Guide
Free AI assessments: what you actually get
If you run a small firm, somebody has probably offered you a free AI readiness assessment. Your managed IT provider, a software vendor, a chamber of commerce, or a consultant hoping it turns into a project.
Take the free one first. We sell a paid audit and we still mean that. Just know what these usually cover, because most of them answer a different question from the one you probably have.
Most free assessments answer "is it safe to switch on"
The common version, particularly from a firm that already manages your computers, is a review of your file permissions and sharing settings. Who can see what, which documents are shared more widely than anyone intended, which accounts belong to people who left.
That work is genuinely worth doing. If you're about to point an assistant at everything your staff can access, you want to know what that is first. It's a real service, and free is a good price for it.
But look at what it doesn't tell you. It doesn't tell you which features you already pay for and have never used. It doesn't tell you what sits one plan tier above you or what that costs. It doesn't tell you which of your workflows would actually change, or which are fine as they are. It scores your readiness. It doesn't tell you what to do.
The other kinds, and what each is good for
- The vendor questionnaire. A short questionnaire on a web page, then a score and a report. Genuinely free and mildly useful as a prompt for conversation. It's a lead form, and everyone involved knows it.
- Your software vendor's own advice. Accurate about their products, useless about anyone else's, and it will never conclude that you should switch something off. Worth having and worth discounting accordingly.
- Government and chamber programs. Real, free, and usually training rather than diagnosis. If what you need is to understand the landscape, start here and pay nobody.
- The free consultation from a consultant. An hour on the phone, which is a sales call and a useful one. You'll learn something. You won't get a document.
A test for any of them, including ours
Ask one question before you agree to anything:
"Can the outcome of this be that I should spend nothing?"
If it can't, you're in a sales process rather than an assessment. That isn't dishonest, but it changes what the answer is worth.
The second question is who pays. A free assessment from a firm that bills you monthly is paid for out of the relationship. Their answer isn't necessarily wrong, and they know your systems better than an outsider does. Just remember that neutral isn't the same as free.
What we do differently
What you get is a report that names specific things: the products you already pay for and don't use, the settings to change, and what the plan one step up would cost you. It also says what's worth buying, with prices, where a small build is justified, and what to leave alone. It's one fixed-price audit ($7,500): a working session, a follow-up session, the written report and a final review session.
We never ask for client files. We also offer optional monthly help putting the recommendations in place, which is exactly why every recommendation has to survive you asking whether we'd say it if somebody else were paid to do it.
If your IT provider is offering you a free assessment, take it. If it turns out to be a permissions review with an AI label on it, you'll know what question is still unanswered.
Still want the paid one?
Thirty minutes on a call first, no charge, and you'll know by the end whether an audit would tell you anything you don't already know.