shardana.ai's artificial intelligence consulting helps companies and SMEs decide before they build: which processes can gain a real advantage from AI, which data is needed, whether to buy a tool or build it, which risks must be managed and in what order to proceed. The studio is based in Cabras (Oristano), in Sardinia, and works with companies across Italy, mostly remotely.
Today every vendor sells something "with AI inside", colleagues already use generic assistants with company documents without shared rules, and management is asked for a strategy nobody has time to write. The risk is twofold: standing still while competitors learn, or investing in the wrong project because it was the one presented best. Consulting is there to get out of this situation with a list of reasoned choices.
What does artificial intelligence consulting do?
Artificial intelligence consulting turns a generic question, "how can we use AI?", into a list of decisions with priorities, costs and risks. The work starts from the company's processes, not from the technology: we interview the people who carry out the activities, look at where time and accuracy are lost, and check what data really exists and what state it is in. On this basis we identify the use cases where AI can make a difference and compare them by value, feasibility and risk. We also assess the tools the company already uses, because they often contain AI features nobody has switched on. The result is not a theoretical document about artificial intelligence in general, but a roadmap for your company: what to do first, what to postpone, what to avoid, with which resources and with which criteria to tell whether it has worked.
When do you need AI consulting, and when not?
AI consulting is useful when you know artificial intelligence concerns you but do not know where to start, or when you have too many ideas and no criteria for choosing between them. It is useful when you have to assess proposals from different vendors and nobody in the company can compare them on technical grounds. It is useful when people already use AI tools on their own and you need to decide rules, approved tools and limits on data. It is also useful when an AI project that was already under way has stalled and you need to decide whether to resume it, change it or close it. It is not needed, however, if you already have a specific process to improve and a clear idea of what you want to achieve: in that case it makes more sense to go straight to AI development for businesses, where analysis and prototype are already part of the project. We tell you in the first conversation, without selling you a process you do not need.
What do we analyse during the consulting?
We analyse six areas, because an AI project rarely fails because of the model and almost always because of something around it: inaccessible data, unclear processes, people left out, underestimated recurring costs. For each area we ask a few precise questions and produce a result that feeds into the final roadmap. Not every area weighs the same in every company: in a services firm documents and procedures matter most, in a manufacturing or trading company the data in its management systems, in a professional practice the confidentiality of information. We agree the scope of the analysis at the start, so that the consulting stays proportionate to the size of the company and to the decision to be made. The table summarises the areas, the main questions and what you get from each. It is a reference model, which we adapt to your case in the first conversation.
| Area | Main questions | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Processes | Where are time and accuracy lost? Which activities repeat? | Map of candidate processes |
| Data | Where is the data, in what state, who can use it? | Assessment of data readiness |
| Existing tools | Which software do you use and what AI features does it already offer? | List of what can be switched on without development |
| People | Who will use AI, with what skills and what concerns? | Engagement and training plan |
| Risk and compliance | Which personal or confidential data is involved? Which obligations apply? | Usage rules and points of attention |
| Costs | How much does it cost to build and run each solution? | Estimate of one-off and recurring costs |
How does the consulting process work?
The consulting process moves through short phases, each with a result you can discuss with your team. It starts with a first conversation with management, to understand goals, constraints and what the company has already tried. Then comes the listening phase: interviews with the people who run the processes, analysis of documents and a check of the available tools and data. Next we assess the use cases that have emerged on two axes, value for the company and technical feasibility, and discuss them with you in a working session, not in a presentation to approve. The roadmap comes out of that discussion: priorities, sequence, resources, estimated costs and criteria for measuring results. When a promising use case carries significant technical uncertainty, a feasibility test on real data can be added before investing in full development. The timeline of the process is set in the proposal, based on the agreed scope.
| Phase | What happens | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| First conversation | Goals, constraints, past experience | Scope of the consulting |
| Listening and analysis | Interviews, documents, tools, data | Map of processes, data and tools |
| Use case assessment | Comparison by value, feasibility and risk | Use cases ordered by priority |
| Roadmap | Sequence, resources, costs, success criteria | Written roadmap discussed with management |
| Feasibility test (optional) | Check on real data for the most uncertain case | Technical evidence before development |
Is it better to buy an AI tool or build one?
It depends on how specific the process is to your company and how much it matters to your competitive advantage. For common activities, such as writing drafts, summarising meetings or translating texts, a tool on the market costs less, is ready straight away and improves without you having to do anything. Custom development pays off when AI has to work on your data and inside your systems, follow internal procedures, take actions in your management software or meet confidentiality constraints that a generic tool does not guarantee. There is also a middle way: configuring and connecting existing tools with lightweight integrations, instead of building everything from scratch. In the consulting we compare the options on the same terms, including recurring costs and vendor dependence, and give you a reasoned recommendation for each use case. If the best choice is a tool we do not build, that remains the recommendation.
| Aspect | Off-the-shelf tool | Configuration and integration | Custom development |
|---|---|---|---|
| When it pays off | Common activities, the same in many companies | A good tool to connect to your systems | A specific process, internal data and rules |
| Time to start | Immediate | Short | Longer, with progressive releases |
| Control over data and rules | Limited to what the vendor offers | Partial | Full |
| Vendor dependence | High | Medium | Low: code and data stay yours |
How should a company handle data, privacy and the AI Act?
