Buying Guide
AI project costs: implementation and ongoing support
Compare project scope, software costs, staff time and the work included in monthly support.
Match the fee to a complete piece of work
Implementation usually involves understanding the process, preparing information, configuring tools, connecting systems, testing and training. A price comparison needs to show what each fee delivers and what the client must do.
J2K’s indicative fees are NZ$3,500–5,000 for assessment, NZ$12,000–30,000 for implementation, from NZ$50,000 for a phased transformation programme, and NZ$1,500–3,000 per month for ongoing advisory. Prices are in NZD and exclude GST. The proposal specifies the scope and fee.
Details change the work involved. A consistent document format needs different testing from a collection of scans. Available system interfaces, user numbers and approval requirements also affect the effort.
Separate project fees from operating costs
Check the project fee against discovery, configuration and development, integrations, acceptance testing and handover. If existing information needs cleaning or reorganising, identify who will do it.
Subscriptions, model usage, hosting and maintenance continue after launch. Ask which workload the estimate assumes, such as documents per month, user numbers or processing requests. This helps identify costs that may change as the business grows.
Staff also need time to demonstrate the process, prepare information, test outputs and learn the workflow. Include that time in the budget and schedule. For livestock monitoring, list equipment, platform services, installation and field deployment separately.
Define the monthly support workload
An advisory agreement should state review frequency, support tasks, included work and contact arrangements. New features, additional integrations and larger process changes need their own scope and quotation.
The support a workflow needs depends on its use, how often it changes and what the internal team can maintain. Early operating records can help establish an appropriate level of support.
Agree the deliverables at each payment stage
Connect payments with work the client can inspect, such as the assessment report, a test version and the final handover. For each stage, identify the client’s participation and what happens after acceptance.
With a smaller budget, reduce the document types or system connections in the first release. Keep enough testing and training for that smaller scope to work in daily use.
