Compare what the engagement buys, not only the fee.

What changes the cost?

The breadth of business units, workflows and systems. The quality and availability of existing evidence. Stakeholder participation and unresolved decisions. Specialist assessment. The depth of analysis, outputs and delivery responsibility.

A low headline fee may exclude important work. A large proposal may include scope the organisation does not need.

Ask for a defined output

“AI strategy” can describe a presentation, a prioritised portfolio, a commercial model or an operating roadmap. Ask what is included, how recommendations are supported and what implementation handover looks like.

A decision paper should show alternatives, assumptions, ownership and the evidence required for the next commitment.

Include the cost to your team

Internal participation, information preparation, review and implementation ownership use real capacity. Ask what access and effort the engagement requires.

An assessment is unlikely to produce a defensible answer when the people who understand the work cannot participate.

Separate advice from delivery

Discovery, decision support, technical build, legal review and security assurance are different responsibilities. Confirm which are included and who provides them.

Applied AI Australia is part of Acquire Intelligence. Any implementation or managed operating scope through Acquire is separately defined where relevant.

Questions before you approve

Which decision are we buying help with? What will be delivered? What evidence is needed from us? What is excluded? What causes a scope change? Who owns implementation? How will unresolved uncertainty be reported?

Ask whether a smaller first engagement could resolve the main uncertainty before a larger commitment.

Our approach to fees

The fee, scope, outputs, participation, timing and exclusions are set out before work begins. We do not publish an invented market range or promise a return to make a proposal appear attractive.