AI ROI ASSESSMENT

A clear read on where AI pays off in your business, and the ROI behind it.

A senior engineer works with your team for two to three weeks, audits the workflows in scope, and delivers a ranked opportunity map with build-vs-buy-vs-wait recommendations. A fixed fee, scoped on the intro call. You keep the plan whether you continue with us or not.

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WHAT YOU GET

A written plan, not a sales pitch.

The Assessment is a standalone product. You can complete the engagement and never work with Leanware again, and the deliverable keeps its value. You can hand it to any vendor or implement it internally. The plan is the artifact. Everything else is the work that produces it.

  1. Baseline audit

    A written inventory of the workflows in scope for this engagement, the volumes that run through them, the costs they carry, and the integration topology that ties them to the systems they touch. Scope is set on the intro call: either the specific workflow you named, or the three to five candidates the engineer surfaces in week one. The audit reflects how those workflows actually operate, not how they appear on the org chart. It is the input the rest of the engagement runs on.

  2. Opportunity map with ROI projections

    Three to five ranked AI opportunities, each with a ROI projection grounded in the volumes and costs surfaced in the baseline audit. Ranking reflects both the size of the opportunity and the realism of building it today. Each opportunity carries the assumptions behind its projection so you can pressure-test them with your team.

  3. AI implementation roadmap

    A sequenced implementation plan, with a build-vs-buy-vs-wait recommendation per opportunity. Where the recommendation is to build, the roadmap includes a recommended engagement scope. Where the recommendation is to buy a platform or to wait for platform-native AI to mature, the roadmap says so. The plan is honest about what does not need to be built.

HOW IT WORKS

Two to three calendar weeks, one senior engineer, named stakeholders.

The engagement starts after the intro call and the signed agreement. A senior engineer works remotely with your team for two to three weeks. They interview the stakeholders you nominate, walk the systems your team operates, and inventory what runs where. The deliverable lands at the end of the engagement.

We lead with engineering, and that is not just a tagline. The engineer running your Assessment can judge what a workflow actually needs, what AI can realistically do for it today, what the off-the-shelf alternatives are, and how the build-vs-buy-vs-wait call plays out for your specific business. The recommendations hold up because the person making them could also build what they are recommending.

Two starting points, same deliverable

People come to the Assessment in one of two situations. The intro call confirms which one fits, and the engineer adjusts the discovery accordingly. The deliverable shape (baseline audit, opportunity map, implementation roadmap) is the same in both cases.

  • A specific workflow is on fire

    You came in with a problem named. Invoice processing is overwhelming AP. MGA submissions are bottlenecking the underwriters. The 3PL onboarding flow is consuming senior staff time. The engineer starts with the workflow you named, scopes it in depth, and surfaces adjacent opportunities along the way. The deliverable typically ends with one or two opportunities mapped in deeper detail, plus the rest of the ranked list.

  • The board wants an AI strategy and you don't have one yet

    You came in without a specific workflow named. The CEO mentions AI on every call. The board is asking for a plan. Vendors are pitching you weekly. You want a credible outside perspective on what your company should actually be doing with AI. The engineer maps three to five opportunities at roughly equal depth across the business, ranked, with ROI projections and recommendations attached. The deliverable is the document you walk into the board meeting with.

PRICING

50% credit toward a build, if you proceed within 30 days.

PRICING

One fixed fee.

Agreed up front, billed at signing

The Assessment is a fixed fee, agreed and billed at signing, with no hourly meter running. Two to three weeks of engagement. The intro call is where we scope your specific work and set the fee.

CREDIT MECHANIC

50% credit on a build, within 30 days.

If you proceed with a Managed Custom AI Agents build within 30 days of Assessment delivery, 50% of the Assessment fee is credited toward the Agents setup fee. Proceed, and you effectively pay half the Assessment fee net. Decide not to, and you keep the deliverable at full value. The credit does not apply to AI Product Engineering, which scopes its build in a separate Sprint 0, or to Dedicated AI Engineering Teams, which has no upfront scoping step.

IS THIS YOU

Four situations we hear most weeks.

These are the situations we see most often from the people this engagement is built for. If one of them describes your week, the Assessment is sized for you. If none of them does, the intro call will tell us both.

  • You outgrew Lindy, Gumloop, or Zapier Agents

    You tried a platform. It got you most of the way and then it stopped. The workflow you're trying to automate has the kind of integration logic or edge-case handling the platform cannot do. You're ready to pay for someone who can take ownership of the problem instead of forcing the workflow to fit the tool. The Assessment maps the workflow, scopes the build that the platform was approximating, and ranks it against the other AI opportunities sitting in the business.

  • You run a mid-market business with four-plus systems of record

    ERP, CRM, AMS, WMS, a couple of point tools. The integration work is hard. You don't want to manage the engineering. You've been burned by IT vendors who overpromised on integrations. The Assessment audits how the systems actually talk to each other today, ranks the workflows where AI can make the biggest dent, and tells you which integrations are realistic to build in the next 90 days.

  • The board asked for an AI strategy and you don't have one yet

    The CEO mentions AI on every call. The board wants a plan. You've been pitched by AI vendors for two months and you can't tell which pitches are real. The Assessment walks through your actual business and tells you what's worth doing with AI right now, what to wait on, and what to ignore. You walk into the next board meeting with a written plan and the numbers behind it.

  • You're evaluating a vendor pitch and want a second opinion

    A specific vendor (or several) is pitching you on a six-figure commitment. You want an independent perspective before you sign. The Assessment models the cost and risk of the proposed build against the realistic alternatives, including platform options and a custom build with a different vendor. You leave the engagement with a defensible read on whether to sign, renegotiate, or walk.

HOW THIS IS DIFFERENT

Not a 45-minute call. Not a templated PDF. Not eight weeks of Big Four scoping.

