Technology consulting is research and judgment. Clients pay me to navigate complex technical decisions so they don’t have to build that expertise themselves. AI changed how I do the research part.
Here’s what that actually looks like.
Research at Speed
Technology moves fast. A client asks about the right approach to building a mobile app, or whether to use a particular cloud service, or how to integrate with a specific ERP — they need current, accurate information.
Research that used to take hours now takes minutes with AI. Not because AI knows everything, but because:
- Initial orientation to an unfamiliar technology or API happens fast
- Literature review and option identification is faster
- Comparing documented capabilities across tools is faster
What doesn’t accelerate: verification. I verify everything important against primary sources. AI summarizes and orients; official documentation confirms.
Better Analysis Documents
Clients benefit when my analysis is structured clearly, covers the relevant dimensions — cost, complexity, risk, fit — stays honest about uncertainty, and tells them what to do.
AI helps me produce better-structured analysis documents in less time. I do the judgment work; AI helps me express it clearly and completely.
For technology selection analyses — “which tool is right for this problem?” — I use AI to organize the comparison framework and populate the known dimensions. The recommendation itself comes from my judgment of what’s right for the specific client.
Scenario Analysis
One of the most valuable things I do is help clients think through scenarios: “what happens if we go this direction versus that direction?”
AI is useful for generating comprehensive lists of scenarios to consider — things that might go wrong, dependencies that might affect the decision, downstream effects of a choice. I use it to stress-test my analysis, looking for gaps.
This doesn’t mean AI makes the analysis. It means AI is a useful partner for making sure I haven’t missed something significant.
Where the Real Work Still Lives
AI handles research and documentation well. The hard parts of technology consulting are still human:
Understanding your specific situation. General technology knowledge doesn’t tell me what you should do. Understanding your team, your constraints, your risk tolerance, your goals — that tells me what you should do. This comes from conversation, not AI.
The recommendation itself. Telling a client “don’t do that, do this instead” — and being confident enough to back it — requires judgment formed over years of seeing what works in production. AI can inform this. It can’t replace it.
Honest assessments of difficult situations. Sometimes the technology isn’t the problem. It’s the team, the process, or the expectations. Saying this clearly and constructively requires trust that comes from human relationship, not AI output.
Long-term partnership. The most valuable technology consulting relationships are ongoing. As your business evolves, technology needs evolve. Having a trusted advisor who knows your history and your goals is about relationship, not research.
A Practical Example
A manufacturing client recently asked me to evaluate whether to build a custom inventory management system or implement a commercial package.
Research phase: AI helped me quickly identify the major commercial options in their category, typical pricing and implementation requirements, key differentiators. Half a day instead of a day and a half.
Analysis phase: I structured the build vs. buy analysis with AI help, covering total cost of ownership, customization requirements, integration complexity, maintenance burden.
The recommendation: mine. Based on my knowledge of their specific situation, their IT capacity, and the degree to which their processes were non-standard. AI doesn’t know their business.
The recommendation was to build a targeted custom solution for their core operations and integrate with their existing ERP rather than replace it. That came from experience and judgment, not research output.
What You Get
Working with me on technology consulting:
- Faster research, more current information
- More structured analysis with less wait time
- The same judgment and experience behind every recommendation
- Direct access to the person doing the work
Facing a technology decision with real business implications? Let’s schedule a consulting conversation.