Honest comparison
On Autopilot vs a transformation consultancy.
A McKinsey-style AI transformation engagement is $50,000–$500,000, six months, three partners on the call, and a maturity-model deck at the end. That's the right answer for a $500M enterprise. For an Australian SMB doing $1–$30M, it's an arms-length kill of the project before it ships. Here's when each is the correct fit.
When the consultancy is the right call
You are a $500M+ enterprise. You have a board-mandated AI strategy. You need org-wide change management, regulator-facing audit trails, multi-country deployment, and a partner-level signature on the final deck. The Big 4 / Big 3 are designed for exactly this scale of engagement and the cost reflects what you genuinely need.
When we're the right call
You are an Australian SMB doing $300k–$30M AUD/year revenue. You need shipped systems, not a roadmap. You want a fixed AUD price for a defined outcome. You want it live in 4 weeks. You want the people who built it to be available when you have a question, not a partner-tier escalation path. That is the entire reason this consultancy exists.
Side-by-side
The honest comparison.
| a transformation consultancy | On Autopilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical engagement size | $50,000–$500,000 AUD | $497–$40,000 AUD |
| Timeline to live system | 12–24 weeks | 5–28 days for productised, 4 weeks for custom |
| Deliverable format | Strategy deck, maturity model, roadmap, change-management framework | Working code, deployed agents, prompts, configs, handover docs |
| Team you talk to | Junior analysts day-to-day, partner once a fortnight | Jenn directly. Always. |
| Customisation | High — full bespoke | High — productised covers ~80%, bespoke fills the rest |
| Lock-in | Long contracts, optimised for follow-on engagements | Productised = one-off. Retainer = month-to-month. Code = yours. |
| When something breaks | New SOW. New timeline. | Included in the monthly retainer or fixed quote on call. |
| Best for | Enterprise + regulator-facing programs | SMBs that need to ship this quarter, not next year |
The honest verdict
If your AI program has a board paper attached to it, hire a Big 4. If your AI program has a payroll problem attached to it, hire us. The mismatch goes badly in both directions — a Big 4 retainer will bankrupt an SMB before they ship, and a productised AU SMB shop won't pass an enterprise procurement review. Match the shape of the buyer to the shape of the seller.
Real questions buyers ask
Before-you-decide questions.
What if I'm a mid-market business ($30M–$200M)?
You're between the two shops. Some of that work fits the consultancy shape (enterprise integration, compliance audits) and some fits ours (the actual agent builds, the productised packages). Most mid-market clients we work with run us alongside their existing consultancy for the build layer, not the strategy layer. Book the audit and we'll be honest about where the fit ends.
Why don't you offer a 16-week transformation engagement?
Because they don't ship. We've seen too many SMBs spend $80k on a transformation deck and have nothing to show 6 months later. The mode of work we'd be replicating — abstract roadmaps, junior analysts running discovery — is not where we add value. We add value by shipping working agents fast, and that requires being the people who build them, not the people who manage the people who build them.
Can you scale up if I become enterprise later?
We're not the right shop for $500M+ enterprise deployment. If you outgrow us, we'll happily refer you to a consultancy fit for the next phase and document the systems for handover. We'd rather be honest about where the fit ends than over-stretch and ship badly.
Still weighing it up? Take the 30-minute audit, decide after.
Jenn maps your business live on the call, names the three highest-ROI agents we'd build for you, quotes them fixed AUD on the spot. If a transformation consultancy is genuinely the better fit, she'll say so. No deck. No pitch theatre. No obligation.
Or email Jenn directly: jenn@onautopilot.com.au, reply within 1 business day, AEST.