AI Consulting for Irish SMEs
Independent AI readiness assessments and strategy consulting for established Irish businesses
Deep Purple is an AI consultancy based in Ireland. We provide AI consulting and readiness assessments for established Irish businesses. We work on-site with your team to map workflows, assess data, and identify where artificial intelligence can deliver measurable results. The outcome is a prioritised roadmap with estimated ROI for each opportunity, built before you commit to anything.
We help you understand where AI can make a practical difference in your operations, what it would cost to implement, and whether it is worth pursuing. In practice, this is an AI readiness assessment focused on your workflows, your data, and the commercial impact of getting it right.
This is not a sales pitch disguised as consulting. It is an independent assessment with one goal: to find reasons not to build as much as reasons to proceed. If the ROI is not there, we tell you before you spend a penny on development.
What This Service Covers
Our AI consulting work typically begins with an AI readiness assessment. From there, we help clients define an AI strategy and roadmap, prioritise use cases, and decide whether the next step is a custom build, workflow automation, an existing platform, or no action at all. For businesses ready to move, we support AI implementation planning and ongoing advisory.
If you already know you have a data challenge, our data analytics service may be a more direct starting point.
What AI Consulting Looks Like
Our consulting scales to your business. A typical Discovery runs 4–10 weeks depending on the scope, but your team's involvement is light. We combine short onsite visits with offsite analysis, online check-ins, and follow-up sessions. The methodology is the same whether we're assessing one process or multiple departments. Only the depth changes:
Visit your business and observe how your team actually works day to day
Interview stakeholders across departments to understand pain points and bottlenecks
Map your workflows and identify where time is being spent on repetitive, pattern-based tasks
Assess your data landscape : what systems you use, what data you have, and how clean it is
Co-author a prioritised roadmap with your team through structured workshops. Each use case includes estimated ROI, feasibility, implementation cost, and funding pathway
The deliverable is a comprehensive AI Opportunity Assessment and Implementation Roadmap. Not a slide deck. Not a vague strategy document. A specific, actionable plan with numbers attached.
We do not disappear for eight weeks and return with a generic deck. You are involved at every stage, from the initial workshops through to the final prioritisation. The roadmap is co-authored with your team, not delivered to them.
Discovery is not a generic innovation workshop. It is a structured assessment tied to real operational workflows and ROI.
The roadmap does not assume a custom software build. Depending on what we find, the right next step might be a custom AI system, workflow automation using tools like Zapier or Make, configuration of an existing platform, a hybrid approach, or a recommendation to improve your data and processes before investing in technology. We recommend what actually works, not what generates the largest project. The assessment identifies opportunities for AI, automation, and process improvement. Then it helps you decide what to act on first.
What You Get at the End of Discovery
- Prioritised AI and automation opportunities, each with estimated ROI and feasibility
- A clear recommendation for each opportunity: build, buy, automate, or wait
- Budget estimates and implementation timelines
- A data readiness assessment: what you have, what is usable, and what needs work
- A risk profile highlighting gaps and dependencies
- A written report or presentation tailored to your leadership team
The assessment stands alone. There is no obligation to proceed to implementation.
What Happens After Discovery?
That depends on what the assessment finds. Some clients proceed to a custom AI software build. Others need computer vision for field operations or manufacturing. Others focus on workflow automation. Others decide to fix their data first. The roadmap gives you clear next steps regardless of which direction you choose.
Already know you have a data challenge? If you're sitting on production data, quality records, or operational logs and want to know what they can predict, our Data Analytics service may be the right starting point. No consulting assessment required.
What This Is Not
This is not a product demo. It is not a sales process for a pre-built tool. It is not a generic digital transformation strategy pulled from a template. And it is not a tick-box exercise to justify a grant application.
It is a structured assessment of your specific operations, your specific data, and the specific opportunities AI creates for your business. If the honest answer is "not yet" or "not AI", the roadmap will say so.
Is AI Consulting Right for Your Business?
AI consulting works best for businesses where:
- You know AI is important but need clarity on where it applies to your specific business
- Revenue is tied to headcount and you need to grow capacity without growing the team at the same rate
- Your team spends significant time on repetitive processes: documentation, compliance, quoting, data entry, coordination
- You have data in spreadsheets, ERP, or operational systems that is not helping you make better decisions
- You have tried some AI tools or automation but need a structured strategy to do it properly
- You want an independent assessment of your options (build, buy, automate, or wait) before committing budget
If you are looking for an AI consultancy in Ireland that starts with your business rather than a technology pitch, this is how we work. For an overview of everything we offer, see our services page.
