ai consulting cost
What a Real AI Consulting Engagement Costs
The three ways AI consulting is priced, the four things that actually move the number, and how to judge cost against the real alternative: a pilot that dies in month six.
AI strategy
durable AI index
What Is the Durable AI Index?
The Durable AI Index is 10dem's diagnostic for scoring AI use cases on Impact, Feasibility, and Stickiness. Here is what each axis means and why Stickiness decides which pilots survive.
AI strategy
AI Consultant vs In-House Hire: Which Is Right for You?
An AI consultant, a fractional team, or a full-time hire each fit a different moment. Here is how to choose on speed, cost, seniority, breadth, and risk.
Applied AI
What Is Applied AI? A Practical Definition for Operators
Applied AI is using AI to change how real work gets done and move a business outcome, not shipping a model or chasing generative hype.
build vs buy
Build vs Buy AI: a Decision Framework for Mid-Market Teams
Buy the common majority that proven tools already cover. Build only for the specific, high-frequency decision that moves your P&L. Here is how to tell them apart.
AI strategy
How to Prioritize AI Use Cases (the Durable AI Index)
Most teams rank AI use cases on impact alone and wonder why the winners die in month six. The Durable AI Index adds the variable everyone skips: Stickiness.
AI adoption
Why AI Pilots Fail (And How Mid-Market Teams Make Them Stick)
Most AI pilots do not fail because the model was wrong. They fail because the workflow was never redesigned and the team was never brought along. Here is the pattern, and how to break it.
AI readiness
AI Readiness Assessment: A Practical Guide (and Checklist)
Most AI projects fail because teams skip readiness. Here is the four-dimension assessment (data, workflow, talent, adoption) and a checklist you can self-run today.
AI strategy
Alex Karp is half right: most AI spend creates no value. Here is why.
Palantir's Alex Karp says businesses are paying for tokens that create no value. He is right about the problem and wrong about the cause. What mid-market operators should actually take from the meltdown.
agentic AI
Gartner says 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled. Here is what the survivors do differently.
Gartner expects 40%+ of agentic AI projects to be cancelled and only 23% of teams see real ROI. The agents are not the problem. Here is what the survivors do differently.
Perspective
Tokenmaxxing is out. Valuemaxxing is the metric that matters.
Measuring AI by how much you use it was always going to end in a cost reckoning. The fix isn't using less, it's measuring value, and moving your advantage off the model and onto the system around it.
Frameworks
Where AI pays off first: an impact-vs-effort map for consumer-tech teams
Forty AI ideas, four people, one quarter. The teams that win sequence better, here's the impact-vs-effort map (and scoring rubric) we use to decide what to build first.