AI consultancy · United Kingdom
An AI consultancy that decides what to build, then builds it.
Most AI consultancies hand you a roadmap. Most automation agencies build whatever they are told. Anco AI does the operations thinking and the technical build in one team, for service businesses that want their hours back, and runs its own business on the result.
Why most businesses have the tools and still have the problem.
- 01You have the tools (Claude, Copilot, the AI inside your CRM) and nobody has shown you what to build with them.
- 02The last consultant left a deck. The last agency left a Zapier chain that broke in month three.
- 03Everything still runs through you: the numbers, the decisions, the chasing, the checking.
- 04You can see the hours leaking but there is no time between clients to re-engineer the operation.
What it is
An operator-led AI consultancy. We audit where your team's hours go, score what a system should do, and build it: workflow automation, custom AI solutions, internal software and dashboards, or the full AI Operating System. Then we run it, so it keeps working after the launch call.
Who it's for
Service businesses turning over £250k to £5m with 3 to 30 people: accountancy practices, law firms, agencies, coaches and consultants, and operationally complex local businesses. The common thread is a founder who has hit the point where growth means more of their own hours.
Discovery call
Thirty minutes, free. We map where the time and money are leaking and what would give the most back. You keep the map.
Scaleability Audit
A 48-hour deep dive into your systems, workflows and gaps, with a prioritised plan and a quote for each build.
Build
The first automation, tool or operating system, live in two to four weeks (14 days for AIOS), with a person approving anything that matters.
Run and extend
Hosted, monitored, and extended month by month. Each addition is bandwidth handed back to the team.
- A map of where your hours actually go, in numbers
- Automation built on the tools you already own, not a new subscription pile
- Custom AI solutions where the process is genuinely yours
- A daily brief so you stop being the only person who sees the whole business
- Human approval on anything that touches money or clients
- Published prices, named case studies, and a consultancy that runs on its own advice
"We tried several competitors before reaching out to Anco AI, and their bespoke service ended up being the perfect fit. Dave took the time to really understand our internal processes and pinpointed exactly where AI could make the biggest impact. No friction, no steep learning curve, no need for extensive training."
Ross Cuthbert
What this looks like for a real business.
How a coach halved his hours without losing revenue
Peter was working 40-hour weeks buried in delivery and admin. We built the systems, and an AIOS, that took him to 20-hour weeks while revenue kept climbing.
Read the case study →
From 8 disconnected tools to one system
Amy was running her business across 8 or more tools that did not talk. We consolidated them into one system and cut the software bill.
Read the case study →Four ways the work shows up.
From £2,500
Follow-up, onboarding, reporting, chasing and client comms automated across the tools you run, with a person approving anything that touches money or clients.
From £5,000
Internal tools, dashboards and client portals that replace the tangle of half-fitting subscriptions. You own the code and the data.
From £3,500/mo
Fractional COO and CTO in one: the operations thinking and the technical build, on a monthly retainer with a three-month minimum.
£4,995 + £995/mo
Everything connected, a daily brief and the first automation, live in 14 days or refunded. Then hosted, monitored and extended every month.
The consultancy that runs on its own advice
Anco AI runs on the same AI Operating System it installs. Sales invoices are raised in Xero from the accountant's weekly query sheet, receipts are matched and filed, proposals are drafted from the call and tracked to signature, the content pipeline runs itself, and a brief lands every morning at seven with what moved and what needs a decision. You are not buying a theory.
Proof, named
A coach went from 40-hour weeks to 20 while revenue grew. A health business consolidated eight tools into one system. A founder was taken out of low-value delivery by a custom AI coach and automated onboarding. An accountancy firm had every client meeting written up and followed up by software. The case studies are below, with names.
Five questions to ask any AI consultancy, including this one.
- What did you build last month, and what does it do now? Builders answer with specifics; strategists answer with frameworks.
- Show me it running. Ours is the business you are talking to.
- Where does a person approve things in what you'd build? Anything touching money or clients needs a human gate.
- What happens when it breaks at 7am on a Monday? You want monitoring and a named person, not "it won't".
- What would you tell me not to automate? The good ones have a list.
Guides for AI consultancy, in depth.
AI consultancyAI Consultant for Small Business: What One Actually Does, What It Costs, and How to ChooseHalf the people calling themselves AI consultants have never shipped anything. Here is what the job actually involves when it is done properly, what it costs, and how to tell in one call whether the person in front of you builds or just advises.
Read it →
AI consultancyAI Automation Agency UK: How to Choose One, and the Questions That Expose the Weak OnesThere are now hundreds of UK agencies offering AI automation, most of them under two years old. Here is how to tell which ones will still be answering the phone when something breaks, and what to ask before you sign.
Read it →
AI consultancyFractional COO in the UK: What It Costs, What You Get, and When an Operating System Does the Job InsteadMost founders who search for a fractional COO do not want a part-time executive. They want to stop being the person everything runs through. Here is what a fractional COO actually provides, what it costs, and the question to answer before you hire one.
Read it →
AI consultancyHow to Systemise Your Business So It Runs Without You (The Operator's Version)Every founder has been told to document their processes. Most have a folder of SOPs nobody opens. Here is the version that works: audit the recurring work, score it, document only what a person must still do, and automate everything else, measured by the one number that matters.
Read it →
AI consultancyCustom Software for a Small Business: When It Pays, What It Costs, and When to Say NoMost small businesses should not build software. Some absolutely should, and the ones that should are usually told not to by people selling subscriptions. Here is the honest test, the real cost tiers, and what we learned from a build that ran over.
Read it →
AI consultancyHow to Scale a Service Business Without Hiring: The Capacity Maths Nobody Shows YouEvery service business hits the point where the next client means the next hire, and the margin never improves. The way out is not working harder or hiring faster. It is changing what the existing team spends its hours on. Here is the maths, and the four moves.
Read it →Working with an AI consultancy, questions answered.
Maps where the team's hours go, decides which recurring work a system should do, specifies it so the build is right first time, builds it, and proves the hours back in numbers. At Anco AI the consultant is also the builder, so there is no handover to a developer who never saw your week.
A consultancy decides what to build; an agency builds what it is told. For a business under 50 people the deciding is the hard part, so the useful firm does both. Ask whether the person who maps your business is the person who builds the system. Here it is.
Ours is published: a free 30-minute discovery call, a £997 Scaleability Audit, single builds from £2,500 to £15,000, ops and tech consulting from £3,500 a month, and an installed AI Operating System at £4,995 then £995 a month. Most firms do not publish, which is worth asking about.
Both, in that order of preference reversed: we recommend the tool you already own where it does the job, automate around it where it nearly does, and build custom only where the process is genuinely yours. The audit decides, before any money is spent on a build.
Service businesses doing roughly £250k to £5m: accountancy practices, law firms, marketing and creative agencies, coaches and consultants, and operationally complex bricks-and-mortar businesses. Funeral products, fitness, recruitment and M&A are all in the case list, because the method transfers.
Yes, in Manchester, working in person across the North West and remotely across the UK, the US, Canada and Europe. Dave Crawford runs the engagements personally, backed by a senior developer team.
Book a free discovery call.
Whether it's AIOS, consulting, software or automation, we'll map where the time and money are leaking and what would give you the most back. No obligation, you keep the map.
Book a discovery call →