We work with manufacturing businesses, food producers, engineering firms, construction companies, and professional services across Ireland. You do not need to be a technology company to benefit. In fact, businesses that are not technology companies often see the biggest gains.
What It Costs
AI consulting engagements in Ireland typically range from €3,000 to €15,000 depending on the size of your business, the number of sites or departments involved, and the depth of technical feasibility work required. A focused Discovery workshop for a single-site SME starts at the lower end of that range. Comprehensive multi-department assessments cost more.
We scope every engagement individually. A 20-minute conversation is enough to understand the right scope and cost for your business.
Every engagement is available immediately, with no dependencies on grant applications or approval timelines. Many of our clients self-fund because they want to start sooner.
We also offer retained advisory support for businesses that want ongoing AI and automation guidance after Discovery or implementation, from quarterly reviews to hands-on technical steering. This is available as a standalone engagement or as a continuation of any consulting project.
Grant Funding
For eligible Irish businesses, government grants can significantly reduce the cost of AI consulting in Ireland. We help with applications and handle the technical documentation.
| Programme | Covers | Your Investment |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Ireland Digital Discovery | 80% of a €5,000 engagement | €1,250 |
| LEO Digital for Business | 50% of consulting costs | Typically €2,500 |
| EI Digital Process Innovation | Up to 50% of implementation costs (if you proceed to a build) | 50% of project cost |
Read our Grant Guides for full details and eligibility criteria.
Grant availability is subject to current programme criteria. We confirm the best route for your business during an initial conversation.
Case Study: AI Consulting in Action
An established engineering design consultancy with over 100 employees needed to understand where AI could unlock capacity. We delivered a comprehensive AI readiness assessment that identified five specific AI use cases, with the largest projected to free 6–8 hours per engineer per week.
Every Discovery is led by Brian Egan, with over 26 years in software and AI, supported by our senior technical team.
Other consulting engagements have resulted in quoting automation that cut estimation time from 3 hours to 15 minutes, document processing workflows, quality prediction models, compliance systems, and in some cases a recommendation to fix data processes before investing in AI.
Read the full case studyFrequently Asked Questions
Start With a Conversation
A 20-minute call is enough to understand whether a Discovery engagement makes sense for your business.
Want to understand the process first? See how we work →
About Brian Egan
Founder & CEO, Deep Purple AI Consulting
Brian Egan is the Founder and CEO of Deep Purple AI Consulting. With over 26 years in software and AI, from studying neural networks at Dublin City University, to building intelligent mobile systems for Vodafone, Nokia and Hutchison 3G, to founding five technology companies that delivered machine learning, computer vision and predictive AI solutions to real businesses, Brian has been building with AI technologies at every stage of their evolution.
His interest in artificial intelligence began at DCU, where he studied neural networks and pattern recognition as part of his BSc in Computer Applications. As a Marie Curie Research Fellow in Germany, he worked on EU Framework projects developing intelligent systems for integrating emerging mobile technologies with enterprise software. At Cibenix (2003 to 2011), he spent eight years designing on-device software for Vodafone, Nokia, Hutchison 3G, Sony Ericsson and other global operators, work that increasingly involved content personalisation, user behaviour analysis and adaptive delivery logic.
In 2012, Brian founded Purpledecks, a software consultancy that incorporated machine learning, computer vision, data classification, predictive features and recommendation engines into client projects years before the current generative AI wave. From Purpledecks came Hype4 (UX research including AI-powered biometric identification for government programmes), Mapall (fibre optic network intelligence with spatial analytics and route optimisation) and Reactable AI (one of Ireland's earliest production deployments of autonomous AI agents).
A former Marie Curie Research Fellow with five companies founded and three still operating, Brian leads Deep Purple's work with established businesses across Ireland, the UK and internationally, helping them identify where AI delivers genuine commercial value and guiding them from first assessment through to working system.
Deep Purple AI Consulting (deeppurple.ai) is an AI consultancy and custom software development company based in Longford, serving businesses across Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, and worldwide. We help established businesses identify where AI can make a real difference, then build the systems to make it happen. Senior-only delivery. Grant-funded where possible. No hype.
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