Most AI adoption stalls in the same place: not at the demo, but at the point where someone has to decide whether a multi-step output is actually correct, compliant and safe to rely on. That decision is our specialism.
1 · AI workflow design & evaluation
For long-horizon business, finance and GRC workflows — the multi-step processes where an error compounds quietly rather than failing loudly.
What this looks like in practice
Mapping and documenting the workflow as it really runs, not as the process document claims.
Designing the AI-assisted version: where the model helps, where it must not act alone, and where a human decision belongs.
Building the evaluation — the rubric or reward signal that defines what "good output" means for your workflow, so quality becomes testable rather than felt.
Writing the governance layer: disclosure points, audit trail, escalation, and the pre-launch gate.
Who it fits:
Teams scaling AI who have the tooling and lack the bar; finance and operations functions where compliance isn't optional; anyone who has to defend an AI-assisted output to an auditor, a regulator or a board.
2 · Governed MCP integration & evaluation
Before you connect an AI agent to a system that can move money, change a record or send something on your behalf.
Tool access is the point where AI stops being a drafting aid and starts being something that acts. Most of the risk arrives in that transition, and most checklists were written for the version before it.
We run a readiness audit against fifteen controls covering: what the agent is allowed to reach and what it is denied by default · how each connected server handles your inputs · credential scope and rotation · defence against instructions smuggled in through tool output · staged enablement from read-only to write · human approval on anything that changes state · the audit trail · and a kill-switch that has actually been tested.
Six of the fifteen are must-pass. Any one of them failing is a stop, whatever the rest of the score looks like. A setup can score well and still be a stop — and if that sounds harsh, the rule is doing its job.
What you get
The findings, control by control, with the evidence we sighted rather than the assurances we were given.
A decisive GO / GO-WITH-CONDITIONS / NOT-READY — not a traffic-light dashboard you have to interpret.
A remediation list in priority order, with the cheap high-impact items named first. In our own audit, three actions cleared the critical failure in about forty minutes.
Three ways in
Readiness audit | Fixed fee, about a week. We run the checklist on your proposed setup and hand over the findings, the verdict and the remediation list. The audit is the deliverable — there is no upsell built into it |
Build & evaluate | We stand up least-privilege access and approval gates, then evaluate the agent on your real workflows against a rubric written for your definition of a good output |
Governed operations | We hold the register, re-audit when something changes, and add new tools under change control |
Who it fits:
Finance and operations teams connecting agents to ledgers, banking or client records · anyone who has to explain an AI-assisted action to an auditor, a regulator or a board · teams who have the tooling and haven't set the bar.
Where this instrument stands, stated plainly. It has been run live once — on our own setup, where it returned a NO-GO. We are not going to call that "proven in production", because it isn't yet. Read what it found →
Or see the fifteen points in full — the checklist is published, free, and yours to run yourself.
Book a first conversation → · or start smaller: Get the free scope check → mailto:[email protected]?subject=Scope%20check
Scoped and priced on a first conversation — we don't publish a rate for work whose shape we haven't seen.
3 · Governed AI talent & data partnerships
Two bottlenecks come up in nearly every conversation: vetting AI talent well enough to trust the hires, and finding data or agentic-workflow partners whose pipelines would survive an audit.
We handle the governance-fit side of that conversation — free, and separate from anything transactional. Where a route we use ourselves genuinely fits, we introduce it and disclose the relationship plainly.
We only list what we've used, and we don't quote other people's terms secondhand.
4 · Finance operations
Delivered through Striking Accounts: bookkeeping-to-advisory, systematised and AI-assisted, with a qualified finance function accountable for the output. Suited to small businesses, startups and independent professionals who want their numbers to be decision-grade rather than merely filed.
Finance and accounting advice is delivered inside a formal professional engagement, with its own scope and terms. Nothing on this website is financial, legal or professional advice.
5 · Education & knowledge products
The teaching that comes out of the work, published through AI the Brief — the honest version of what AI does and doesn't change for a business.
A structured governed-AI setup workshop and a longer-form book are in development. They'll be announced when they're ready and tested, not before. If you'd like to hear when: [email protected].
How an engagement runs
1 · A real conversation. What you're actually trying to do, and whether we're the right people. "Not a fit" is a perfectly good outcome and we'll say it early.
2 · Vet. Before we recommend a tool, a partner or an approach, we check it against your data policy, your risk position and your budget.
3 · Build, with disclosure. AI-assisted where that's genuinely better, human-decided where it matters, documented either way — so you can see exactly how the thing works.
4 · Verify, then hand over. Nothing ships on an unchecked model output. You get the workflow, the evaluation and the governance layer — meaning you can run it without us.
What we won't do
We won't recommend a tool we haven't used. We won't put your client data or personal data into an AI system. We won't publish an AI-assisted claim we haven't verified. We won't quote a partner's pricing or terms secondhand. And we won't take an engagement where the honest answer is that you don't need us.
Start a conversation
Email us
General enquiries → [email protected]
Partner enquiries → [email protected]
Know someone wrestling with this? Send them here — that's how most of our conversations start.
Nothing on this page is financial, legal or professional advice. Educational and informational content only.