An AI practice needs two capabilities
Most MSPs have built only one. This page explains why the commercial half decides who leads the deal. It also shows who ends up quoting against somebody else’s requirement.
Customers buy a business change before they buy AI.
A customer first buys a change to how the business works. The technology that delivers the change comes second. That order matters more than anything else on this page.
If you lead the commercial conversation, you are more likely to win the technology implementation that follows. Winning it is not guaranteed. You are more likely to win because the requirement is written in that conversation.
An AI practice needs both halves, and each half needs a different skill.
An AI practice needs a commercial half and a technical half. When an AI practice stops growing, the usual cause is the same. The business built one half extremely well, and assumed that half covered both.
AI business consulting
AI business consulting finds where value is created in a customer’s business. It works out how the customer’s teams should work differently, and what that change is worth. AI business consulting also tests whether a CFO would accept the business case. The CEO, CFO and COO buy this work before a requirement exists.
Most MSPs have not built this half.
AI technology implementation
This half covers how the technology is architected, licensed and configured. Next, it is integrated, secured and deployed. Then the customer’s staff adopt it, and your team supports it. This half is sold to the CIO and the technical buyer. The work is delivered against a requirement someone else wrote.
This half is a real asset, and you have already built it.
Neither half matters more than the other. The commercial half simply happens first, and that is when the requirement is written.
Being brought in after the business decision has already been made.
The same problem shows up at two different points in the same opportunity.
We only hear about it when they ask us to quote.
We built exactly what they asked for, but there was no next conversation.
Whoever leads the commercial conversation writes the requirement everyone else quotes against. Sometimes you are not in that conversation. The customer then decides what to buy before you are asked to quote. So you often compete on scope and price. The business value of your work rarely comes into that decision.
Being brought in late does not mean your technical work is inferior. Building a strong technical business was the right decision. The problem is having nothing to offer when the business decision is made.
What changes when you lead the business decision.
Where our work stops and yours starts.
The table sets out the full boundary in twelve rows. The left column is our commercial work. We build it into your business, or supply it when you need it. The right column is always your work, with no exceptions. The revenue from that work is yours too.
We sell no software, no licences and no implementation. You do the build and keep the revenue from it.
What an MSP owner can do instead of working with us.
There are six reasonable options. Each card shows where that option stops working.
Carry on as we are
Carrying on costs nothing and causes no disruption. Your technical business keeps running.
Hire a commercial director
You gain a permanent commercial capability on your own payroll.
Vendor training programmes
Your engineers gain technical skills and certifications, usually for free.
Join a peer group
You get benchmarking, good company and an annual event.
Build an internal bench
You get full control and full margin, and the capability is entirely yours.
Bring in a consultancy
You get credibility and executive access straight away.
What all six options have in common. Some options leave the commercial capability unbuilt. The others supply it, but cost you the customer relationship. That shared failure is the real problem. So none of this is a criticism of your technical practice, your people or your vendors.
Win the business case before you win the build.
The customer makes the commercial decision first. Implementation revenue comes after that decision. Everything we sell follows from that order.
Build your own capability. Buy capacity while you build it.
Building your own capability takes quarters. Your customers will not wait that long. Our specialists supply the commercial half while you build your own. They work inside your customer engagements. The service is called AI Business Consulting, delivered with you.
Hiring a commercial director, option two above, costs six figures a year. It also takes twelve months to produce a first executive conversation. Growth Executive’s first price is what the same capability costs bought in, on site, for a year. The second price is what Ingram Micro partners pay.
Growth Executive
£60,000 a year (£12,000 for Ingram Micro partners)
- We work on site, inside your business, with your leadership and management teams.
- We build the commercial half with you, step by step, on your own offers and accounts.
- One senior operator works one to one with your business. There is no training course, coaching programme or peer group.
AI Business Consulting, delivered with you
From £3,000 per engagement (from £2,500 for Ingram Micro partners)
- Our specialists join your live customer engagements.
- You keep the customer relationship, lead delivery and sign every deliverable.
- Our work ends at the high-level solution design. You win the build.
Be in the room when your customer makes the business decision.
The fastest way to test our approach is on your own business. A Growth Review takes ninety minutes and costs nothing. We look at where your AI practice is constrained, and what removing that constraint is worth. Then we tell you honestly whether we are the right people to help.
Win the business case before you win the build.