AI readiness assessment
We review your processes, data, systems and skills to establish where you stand today and where AI can realistically help.
AI consulting for small & medium enterprises
AI transformation, sized for your business.
Heiko Partners helps SMEs find where AI creates real value, build it into everyday work, and bring their people along. Practical, measurable, and without the enterprise price tag.
- Vendor-neutral advice
- Working pilots in weeks
- Your team owns the result
AI roadmap · 12 months
Mid-sized manufacturer
DiscoverPrioritiseBuildScale
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LiveSupplier invoice matchingFinance
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LiveCustomer email triageService
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PilotQuote drafting assistantSales
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ScopingDemand forecastingOperations
Ranked by value, effort and risk
Team training in progressOperations & finance leads
The challenge
AI is moving fast. Most SMEs are stuck at the start.
Large enterprises have data science teams and transformation budgets. Smaller businesses face the same pressure to keep up, with far less room for expensive experiments.
- 01
No clear starting point
Hundreds of tools, constant headlines, and no reliable way to tell which ideas will actually pay off for your business.
- 02
No in-house AI expertise
Hiring a dedicated team is slow and expensive, and your best people are already at capacity running the business.
- 03
Pilots that go nowhere
Experiments that impress in a demo but never make it into everyday work, or onto the bottom line.
Heiko Partners closes that gap with senior guidance, hands-on delivery and a plan that fits the size and pace of your business.
What we do
From first question to working AI.
We cover the whole journey, so you're never left with a strategy deck and no one to build it, or a tool that nobody uses.
Strategy & roadmap
Working sessions with your team surface high-value opportunities, ranked by impact, effort and risk into a clear 12-month plan.
Pilots & prototypes
We build working solutions on your real data, measured against agreed KPIs, so you see results before committing further.
Implementation & integration
We connect AI to the systems you already run (ERP, CRM, email, shared drives) and make it secure, reliable and production-ready.
Training & change
Hands-on, role-specific training so your people use AI confidently and safely, from the front line to the leadership team.
Governance & responsible AI
Practical policies for data privacy, security, quality and compliance, so you can adopt AI without taking on hidden risk.
Our approach
A clear path from curiosity to capability.
Four stages, each ending in a concrete deliverable, so every next step is a decision made on evidence rather than guesswork.
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01
Discover
We learn how your business runs: goals, workflows, data, systems and where time and money leak away.
You getAI readiness report -
02
Prioritise
We score opportunities on value, feasibility and risk, and agree the few that are worth doing first.
You getPrioritised AI roadmap -
03
Build
We deliver a focused pilot on your real data, tested with real users and tracked against agreed KPIs.
You getWorking pilot & results -
04
Scale
We roll out what works, integrate it properly, and train your team to run and improve it themselves.
You getProduction solution & skilled team
Where AI pays off
Start where the value is obvious.
The best first projects are rarely moonshots. They're the repetitive, time-consuming tasks your team already wishes would disappear. A few examples:
Document processing
Pull data from delivery notes, order forms and certificates straight into your systems, with no retyping.
Less manual data entry
Demand & inventory forecasting
Combine sales history, seasonality and lead times to plan stock and production with more confidence.
Leaner stock, fewer shortages
Process copilots
Step-by-step assistants that guide staff through procedures, checklists and troubleshooting on the job.
Fewer errors, faster ramp-up
Invoice & receipt matching
Automatically match invoices to purchase orders and receipts, and flag only the exceptions for review.
Faster month-end close
Cash-flow forecasting
Rolling forecasts that update as orders, payments and pipeline change, not once a quarter.
Earlier warning on cash gaps
Management reporting
Plain-language summaries of the numbers that matter, drafted for leadership and ready to review.
Clearer decisions, less admin
Lead qualification
Enrich and score inbound leads in your CRM so your sales team spends time where it's most likely to convert.
Better-focused pipeline
Proposal & quote drafting
First drafts of proposals and quotes built from your templates, pricing rules and past wins.
Faster turnaround
On-brand content
Product descriptions, newsletters and social posts in your voice, reviewed by people before they go out.
More output, same team
Email & ticket triage
Classify, prioritise and route incoming requests, with suggested replies for common questions.
Shorter response times
Customer assistant
An always-on assistant grounded in your own documentation, with a clean hand-off to your team when needed.
Help outside office hours
Call summaries & follow-ups
Automatic notes, action items and CRM updates after every customer call.
Nothing falls through the cracks
Internal knowledge assistant
Ask questions in plain language and get answers from your policies, manuals and project files, with sources.
Knowledge that's easy to find
Onboarding & training
Turn existing know-how into onboarding guides, quizzes and refreshers tailored to each role.
New hires productive sooner
Meeting & project admin
Minutes, status updates and action tracking handled automatically, so teams can focus on the work.
Hours back every week
Ways to work together
Start small. Scale what works.
Clearly scoped engagements with defined outcomes. Begin wherever you are today and only take the next step when the last one has proved its value.
2–3 weeks
Readiness Sprint
For businesses asking, “Where do we even begin with AI?”
- Leadership & team interviews
- Process, data & systems review
- Prioritised list of AI opportunities
- Roadmap and recommended first pilot
6–10 weeks
Pilot Programme
For teams with a clear use case they want to prove in practice.
- Scoped solution built on your data
- Integration with existing tools
- KPI tracking with real users
- Go / no-go recommendation to scale
Ongoing
AI Partner
For companies building lasting AI capability across the business.
- Fractional AI lead for your team
- Continuous delivery of new use cases
- Ongoing training & enablement
- Governance, vendors & cost oversight
Why Heiko Partners
A partner that's in it with you.
We work alongside your team, not above it. Our job is to make AI useful in your business, then make sure you can carry it forward without us.
Outcomes over hype
Every project starts from a business problem and a number to move, not from a technology looking for a use.
Vendor-neutral
We recommend what fits your needs and budget, whether that's off-the-shelf, open-source or custom-built.
Sized for SMEs
Scope, pace and budget that make sense for a business your size, without enterprise overhead.
Built to hand over
Documentation, training and knowledge transfer are part of every engagement, so your team owns what we build.
We don't have much data. Can we still benefit from AI?
Yes. Many of today's most valuable AI applications work with what every business already has: documents, emails, spreadsheets and the know-how in people's heads. Part of our assessment is showing you what's possible with the data you have now, and what's worth collecting for later.
Do we need technical staff to work with you?
No. We bring the technical expertise. What we need from you is access to the people who know the work and a sponsor who can make decisions. We'll train whoever will own the solutions afterwards.
How much does an engagement cost?
It depends on scope, which is why we start with a clearly defined Readiness Sprint. You know the cost upfront, and you leave with a roadmap that tells you what each next step would involve before you commit to it.
How do you handle data privacy and security?
Carefully. We work within your existing security policies, minimise what data leaves your environment, choose providers with appropriate data-protection terms, and document how each solution handles information so you stay compliant.
Which AI tools and models do you use?
Whatever fits the job. We're vendor-neutral and work across the major AI platforms, cloud providers and open-source models, and we often start with tools you already pay for.
How quickly will we see results?
You'll have a prioritised roadmap within weeks, and a focused pilot is designed to show measurable results within a single engagement. We deliberately pick first projects that can prove value quickly.
Get started
Let's find your first AI win.
Tell us a little about your business. We'll set up a no-obligation 30-minute conversation to explore where AI could help, with no jargon and no hard sell.
hello@heikopartners.com