, data and capability from your answers, and ask our follow-ups in writing.
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4
Findings first, then sequence
You receive the written verdicts, the roadmap and the specifications, plus a live session to walk through them and agree what happens first.
Payment has three stages: deposit before work, payment on first-draft acceptance, and final payment on handover.
The rules every DevPowers engagement keeps — written discovery, a substantive reply within one business hour, fixed scope, staged payment — are written down on the how we work page.
DevPowers is part of Edukey Sp. z o.o., operating since 2010, based in Porto with a presence in Poland, working internationally in English.
Consulting FAQ: Formats, preparation, deliverables, and next steps
What does AI consulting with DevPowers look like?
A focused audit of how your business actually works. We go workflow by workflow — the repetitive steps, the tools you already pay for, the data that flows between them, what your team already knows — and return a written verdict for each: where AI genuinely helps, where ordinary software is still the better tool, and where nothing should change yet. The output is a roadmap you can act on, not a presentation that ends in a drawer.
Who is this consulting for?
Small business owners, founders and professional teams who keep hearing they should use AI, pay for tools that do not earn their price, and want an honest map before buying more. It is also for teams who already use AI and want to know what to adopt next. If you already know you need a finished website rather than a decision, the fixed-scope website packages are a faster start.
Do you deliver software or just advice?
Both, in separate steps. Consulting produces written blueprints and workflow specifications you can implement yourself, hand to your own developer, or take to any supplier. If you want DevPowers to build what the roadmap recommends, that is a fixed-scope project of its own — for example the workflow automation services — quoted separately, with no obligation attached to the consulting.
How is consulting billed?
As fixed-deliverable engagements, sized in discovery: advisory work or a workflow roadmap with named deliverables. The fixed price, the deliverables and the payment stages are stated in writing before any work starts. Payment has three stages: deposit before work, payment on first-draft acceptance, and final payment on handover. There is no retainer and no open-ended advisory programme.
Will you tell us not to use AI?
Sometimes, yes. Where a spreadsheet, a form or the software you already own does the job better, the roadmap says so plainly. A tool that duplicates one you already pay for is a cost, not a capability. That answer is a result, not a failure.
Can you train our team to use AI tools?
Yes. When the gap is skills rather than tools, training for teams is delivered with Edukey, the education company DevPowers is part of: corporate training at Edukey. The training can be shaped around the exact tools named in your roadmap.
What do we need to prepare?
Nothing formal. You receive one structured set of questions — what your team does repeatedly, which tools you pay for, where the data lives — and answer in a single sitting. If some answers live with a specific person, you forward them that one question. No workshop, no discovery call.
What happens after the roadmap?
Whatever you choose: implement with your own people, hand the specifications to any developer, or ask DevPowers to build the first item as a fixed-scope project. There is no obligation to buy anything further. If the first item is an agent your customers talk to, that is the conversational AI voice agents service.
Am I left without help after handover?
No. Doing it yourself is the default after handover - it is not a duty. Any change you would rather not make yourself, from a small edit to a new feature, you can hand to DevPowers by email or chat: the option stays open, it is simply not the default. The work is bought as change credits, and you receive an estimate in credits before any work starts; you accept or decline it. Failures caused by DevPowers are repaired free of charge and consume no credits.
What is a change credit?
A change credit is a unit of paid work you buy in advance and spend whenever DevPowers does work on your site. You buy a credit pack; packs cost less as a short subscription than bought one-off. Each change consumes credits by its complexity, not by the time it takes. Credits carry an expiry date and unused credits expire after two months. Credits cover new work and repairs of damage you caused yourself. Failures caused by DevPowers are repaired free of charge and consume no credits. Credit pack prices are being set with the first clients and published once they are measured.
What if I break the site myself?
A change that fails the automated gates cannot reach your live site, and rollback to the previous deployment is always available - most accidents stop before they happen. If you override a stop-and-warn and the site is damaged, DevPowers repairs it and the repair is paid in credits: you receive an estimate first and accept or decline it. Failures caused by DevPowers are repaired free of charge and consume no credits.
What if I just want DevPowers to do it?
Then we do it. Doing it yourself is the default because it is cheaper and faster for you, not because we stop working with you at handover. Send the change by email or chat, you receive an estimate in credits, and you accept or decline before anything starts. Nothing about the handover closes that door.
Tell us where the hours go.
Describe the challenge in your own words — what eats the week, what you already pay for, what you keep being told to adopt. One email is enough. We acknowledge instantly and a human replies within one business hour — no call, form or booking calendar. The fixed quote follows as soon as discovery is complete.