Comparison
Eleven Cloud vs a Typical AI Transformation Agency
There are a lot of AI automation agencies now and some of them are good. The category has a shape: a discovery call, a proposal for the thing you described, a build, then a retainer.
The trouble with that shape is that it takes your diagnosis as the brief. You are usually right about the symptom and often wrong about the cause.
The short answer
A typical agency is the right choice when you already know what to build and want it built quickly and cheaply. We are the right choice when you want the whole company assessed first, the largest cost identified, and your own team trained to run what replaces it.
Side by side
| Eleven Cloud | A typical AI automation agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | An assessment of every operation in the company | The thing you asked for |
| Deliverable | A replaced operation and a trained owner | A built workflow |
| Commercial model | A project, ending at handover | A monthly retainer |
| What that pays for | Finishing and leaving | Staying available |
| Training your people | Part of the work | Usually a recorded walkthrough |
| What you get in writing | Every operation, automatable or not, and what it is worth | A scope of work |
| Tools | Chosen after the problem is defined | Whatever they have standardized on |
| Dependency after | None by design | Depends who holds the accounts |
What a retainer pays for
A monthly retainer buys continued involvement. That is fair when there is continued work, and corrosive when there is not.
It also shapes what gets built. Systems that need constant attention justify the fee. Systems your team can run alone do not.
We charge for the project and the project ends. If you never call us again, that is the intended outcome rather than a failure.
Where good agencies win
Speed and price on a well-defined build. If you know precisely what you want and it is a known pattern, an agency will do it faster and cheaper than a consultancy that insists on assessing everything first.
Ongoing capacity, too. If you want a partner who builds continuously and you have the budget for it, a retainer is a sensible way to buy that.
There are agencies doing serious work in this space and we have no interest in pretending otherwise.
Why we assess before we build
Owners come to us certain the problem is customer support. Half the time the assessment finds support volume is a symptom of a quoting process that sets the wrong expectations. Fixing support would have made the noise quieter and left the cost where it was.
The assessment covers how you get customers, how you deliver, and how the place runs. You get it in writing: each operation, whether it can be automated, and what it is worth.
You can build from that list without us. Several people have.
Questions worth asking any provider, us included
Who owns the accounts and the code when this ends. If the answer is them, you are renting.
What happens if you stop paying next month. If it stops working, it was never handed over.
Who on our team gets trained, by name. If there is no name, adoption is not in the plan.
We need a chatbot
An owner calls and says support is drowning, we need a chatbot.
A typical agency: scopes the chatbot, builds it on the help center, ships in four weeks, moves to a retainer. Ticket volume falls maybe a fifth.
The way we run it: the assessment looks at the whole company first. In one case support really was the target, so we built on their own sent replies rather than their help center, and it took the load off three people.
In another it was the wrong target and the money was in quoting. Same first call, different build. The difference was two weeks of looking before anyone touched a tool.
So which one?
Choose Eleven Cloud if
- You want the whole company assessed before anything is built
- You want the engagement to end rather than become a retainer
- You want a named person on your team trained to run it
- You want ownership of the accounts, the code, and the plan
Choose A typical AI automation agency if
- You already know exactly what you want built
- You want the lowest price on a defined scope
- You want ongoing build capacity month to month
- The work is a known pattern and needs no diagnosis
A typical AI automation agency, answered
Are you an agency?
We do project work, so commercially it looks similar. The difference is that the assessment comes first and the engagement is designed to end.
Do you offer a retainer?
Not as the default. If a second operation is worth replacing, that is a second project with its own scope.
What if we already work with an agency?
Then you may only need the assessment. The written list is something your existing team can build from.
Other comparisons
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Find out what your most expensive operation is
The assessment covers every operation in the company, not only the one you would name. You get it in writing, and you can build from it with or without us.