Introducing AI in a company means deciding what information can be sent to a model, who can use which tools and how the result is checked. In the consulting we start from a map of the data involved in each use case: personal data, confidential information, trade secrets. For each one we assess where it is processed, what guarantees the model provider offers and which data must be filtered, anonymised or excluded. We then propose clear internal usage rules: approved tools, information that must not leave the company, mandatory human checks. The European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI Act) introduces obligations that depend on the type of system and how it is used, for example on transparency towards people who interact with a chatbot and on the skills of staff who use AI. We help you understand which points concern your use cases from the technical side; for actual legal assessments we recommend involving a qualified professional.
What do you receive at the end of the consulting?
At the end of the process you receive documents your team can use straight away, written for those who have to decide and for those who will have to build:
- The map of the processes analysed, with the points where AI can help.
- The assessment of the available data: where it is, what state it is in, what is missing.
- Use cases ordered by priority, with expected value, feasibility and risks.
- The recommendation for each use case: existing tool, integration or custom development.
- An estimate of one-off and recurring costs for the priority use cases.
- Internal AI usage rules and points of attention on data and compliance.
- The roadmap with sequence, responsibilities and criteria for measuring results.
- Where included, the outcome of the feasibility test on real data.
How much does artificial intelligence consulting cost?
The cost of AI consulting depends on the agreed scope, which is why we do not publish a one-size-fits-all price list. The main factors are the number of departments and processes to analyse, the number of people to interview, the number of systems and the amount of data to check, and any feasibility test on real data. Consulting for a single department with a few tools is very different from an analysis covering the whole company, several sites and complex management software. To keep the commitment proportionate, we agree the scope in the first conversation and start from the areas where management most needs to decide. After the first conversation you receive a written proposal with phases, deliverables and costs. The consulting is a service in its own right: it does not commit you to building the resulting projects with us, and the roadmap can be used with any supplier or with your in-house team.
What happens after the consulting?
After the consulting you have a roadmap in hand and the freedom to choose how to carry it out. You can entrust us with developing the priority use cases: chatbots and agents through AI development for businesses, flows between tools through AI automation for business processes, a new digital product through MVP development. You can carry it out with your IT department, using the consulting documents as a technical basis. You can also turn to another supplier: in that case we can help you write the requirements and assess the offers, so you compare different proposals on the same criteria. For companies without an in-house technical lead, ongoing support is possible, in which we follow the implementation of the roadmap as a part-time CTO (fractional CTO): we take part in technical decisions, coordinate suppliers and check that the results match what was planned.
What experience do we work with?
shardana.ai was founded in 2026, but the work rests on more than 25 years of experience of its founder, Maurizio Brioschi, in software engineering, system architecture and leading technical teams. This experience predates the studio, and we keep it separate from the age of the brand. In consulting one aspect matters above all: we know what it means to take a system into production, maintain it and make it grow. That is why our recommendations take into account integrations, security, running costs and maintenance, not just what works in a demo. On the AI side the studio works on language model integrations, RAG, agentic workflows and MCP servers, so it knows the solutions it assesses from the inside. We do not publish client cases we cannot document: in the first conversation we go into the details of your situation, and that is the most concrete way to find out whether we can be useful to you.
Where do we work?
We work with companies and SMEs across Italy. The first conversation and most of the analysis take place online; interviews and working sessions with management can be held in person when needed. The studio is in Cabras, in the province of Oristano, and for companies in Sardinia in-person meetings can be arranged at every stage of the process.
Frequently asked questions
- We are a small company: does AI consulting make sense?
- Yes, if the scope is proportionate. For a small company it may be enough to analyse one or two processes and come away with a few clear decisions: which tools to use, with which rules and which project to start first.
- Do we need to have tidy data already?
- No. Understanding what state the data is in is one of the goals of the consulting. Often the first step of the roadmap is precisely to make the information you need accessible and reliable.
- Does the consulting oblige us to build the projects with you?
- No. The consulting is a service in its own right and the roadmap can be used with any supplier or with your in-house team. If the best solution is a tool we do not build, we tell you.
- Do you help us assess proposals from other vendors?
- Yes. We can compare different offers on the same technical criteria, check what is included and what is not, and point out undeclared risks and recurring costs.
- Do you also train staff?
- Yes. We can complement the consulting with hands-on training sessions on using the chosen AI tools, on internal rules and on the limits of the models, designed for the people who will use them every day.
- What do we need to get started?
- A member of management who follows the process and takes the decisions, the availability of the people to be interviewed, and access, read-only if need be, to the documents and tools to be analysed.
Related services
- AI development for businesses: chatbots, agents and MCP servers connected to your data.
- AI automation for business processes: flows between CRMs, management software, email and documents.
- MVP development for startups and SMEs: a new digital product, AI-based too.
- Custom web application development: management software, portals and platforms built around your processes.
- About us: the studio, the method and the founder.
What do you want to understand about artificial intelligence in your company?
Tell us how the company is organised, what you have already tried and what decision you need to make. We will reply with a first assessment and, if it makes sense, a consulting proposal tailored to your case.