Most AI assessments in this space are one of three things. A free 45-minute call from a boutique AI agency whose real intent is to qualify into a build. A templated questionnaire producing a generic readiness report. An 8-to-12-week scoping engagement from a Big Four firm priced at $250,000 and up. The Assessment is none of those.

Comparison AI ROI Assessment Big Four AI consulting Free AI audit Generic AI consultant
Price Fixed fee, scoped on the call $250,000-plus Free $5,000 to $50,000, hourly
Timeline 2 to 3 calendar weeks 8 to 12 weeks 45 minutes Variable
Who delivers A senior engineer Partner ladder, associates do the work Sales-led discovery rep Strategy consultant, no build credibility
Deliverable Written plan, three artifacts, you keep it Slide deck, hand-off to implementation partner Generic readiness PDF 20-page deck with frameworks
Build-vs-buy-vs-wait recommendations Yes, grounded in technical reality Sometimes, by partner relationship No Recommendation is whatever the consultant resells
You can stop after the engagement Yes, the plan retains value Tied to continuing engagement No engagement to stop Often retainer-attached

Two things make this engagement different in kind. The engineer running the Assessment can also build the things being recommended, so the build-vs-buy-vs-wait recommendations are grounded in technical reality. And the deliverable is independently useful: you can complete the engagement, hand the plan to any vendor or to an internal team, and never work with Leanware again. The plan keeps its value either way.

CLIENT VOICE

From the people we've worked with.

Leanware is transparent, and they're very honest with the work that they do.

CM

Christopher Massood

Co-Founder & CEO, ElephantCPA

I presented this to my clinic and the response was strong. Leanware did excellent work, and we're going to use feedback from real evaluations to keep refining the AI agent — improving grading accuracy organically as it sees more cases.

EM

Evan Menke

University of Colorado

See all client reviews

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions we hear before the work starts.

Most of these come up before the engagement starts. The answers below match what actually happens.

  • What does the AI ROI Assessment cost?
    It is a fixed fee, agreed up front and billed at signing, with no hourly meter. Where your engagement lands is set on the intro call, based on company size, organizational complexity, and the scope of the opportunity-mapping work. If you proceed with a Managed Custom AI Agents build within 30 days of Assessment delivery, 50% of the Assessment fee is credited toward the Agents setup fee.
  • How long does it take?
    Two to three weeks of engagement, starting after the contract is countersigned. The exact length is set on the intro call based on scope. The deliverable lands at the end of the engagement.
  • What do I get at the end?
    Three artifacts. A baseline audit of your current workflows, volumes, costs, and integrations. An opportunity map with three to five ranked AI opportunities and a ROI projection for each. An implementation roadmap with a build-vs-buy-vs-wait recommendation per opportunity. All three are written, delivered together, and yours to keep.
  • What if you don't recommend a build at the end?
    That happens sometimes and it is the Assessment doing its job. If the finding is that a SaaS platform is the right answer, the deliverable says so. If the finding is that you should wait six months for platform-native AI to catch up, the deliverable says so. If the finding is that you should hire an internal AI lead instead of engaging Leanware, the deliverable says so. You keep the plan in every case.
  • Who actually delivers the engagement?
    One senior engineer, working remotely with your team for the two to three weeks the engagement runs. The engineer interviews the stakeholders you nominate, walks the systems your team operates, and writes the deliverables. There is no offshore handoff, no partner ladder, and no account manager layer between you and the person doing the work.
  • How is this different from a Big Four AI strategy engagement?
    A Big Four engagement is typically 8 to 12 weeks of preliminary scoping, priced at $250,000 and up, with associates running the day-to-day and partners present at the framing and the readout. The Assessment is two to three weeks, fixed-fee, with the senior engineer running both the discovery and the writing. The deliverable shape is comparable; the Assessment is built for mid-market and SMB firms that choke on the Big Four price and timeline.
  • How is this different from a free AI assessment?
    Most free AI assessments in this space are 45-minute calls or templated questionnaires whose real purpose is to funnel you toward a build. The work is sales-led discovery dressed as audit. The Assessment is engineering-led, two calendar weeks of work, and produces a written deliverable independent of any follow-on commitment. You pay for the engineering, not for a sales pitch.
  • Do you give a discount if I proceed with a build?
    50% of the Assessment fee is credited toward the setup fee of a Managed Custom AI Agents build, if the build engagement starts within 30 days of Assessment delivery. The credit does not apply to AI Product Engineering, which scopes its build in a separate Sprint 0, or to Dedicated AI Engineering Teams, which has no upfront scoping step. If you don't proceed, you keep the Assessment deliverable at full price.
  • Do I qualify? What does the call check for?
    The 30-minute intro call covers four things. What prompted you to look at AI work right now (a real business trigger or general curiosity). Who would approve this engagement and sponsor whatever comes out of it. The scope of the work (volumes, systems, stakeholders for the first situation; coverage and interviewees for the second). Whether you've tried something before and what happened. The call is also where we scope your specific work and agree the fee. If it surfaces that the Assessment is not the right next step, we say so and point you in a better direction.
  • What sizes of company is this built for?
    US-based mid-market and SMB companies. Pre-revenue companies are out of segment, and so are large enterprises whose procurement and sponsor structure the engagement is not built for. Industry-agnostic at the segment level. Vertical concentration shows up in our delivery experience but not in qualification.
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READY TO TALK

Talk to someone who gets your business. And can build the solution.

We work to understand your situation, tell you honestly whether we are a good fit, and propose a concrete next step. If it is not a fit for us, we say so directly.

Tell us about your situation. Someone who understands the business and the engineering will review it, tell you honestly whether we are a good fit, and propose a concrete next step. If it is not a fit for us, we say so directly.

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