Most $2M AI strategy engagements end with a brilliant deck and no working software. Xamun closes the gap. Half-day Discovery. 21-day build. Business outcome measured at 60 days. One vendor accountable for the result.
Strategy firms produce decks. The deck is good. The slides are sharp. The roadmap is logical. But the firm that wrote it doesn't build software. So the deck gets handed to a different vendor — an IT services firm at $200/hour — to translate the strategy into systems.
By the time the systems are scoped, the market has moved. By the time they're built, the strategy is stale. By the time anyone measures whether the outcome landed, the consultants are gone and the engineers are on a different project. Strategy and execution were never connected. They were stapled.
The result: $2M spent on strategy, more spent on build, and a transformation programme that meets none of the original objectives.
Strategy and execution under one accountable system, on a mid-market timeline.
Half-day session. XI has already pre-read the business. Walk out with an Opportunity Map, Found Budget, and Transformation Roadmap. The metric is named.
Software Factory ships the first AI system in ~21 days under the peer-reviewed xDD methodology. Quality-gated. Code owned by the client from Day 1.
Adoption tracked. Business metric monitored. Outcome reported against plan. Next cycle's intelligence already accumulating.
Side-by-side: traditional AI strategy consulting versus the Xamun closed loop.
| Dimension | Traditional AI strategy | Xamun closed loop |
|---|---|---|
| Time to diagnostic complete | 3–6 months | Half a day |
| Cost of diagnostic | $500K–$2M+ | A small fraction of that |
| Output | Strategic deck, roadmap | Opportunity Map + Found Budget + Working software in 21 days |
| Vendor handles build | No — handed to a separate firm | Yes — same vendor, no handoff |
| Continuous intelligence post-engagement | No — engagement ends | Yes — XI runs 24/7 |
| Outcome accountability | Customer's responsibility | Provider's responsibility |
See the full comparison vs Management Consulting, Enterprise AI Platforms, IT Services →
The structural failure between AI strategy work (a deck) and AI software delivery (a system). Strategy firms produce decks; engineering firms build what the deck specifies; neither owns the outcome. Most AI Transformation initiatives die in this gap.
One closed loop. XI runs the diagnostic in half a day. The Software Factory ships the system in 21 days. Outcome governance tracks the business metric continuously. One vendor, one accountable system, no handoff.
McKinsey: 3-6 months, $500K-$2M, output is a strategic deck. Xamun Discovery: half a day, output is an Opportunity Map plus Found Budget plus Transformation Roadmap — and the team that diagnosed it also builds the software.
For mid-market AI Transformation, yes. Xamun delivers comparable strategic intelligence (continuously, via XI), the actual software (via the Factory), and outcome governance (via the Dashboard) at mid-market price points. Big-firm consulting remains relevant for enterprise-scale organisational design.
Most corporate strategies don't fail at the boardroom. They die in the long, quiet stretch between approval and execution.
What does $2M in consulting actually buy? A strategy deck. Here's what a fraction of that buys: working software and continuous intelligence.
A week-by-week plan to go from AI assessment to deployed, outcome-tracked software in 90 days. No $2M consulting engagement required.
No upfront CAPEX — we invest the build ourselves. Once it’s live, you pay a small toll per application, delivery or booking the system processes: a small fraction of the value each one creates. A slow month means a small invoice; if it doesn’t run, you don’t pay.
We’re not a vendor shipping software into your operation. For the operation we run, we’re part of your company — in your numbers every week, paid only as they move. Where counts like these aren’t the honest measure, we price it as a fixed project instead; the accountability doesn’t change, only how you pay.
Half a day to a diagnosed opportunity. Three weeks to working software. Sixty days to a measured outcome. No upfront cost — you pay only when the system runs.