Field notes, not thought leadership.
Short pieces written after engagements, about things that actually went wrong and what we changed as a result. Two a month, on what we are actually being asked about.
What an AI project costs, and where the money goes
The AI itself is rarely the expensive part. Here is what the invoice is made of, and the line almost nobody budgets for.
Nine questions worth asking an AI consultancy before you sign
Most of them are uncomfortable to answer. That is exactly why they work.
When AI is the wrong answer
We turn down more work than people expect. These are the cases where the honest recommendation is something cheaper and duller.
What to keep in-house now that AI does the first draft
AI has taken over most of the work that used to justify a junior hire or a small consulting contract. Some of what is left cannot be bought at any price. Some of it should never have been done inside the building anyway.
Buy or build: choosing business software in the UAE
The off-the-shelf product is cheaper right up until it meets UAE VAT rules, bilingual invoices, and the way your business actually sells.
Your staff are already using AI, whatever the policy says
Somebody in your finance team pasted a supplier contract into a free chatbot this week. Banning it does not stop that. It moves it onto a phone you cannot see.
Replacing an ERP without stopping the business
Thirty-five modules, 150 daily users, four countries, and no weekend where everything went dark.
2026
- MAY 2026Why the demo takes two weeks and the rest takes two months5 MIN
- APRIL 2026Put the AI where people already work5 MIN
- APRIL 2026Who owns the tool your operations manager built in a weekend7 MIN
- MARCH 2026How to choose between AI vendors without taking their word for it6 MIN
- MARCH 2026How accurate does the system have to be6 MIN
- FEBRUARY 2026Cloud or your own servers: running AI in the UAE6 MIN
- FEBRUARY 2026What it costs to run an AI system after launch6 MIN
- JANUARY 2026Getting answers out of your own documents7 MIN
- JANUARY 2026Writing an AI tender no single supplier can capture6 MIN
2025
- DECEMBER 2025Finding the systems nobody told you about5 MIN
- DECEMBER 2025When to hire your own AI team7 MIN
- NOVEMBER 2025What should be in your hands when the project ends6 MIN
- NOVEMBER 2025Who is allowed to ask the system what7 MIN
- OCTOBER 2025The first ninety days after go-live7 MIN
- OCTOBER 2025One system for all your branches, or one for each5 MIN
- SEPTEMBER 2025What UAE tax rules ask of your business software6 MIN
- SEPTEMBER 2025What breaks when the system has to work in Arabic6 MIN
- AUGUST 2025What it takes to run part of your business over WhatsApp6 MIN
- AUGUST 2025Training your people to run it after we leave5 MIN
- JULY 2025What happens when your software supplier disappears6 MIN
- JULY 2025When a family business outgrows the way it has always worked7 MIN
- JUNE 2025Most AI projects stop before the technology is the problem5 MIN
- JUNE 2025Where to start with AI when the board is already asking6 MIN
Working through one of these on a live programme?
Send us the situation and we will tell you what we would do. A 45-minute call with the engineer who would run the work.