There is more than one good way to bring AI into a company. Here are the kinds of help you can hire, who each one suits, and where we are the wrong choice.
Last reviewed
The options
Use ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini yourself
General AI assistants, on a business plan.
Best for
Getting started, writing and research, and teams already working in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Watch for
They know your company only as far as someone connects it to them, and someone still has to set them up, keep them current and get people using them.
Learn it first
A course or a community, so you understand AI before you buy anything.
Best for
Owners who want to do it themselves, or to be a sharp buyer. Ours is Next Pillar Academy.
Watch for
Learning does not build anything: someone still has to do the work.
Hire your own AI engineer
A person, or a team, on your payroll.
Best for
Companies with a long AI roadmap and the budget to keep people on it.
Watch for
Hard to hire and slow to ramp up, and one person often ends up carrying everything.
Buy a software platform
Company-wide search and knowledge products, or an AI product made for your industry.
Best for
A job one product does well, or larger companies that want software rather than a service.
Watch for
You adapt to the product, and connecting your own systems still takes work.
A large consulting firm
A big firm’s AI practice.
Best for
Large enterprises and multi-country programs, with the procurement to match.
Watch for
Built for big budgets and long timelines.
A freelancer or automation agency
Someone to build a specific automation, chatbot or integration.
Best for
One well-defined job.
Watch for
Projects end and the builder moves on: ask who maintains it and who owns it.
A fractional AI officer or consultant
A senior advisor for a few days a month.
Best for
A plan, and someone senior to steer it.
Watch for
Advice still needs someone to build it.
A company-brain install (what we do)
A private brain built on your own records, and a simple app your team uses, built in person and kept working.
Best for
Established, owner-led companies that want AI built into the business with them.
Watch for
It is not the cheapest way to start, we take a small number of clients a year, and we are new: no published case studies yet.
Questions to ask any AI partner
What will this solve first, and how will we know it worked?
Who does the work, and will we meet them?
Whose information does it use, where will it live, and which AI providers will process it?
What do we own at the end, and what happens if we stop?
Who keeps it working after launch, and how?
What will my team actually use day to day?
Can we talk to someone you have done this for?
Warning signs
Guaranteed results before anyone has learned how your business runs.
No plan for who keeps it working after launch.
Your data going into tools nobody has told you about.
Claims you cannot check: unnamed clients, numbers with no source.
Where Next Pillar fits
We are the right call if you run an established company, you want AI built into how it works rather than bolted on, and you want the people who build it to be in the room and to stay.
We are the wrong call if you want one quick automation, the lowest price, or to learn it yourself first. A freelancer, a course or Next Pillar Academy will serve you better.
What we do not have yet
Published client results. Next Pillar opened in October 2026, and we do not publish a client’s name or results without their written permission. When there are results we are allowed to share, they will be here.