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Samlution

How we work

Clear scope, human oversight, measurable outcomes.

Buying services should not feel like a gamble. Every engagement has a written scope, a payment schedule and an exit point where you decide whether to continue.
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Engagement
Fixed scope
Payment
50 / 30 / 20
Approval
Human
Handover
Documented

The engagement loop

Discover → Design → Build → Improve, then again

  1. Discover: Understand the process before proposing a tool. You receive: A written problem statement and a shortlist of options, including the option of doing nothing.
  2. Design: Choose the smallest system that solves the problem. You receive: A signed scope with deliverables, exclusions and a fixed payment schedule.
  3. Build: Ship in visible increments, with your team involved. You receive: A working system in your accounts, with documentation and a handover session.
  4. Improve: Measure the outcome, then decide what is next. You receive: An outcome report and a decision on whether to move to a managed service.
Each stage has a written output, and the loop closes back into Discover. That is how a second delivery costs less than the first — the evidence from Improve shapes the next scope.

The process

Four stages, same shape every time.

The size of the engagement changes. The sequence does not, because skipping discovery is how projects end up building the wrong thing.
01

Discover

Understand the process before proposing a tool.

We start with how the work is done today: the steps, the handoffs, the exceptions and the places where time disappears. No platform decision is made in this stage.

  • Stakeholder interviews with the people doing the work
  • Current-state process map with owners and handoffs
  • Baseline measurement on the metric we intend to move

You receive

A written problem statement and a shortlist of options, including the option of doing nothing.

02

Design

Choose the smallest system that solves the problem.

We map the data, permissions and approval points before interface work. If an off-the-shelf tool fits, we say so — a custom build has to earn its place.

  • Solution options with cost, risk and trade-offs
  • Data model, access rules and approval gates
  • Scope, acceptance criteria and milestone plan

You receive

A signed scope with deliverables, exclusions and a fixed payment schedule.

03

Build

Ship in visible increments, with your team involved.

Work happens in short milestones. You see the system before it is finished, and anything that requires a decision gets raised while it is still cheap to change.

  • Implementation in milestones with review points
  • Testing against the acceptance criteria, not just a demo
  • Permissions, logging and error handling from the start

You receive

A working system in your accounts, with documentation and a handover session.

04

Improve

Measure the outcome, then decide what is next.

After launch we compare against the baseline, fix defects, and agree what should be optimised. Expansion only happens when the first step produced evidence.

  • Outcome report against the original baseline
  • Defect resolution and small adjustments
  • A written recommendation: optimise, expand, or stop

You receive

An outcome report and a decision on whether to move to a managed service.

Engagement types

Four ways to start, with a fixed endpoint.

1 session

Paid discovery

A structured session and short written recommendation. Credited against the project if we proceed.

2–8 weeks

Fixed-scope project

Website and CRM, knowledge assistant or custom platform. Milestones and acceptance criteria agreed upfront.

2–4 weeks

AI workflow pilot

One workflow, measured against a baseline, with an approval queue before external actions.

Monthly · 3-month minimum

Managed operations

Monitoring, adjustments and support for what we delivered. Monthly, with stated usage allowances.

Commercial terms

What the paperwork says, in short.

These are the standard terms. Anything that differs is written in the proposal, not agreed verbally.
Discovery
Paid discovery session, credited against the project fee if we proceed.
Project payment
50% upfront, 30% at milestone, 20% on acceptance.
Pilot scope
Fixed scope and written acceptance criteria before work starts.
Monthly service
Billed monthly in advance, with usage allowances stated separately.
Minimum term
Three months for managed AI operations, where it applies.
Change requests
Estimated and approved before any additional work begins.
IP ownership
Source code, configuration, customer data and reusable components defined in the agreement.
Data & security
Data processing terms where required, least-privilege access, and retention rules agreed in writing.

These are commercial terms, not legal advice. For EU/UK or Australian clients, data processing terms and applicable obligations are reviewed before the agreement is signed.

Security & data

What is enforced in the build.

These are not aspirations. They are acceptance criteria for anything involving client data or external action.
  • Tenant isolation and authorisation enforced in the backend, not the interface
  • Document-level permissions when a source must be restricted
  • Source references on every answer grounded in a knowledge base
  • Tool calls and agent actions logged with enough context to review
  • Approval required before sending email, changing CRM records or taking external action
  • Usage limits per client, with inference cost visible
  • A documented process for deleting documents and revoking access at contract end
  • Backup and restore tested before go-live

Principles

How we make decisions.

Service first, product second

We deliver the work before packaging it. Reusable systems come from repeated delivery, not from a roadmap written in advance.

Human approval before external action

Anything that leaves the business — an email, a proposal, a CRM change — passes a person first. Automation handles preparation, not judgement.

Evidence over promises

We take a baseline, measure after delivery and report what actually changed. No percentage savings quoted before the work is done.

Scope you can read

Every proposal lists what is included and what is not. Surprises in delivery are a design failure, not a negotiation tactic.

Questions

The practical questions.

What kind of firm is Samlution built for?
Boutique professional services firms of roughly 5–30 people: consulting firms and B2B marketing or creative agencies. Firms with real clients, repeatable processes and no internal engineering team.
Do you sell software or services?
Services first. We build and deliver systems for clients, then reuse what works across engagements. There is no self-service product to sign up for — the work is scoped and delivered by a person.
How does pricing work?
Fixed scope, fixed fee for projects and pilots. Projects are billed 50% upfront, 30% at milestone and 20% on acceptance. Managed services are billed monthly in advance, with AI usage allowances stated separately.
How quickly can we start?
A paid discovery call comes first. If the scope is clear after that, projects usually start within one to two weeks depending on current delivery commitments.
What happens to our data?
Your documents stay in storage you control. Access follows least privilege, data processing terms are agreed in writing where required, and the retention and deletion process is defined before ingestion begins.
Will AI act on our systems without approval?
Not for anything external. Sending an email, changing a CRM record or publishing content passes an approval queue. Internal and reversible steps can run automatically if that is agreed in scope.
What if AI produces something wrong?
It will sometimes. That is why every grounded answer carries a source, why we define what the system should do when it cannot find an answer, and why a person reviews anything client-facing. We do not offer a guarantee that a language model is always correct.
Do you work with firms outside your two focus industries?
Sometimes, when the problem is a close match to one we already solve. Accounting, legal and financial advisory work is possible but needs a higher bar on confidentiality and review, so it is assessed case by case.

Next step

If the scope is clear, we can start.

The first call exists to find out whether it is. Thirty minutes, no slides.

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