How We Work With You | AI Engagements | OpenKit

This is how we
work with you.

Most engagements start with an audit and continue with a senior engineer embedded on your team. We keep the same person across both, so nothing gets handed off and re-explained.

Book a discovery call AI Audit details

OpenKit is a UK AI consultancy that runs an AI audit, then keeps a senior engineer embedded on a monthly retainer to ship workflows, handle model upgrades, and govern access. OpenKit also builds bespoke software, such as retrieval over proprietary data and regulated-industry tools, when an audit shows a custom build is worth doing. OpenKit holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and Cyber Essentials certifications, is GDPR compliant, and works across the United Kingdom from a base in Cambridge.

Getting Claude running takes an afternoon. Keeping it safe is the job.

Anyone can open Claude or ChatGPT and get a useful answer the same day. We are hired for the part that comes after, when it touches your data and has to keep working.

The worry is rarely the model. It is what happens when AI connects to company data with no documentation, no owner, and no way to prove what it did. We are developers who have built and maintained those guardrails before.

  • Access scoped to roles & logged for audit
  • Model upgrades handled without breaking workflows
  • Data kept inside your boundary, never leaked to train a vendor
EASY · DAY ONE THE JOB · ONGOING Open a model prompt · reply SECURED BOUNDARY Company data docs · records · email Role-based access Maintained & upgraded Audit log of every call ISO 27001 · GDPR the gap we close
setup vs. maintained boundary

One relationship, not three stages.

The audit gives you a roadmap and working AI in a few weeks. From there a senior engineer stays embedded on a monthly retainer, and that continuity is the point. When the roadmap calls for something custom, we branch off and build it.

engagement → time ↓ · continuous keeps going, month to month 01 USUAL FRONT DOOR · 2–4 WEEKS · FIXED SCOPE The audit Discovery, then workflows configured on your stack, then your team trained on them. discovery configure train DELIVERABLE strategy roadmap → what to start today 02 ONGOING MOTION · MONTHLY RETAINER The embedded AI lead A senior OpenKit engineer on your team week to week. The same person who ran your audit. ships new workflows · reviews internal AI work model upgrades · governance · onboarding BRANCH · LESS COMMON · SCOPED AFTER AUDIT Bespoke builds custom systems for when configured workflows are not enough, built properly THE SPINE · CONTINUOUS RELATIONSHIP
audit → embedded lead · bespoke branches off

What actually happens, start to ongoing.

Below is a single engagement walked end to end. We keep the same engineer across all of it, so context carries forward instead of being rebuilt at every handoff.

first · two to four weeks

The audit

The usual front door. We find where AI fits, configure it on your existing stack, and train the people who will use it.

a

Discovery

We sit with the teams doing the work, map the processes, and find the handful of places AI earns its keep.

b

Configure on your stack

We build the chosen workflows in the tools you already pay for, so nothing new has to be bought or learned from scratch.

c

Train the team

We teach the people who will use it day to day, recorded and role-calibrated, so the workflows outlast the engagement.

you walk away with

A strategy roadmap

Your top opportunities, what to start in Claude today, and where a bespoke build is actually worth doing. Fixed scope, finished deliverable.

then · monthly retainer

The embedded AI lead

Where most clients spend their time with us. A senior engineer stays on the team and keeps the work moving, with no account-manager layer in between.

a week in the retainer

  • shipsNew workflows built and put in front of the people who asked for them
  • reviewsChecks the AI work your own team has been doing, before it spreads
  • maintainsHandles model upgrades so a vendor change does not break what works
  • governsKeeps access scoped, logged, and inside your compliance boundary
  • onboardsBrings new staff up to the workflows as the team changes
  • reviewsA quarterly look at progress against the roadmap from the audit

It is the same engineer who ran your audit, by default. Nothing gets re-explained to a new face, and no one bills you for the explaining.

↳ when you need it built

Bespoke builds

Less common, and always scoped after the audit shows the build is worth doing. When configured workflows are not enough, we build the system properly.

Retrieval over your data

Search and answers grounded in your own documents and records, with citations back to the source.

Regulated-industry tools

Internal systems with audit logging built in, designed to help meet the obligations your sector carries.

Internal platforms

Role-based access and a clean surface for the workflows the audit proved are worth owning outright.

We are developers first, so when something needs building we do it well. It is a branch off the relationship, never the headline.

Questions worth asking first.

If yours is not here, ask it on a discovery call and we will answer it straight.

Do we have to start with the audit?

Almost always, yes. The audit is how we find where AI actually fits and prove a build is worth doing before anyone commits to one. It is a finished deliverable on its own, and some clients stop there with workflows running and their team trained.

Is the embedded lead a real engineer or an account manager?

A senior OpenKit engineer, and by default the same one who ran your audit. There is no account-manager layer relaying messages, so context carries straight through from the audit into the ongoing work.

What if the model we use gets retired or replaced?

That is part of what the retainer covers. We handle model upgrades and vendor changes so a swap behind the scenes does not break the workflows your team relies on.

Will our company data be safe and stay ours?

Yes. We scope access to roles, log activity for audit, and keep data inside your boundary rather than letting it leak out to train a vendor. OpenKit holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and Cyber Essentials and is GDPR compliant.

Start with the audit. Decide the rest later.

A discovery call is the fastest way to see where AI fits in your business and what we would do first. No slide deck, no commitment past the audit.

Book a discovery call AI Audit details
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OpenKit

Rethinking What's Possible with AI.

Offices

Cambridge Guildhall, Market Square, Cambridge CB2 3QJ

Portland House, Belmont Business Park, Durham DH1 1TW

[email protected]
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