Answers

What should I look for in an AI implementation partner if we have no technical team at all?

Zachary King, Cofounder and CEO at Works · LinkedIn

Short answer

Look for three things: who does the building, who gets trained, and what your team can do unaided once the partner leaves. With no technical team, the partner's job is bigger than building. They have to leave capability behind in people who've never written code.

Do this week

Ask any partner for a reference from a client with no technical team, 12 months on. What still runs? What broke? Who fixes it?

Transcript

What should I look for in an AI implementation partner if we've got no technical team at all?

You should look for three things. Who does the building? Who gets trained? And what can your team do without help when the partner is no longer in the room?

No technical team means that the partner's job is bigger than building. They have to leave capability behind in people who've never written code. That shows up as documentation written for humans, and training on real workflows instead of slide packs. It also shows up in who they put in the room. You want a builder who teaches, not a strategist who comes for a visit.

Most teams that we work with have no technical staff at all. The measure that we hold ourselves to is what those people can run and extend when we're no longer in the room.

Ask any partner for a reference with a client who has no technical team, 12 months later. What still runs? What broke? Who fixes it? That call is worth more than the proposal.

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