AI Opportunity Assessment
Find where your time goes and what's worth fixing first. Two to four weeks. Every task scored and ranked, and you keep the list either way.
Learn more →AI and automation for small businesses and finance teams
Built around your operation. Owned by you. We build AI and automation around the tools you already use, so your team spends less time on admin, retyping and pulling the numbers together by hand.
2–4 wksTo a ranked opportunity list
100% yoursCode, data and settings
No per-userlicence fees
Two backgrounds, one team
A senior IT leader with more than 25 years' experience and a chartered accountant (CA(SA), ICAEW ACA). Between us we know how the numbers are put together and how the systems behind them work.
First step, build, run, extend
Four stages, agreed up front. You can see what we're doing at each one, and there's no open-ended contract.
Your data and controls stay protected
UK data residency, GDPR and data protection support, and audit-ready evidence.
The Problem
Where off-the-shelf AI falls short
For any business that runs on spreadsheets, email and IT systems.
We work with small businesses and SMEs in any sector, and with finance teams in funds, wealth managers, accountancy practices and larger companies.
Software suppliers are probably already offering you AI products. They often look good in a demo, but they usually expect your team to change how it works to fit the product. You pay per user whether or not people use it, and you're tied to whatever the supplier decides to build next.
The work that takes up most of your team's time is usually something else: chasing suppliers and customers for missing paperwork, copying invoice details from one system to another, pulling the monthly numbers together by hand, or the one task nobody wants to own. That work is particular to your business, so it isn't on any supplier's list of things to build.
That is the work we do.
We build AI and automation around how your business already works, rather than asking you to change to suit a product.
How We Are Different
We have nothing to sell you off the shelf.
We don't resell licences, so we have no reason to steer you to a tool. Three commitments we put in writing.
1
You own what we build
Code, configuration, documentation and data are handed over at delivery, not held back until you leave.
2
You can change it without us
Admin access, runbooks and a working session, so your team can adjust what we built when your process changes.
3
You can leave
Published exit terms, transition support priced up front, and a full export of your data in standard formats any other system can read.
Two Backgrounds, One Team
We understand what we are building for
One of us is a chartered accountant, the other has spent more than 25 years leading IT. So we understand the numbers, the day-to-day work and the checks that have to stay in place.
Meet the FoundersFinance Operations
Cameron Opperman · CA(SA) · ICAEW Chartered Accountant (ACA) · Fund management background
Maps the work as it's really done, including the exceptions, judgement calls and controls that can't be automated away.
Technology & Delivery
Stephen Griffiths · 25+ years in senior IT leadership roles
Designs and builds what we deliver and connects it to the systems you already use, with the same care over security, access and compliance you'd expect from a good in-house IT team.
What We Do
Four ways we work with you
You can use any of these on its own. The usual place to start is an assessment or a small pilot on one task.
AI Agents & Automation
Software that does the repetitive work, inside the systems you already use. Agents, automations and internal apps for reporting, reconciliations and document intake.
Learn more →Managed AI Service & Hosting
We keep it running, or teach your team to. Hosting in the UK, monitoring, updates, and records of what the system did, ready for your auditor or insurer.
Learn more →AI Governance & Advisory
Clear rules for using AI safely. A check on whether your data is ready, an independent view on your suppliers' AI features, training for your team, and an AI lead on call.
Learn more →
In Practice: Illustrative Example
From emailed invoices to a ready-to-review list
An illustrative example, not a client project. The challenge: invoices arrive by email and someone retypes them into the accounts system, chasing anything missing.
1
Collect the invoices
Picks up invoices from the inbox.
2
Pull out the details
Reads supplier, amounts, dates and VAT.
3
Flag missing information and duplicates
Lists what needs chasing or checking.
4
A person checks and approves
Nothing is posted without sign-off.
Invoice details are extracted and anything missing or duplicated is flagged for your team to check and approve.
Real Example: Investment Fund
Quarterly reporting: 5 days to half a day
The challenge: investor reporting took the finance team five days every quarter, and gaps only surfaced once the Fund Manager and investment committee (IC) were reading it.
1
Review the management accounts
Reviews the quarter's accounts and flags anything that needs a closer look.
2
Update the fund model
Carries the reviewed numbers through into the fund model.
3
Update the investor report
Rolls the model outputs into the quarter's investor report.
4
Critique as the Fund Manager and IC
Reads the report as they would, and lists the gaps for the team to fix.
The result: the agents run in the background, the team spends half a day reviewing the output instead of five days producing it, and gaps are fixed before the IC sees the report.
Our Approach
From first call to a running system
Every piece of work follows the same four stages, so you always know what happens next.
1
First step
After a free scoping call, choose a scoped pilot on one task or a two-to-four week assessment with a ranked list you keep.
2
Build
Build the item that will save the most time, or start small with a two-to-six week pilot on one task.
3
Run, or hand over
Hosted in your environment, ours or a mix. Your team runs it with our support, or we run it for you.
4
Extend
We work down the rest of the list at your pace, with a quarterly review.
Your data and controls stay protected: UK data residency · GDPR & data protection support · Records ready for your auditor
FAQs
Common questions
Are you reselling us AI software?
No. We aren't a software company and we don't resell anyone else's licences. We build around the way your business already works, and everything we build belongs to you.
What happens if we want to leave?
You give notice under terms we agree at the start. We then help with the move over 30, 60 or 90 days, at a price set at the outset, hand over all the code and settings for what we built, and export your data in standard formats any other system can read.
Where does our data live?
In the UK. We write down where your data goes and who handles it, sign a data processing agreement that names every sub-processor, and help with the data protection paperwork (a DPIA and records of processing) if your use of AI needs it.
How is this priced?
Start with a free 30-minute scoping call. After that, every engagement, whether an assessment, a build or a managed service, is quoted up front. There's no rate card and no per-seat licensing. For anything we host, model and infrastructure costs are passed through at cost, itemised monthly.
What if our existing systems already cover it?
Then we'll tell you that too. The assessment is yours to keep and act on however you choose, with us or without us.