Enterprise & Institutional

AI, Automation & Operating Model Design

A structured engagement for organisations that want to build lasting operational intelligence — not just automate individual tasks. Evidence-first. Build second. Everything handed to your teams.

3–6 months
Typical engagement horizon
£1,200–£1,500/day
Senior independent day rate
< 3 months
Typical ROI payback on first automation

Organisations are investing in AI before they understand what it should fix

Copilot licences bought, ChatGPT accounts opened, vendor demos attended. Capability is being acquired before anyone has mapped the processes it should improve — or quantified what those processes actually cost today.

Individual automations get built in isolation. They don't compound. There's no repeatable pattern, no shared intelligence layer, no way to apply what worked in one team to the next.

External consultants build things and leave. Knowledge sits in the consultant's head. The next project needs the same firm — or starts cold again with a different one.

Why most AI programmes stall

No baseline cost model Can't measure ROI
Point solutions Don't scale or compound
Vendor dependency Lock-in, not capability
Knowledge walks out Every project starts cold
The result Spend without return

Evidence first. Build second. Hand off completely.

This is not a technology implementation. It's an operational intelligence engagement — grounded in real cost data, designed around repeatable patterns, structured so your teams own every output from day one.

1

Never build without understanding the process

Every engagement starts with PLAYBOOK — a diagnostic that maps, costs, and friction-scores your operations before any automation is proposed. The evidence shapes the solution, not the other way around.

What this produces: A visual journey map of your process with every step costed at fully-loaded rates, and a ranked automation opportunity register.
2

Build once, apply everywhere

Automation patterns repeat across an organisation. A structured approval workflow built for billing can be configured — not rebuilt — for procurement, HR, and compliance. The first build funds everything that follows.

What this produces: Working n8n automations deployed inside your own infrastructure. No SaaS dependency, no ongoing licence.
3

Your teams own the outcome

Every output — workflows, SOPs, knowledge files, documentation — is handed to your process improvement teams at each cycle. The goal is capability transfer, not ongoing dependency on external resource.

What this produces: An Operations Manual — structured markdown files, one per process step. Human-readable, AI-consumable, version-controlled. Entirely yours.
4

ROI measured, not estimated

Because every step is costed before work begins, ROI is calculated against a real baseline — not generic benchmarks. The first automation's payback is typically measured in weeks, not quarters.

What this produces: A measurable return on investment from week one, tracked against the cost model built in Phase 1 before any build began.

Four phases — value from week one

Each phase has a defined scope, a day count agreed in advance, and a clear output. No ambiguity, no open-ended retainers, no scope creep without a conversation.

Phase 1 — Discover & Map · Weeks 1–2

Priority process selected with senior stakeholder. PLAYBOOK sessions run with process owners. Every step mapped, timed, and costed at fully-loaded rates. Friction scored. Automation register ranked by ROI and presented to leadership. Typically 5–8 days.

Phase 2 — Build & Deploy · Weeks 3–6

Highest-ROI automation designed, built in n8n, security-reviewed, and deployed inside your Azure / AWS / on-premise environment. SOPs and knowledge files created in parallel. ROI measured against the Phase 1 baseline within 2 weeks of go-live. Typically 8–12 days.

Phase 3 — Expand & Transfer · Weeks 6–10

Proven automation pattern applied to next process(es). Process improvement teams trained on each workflow. Knowledge base structured and handed over. Communities of practice established per vertical or region. Typically 5–8 days.

Phase 4 — Retain & Compound · Month 3+

Optional retained advisory. Monthly days for ongoing process review, new cycles, AI roadmap strategy, and escalation support. Fixed days per month, contracted quarterly. Not open-ended — retained because it's valuable, not because you're dependent.

Transparent pricing. Clear scope. No surprises.

Day rate engagement — not a consultancy firm with overhead, not a software vendor with a licence to protect. Each phase is scoped in days before it begins.

Discovery to Deployment

Full Phase 1–3 engagement — process mapped, automation built, teams trained.

£20,000–£40,000
Typical total · 15–25 days at day rate
  • PLAYBOOK diagnostic with cost model
  • Highest-ROI automation built and deployed
  • SOPs and Operations Manual delivered
  • Process improvement teams trained
  • ROI measured against real baseline
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Retained Advisory

Ongoing strategic support after Phase 3 — new cycles, AI roadmap, escalation.

£4,000–£6,000
Per month · contracted quarterly
  • Fixed retained days per month
  • New process cycles as operations mature
  • AI tooling and model strategy
  • Escalation support for complex challenges
  • Executive ROI reporting
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A realistic Phase 1–3 engagement typically costs £20,000–£40,000. The first automation's annual saving usually exceeds the full engagement cost — often within the first quarter of operation.

You own everything. The engagement ends. The capability stays.

What your organisation owns — permanently
No licences. No subscriptions. No dependency.

The goal of every engagement is its own obsolescence. Your teams shouldn't need us after Phase 3. Any ongoing relationship is by choice, not necessity.

Every output is structured so it can be maintained, extended, and applied by your own people — with no knowledge held exclusively by Workthru.

  • PLAYBOOK reports and cost models — every process map and automation register
  • n8n workflows — running in your own infrastructure, no external dependency
  • Operations Manual — structured markdown files, AI-consumable, version-controlled
  • Trained internal teams — capability that compounds after the engagement ends

PLAYBOOK methodology. The diagnostic framework is Workthru's IP — but every output it produces for your organisation is entirely yours.

Pattern knowledge. Accumulated understanding of what works across sectors and process types — applied to your context, never shared with competitors or referenced in other engagements.

Confidentiality. All engagement work is delivered under NDA. Nothing your organisation shares informs work with any other client.

This is not a SaaS product. There is no ongoing licence, no platform subscription, no data held externally. The relationship is advisory — and entirely optional to continue.

Three things make the difference between a project and a programme

The engagement model assumes a partnership. These are the conditions that make capability transfer real — not aspirational.

🎯

A senior internal champion

Not a sponsor who signs off and disappears — someone with operational authority who can clear blockers, validate the cost model with real finance data, and be present through Phase 1. CFO, COO, or Head of Operations level.

🔧

Infrastructure access

Workthru deploys inside your environment — not to an external SaaS platform. This requires a working relationship with your IT and InfoSec teams from week one. Azure, AWS, or on-premise. API access to source systems. Not week six — week one.

👥

Process improvement resource

Handoff only works if there's someone to hand off to. A named process improvement lead per vertical, 2–4 hours per week from process owners during Phase 1, and genuine appetite from leadership to build internal capability rather than retain external dependency.

Ready to find out what your operations really cost?

The engagement starts with a 60-minute discovery conversation — no preparation needed, no obligation. We identify your highest-value process and confirm whether the cost baseline is buildable before any commercial agreement is signed.