Frequently asked questions

The first step is booking an AI Opportunity Audit — a 2-week fixed engagement at $3,000 that maps your processes, identifies where AI fits, and delivers a prioritised build roadmap with fixed-fee estimates for each opportunity. If you already have a clearly defined scope, you can skip the Audit and go directly to a Sprint proposal. Contact us and describe your situation — we will tell you which path makes sense.

No. That is what the Audit is for. Most clients come to us knowing they have a process problem and a rough sense that AI might help — but not knowing exactly what to build, in what order, or what it will cost. The Audit answers all of those questions.

We typically have a 1–3 week lead time before a new Audit can begin, depending on current project load. Implementation Sprints are usually scheduled 2–4 weeks after the Audit completes. If your timeline is urgent, tell us in your enquiry — we will be upfront about whether we can meet it.

Week 1 focuses on discovery — structured interviews with your operational leads, process mapping of 3–6 candidate workflows, and assessment of your data availability and quality. Week 2 focuses on analysis and prioritisation — we score each opportunity by impact and feasibility, build the recommended sequencing, and produce fixed-fee estimates. You receive a written deliverable at the end, presented live in a working session.

A written report — typically 15–25 pages — covering: a map of the processes we assessed, an AI fit assessment for each opportunity (including ones that won't work), a prioritised roadmap of 3–7 recommended AI projects, and a fixed-fee implementation estimate for each. The document is yours to keep and use however you wish — there is no obligation to proceed with Mason Bedford.

Sprints typically run 4–12 weeks depending on complexity. A single, well-defined workflow integration usually takes 4–6 weeks. Multi-system integrations or more complex architectures typically take 8–12 weeks. The timeline is agreed and fixed at the start of the Sprint.

Every system we build is delivered with: full source code (yours, no licensing fees), technical documentation covering architecture, dependencies, and operational runbook, a handover session with your team, and — if applicable — monitoring dashboards and alerting configured. We design every project so your team can operate, troubleshoot, and extend the system without us.

Yes. We work with businesses across the UK and the United States. Our team operates remotely and we have worked with clients across London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and other UK cities. Most engagement activity (discovery calls, build, review) is done remotely; for clients who prefer in-person, we can arrange this for key discovery sessions.

UK GDPR compliance is a design constraint, not an afterthought. Before any data is shared with us, we agree a Data Processing Agreement covering what data we access, how it is stored, who processes it, and how it is deleted post-engagement. For systems that process personal data, we design data minimisation and access control in from the start. We also ensure that sub-processors — including AI model providers — are covered under appropriate DPAs.

It may. If your business has EU operations, EU customers, or deploys AI systems used by EU users, you may be in scope. We assess EU AI Act applicability as part of our discovery process for any implementation project. See our article on the EU AI Act and UK businesses for a detailed overview.

Yes — and regulatory awareness is built into how we design every system in regulated sectors. For financial services, we design with FCA Consumer Duty, SR 11/7 model risk management, and UK GDPR in mind. For legal, we address SRA guidance on AI, privilege obligations, and attorney-client confidentiality. For NHS and healthcare contexts, we address IG (information governance) requirements and Caldicott principles. See our sector-specific articles in the Insights section.