MODEL CHOICE
The right model for each job.
OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or open-source models like Llama. We test them on your own tasks and choose on quality, cost and privacy, not brand.
Our Expertise
Four ways we put AI to work.
Most AI projects fit one of four needs. Start with the one that sounds like your problem.
DOMAIN-SPECIFIC AGENT SYSTEMS
AI agents that know your business.
Assistants and agents trained on your documents, rules and systems. They answer customers, support staff and review work, and hand off to a person when they are unsure.
Explore agent systems →AI AUTOMATION
Less copy and paste. More finished work.
Workflows that read documents and emails, update your CRM or ERP, and send exceptions to the right person, with approvals on anything sensitive.
Explore AI automation →AGENTIC AI OPTIMIZATION
Lower AI bills without lower quality.
We find where tokens, retries and extra agent steps waste money, then cut cost per task while testing that answers stay accurate.
Explore optimization →AI GOVERNANCE AND MODEL EVALUATION
Prove your AI is accurate and safe.
We test the whole system on real cases, set approval rules and access limits, and give your leadership and auditors clear evidence.
Explore AI governance →Our Capabilities
What we build and connect.
The building blocks behind every OST AI project. One senior team handles all of them, so nothing gets lost between vendors.
SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
AI connected to the tools you run on.
We connect AI to your CRM, ERP, ecommerce store, help desk, student portal or database through secure APIs, so it works with live data and updates records for you.
AI IN WEB AND MOBILE APPS
AI features inside your own software.
Smart search, assistants and recommendations built into your website, customer portal or iOS and Android app, by the same team that builds custom software.
VOICE AI AGENTS
AI that answers the phone.
Voice agents that take calls, answer questions, book appointments and pass the caller to a person when needed, running in production today.
DOCUMENT AI
Turn PDFs and forms into data.
Read invoices, contracts, applications and reports, pull out the details, check them against your rules and fill your systems. Or create documents from your data.
AI SEARCH AND CONTENT
Find and create faster.
AI search across your products, documents or knowledge base, and AI-written product listings, descriptions and summaries your team reviews before they go live.
MULTILINGUAL AND ACCESSIBLE
AI that works for everyone.
Assistants that speak 90+ languages and interfaces built to WCAG 2.2 AA and Section 508, which public agencies and schools require.
DATA PROTECTION
Your data stays protected.
Personal data removed before it reaches a model, access by user role, audit logs, and business API terms so your data is not used to train public models.
How we work
Four phases. Same team across all four.
This is how every OST project runs. The people who scope your project are the people who build and support it.
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Phase 01 · 2–4 weeks
Discovery and scope.
Stakeholder interviews, technical review of existing systems, risk register, written scope with milestones and exit criteria.
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Phase 02 · 3–12 months
Build and iterate.
Two-week sprints with working demos. Senior leads on every sprint review. Code reviewed, accessibility checked.
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Phase 03 · 2–6 weeks
Cutover and stabilization.
Parallel run with rollback path. On-call coverage during the launch window. Stabilization continues until incident rate trends to zero.
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Phase 04 · ongoing
Operate and evolve.
Multi-year retainer with the same team that built the product. Monthly check-ins, quarterly business reviews.
Read the full engagement model on the How We Work page.
AI OPPORTUNITY ASSESSMENT
Not sure where AI fits? Start here.
Most businesses already know where time goes: answering the same questions, typing data from one system into another, chasing paperwork. We walk through your daily operations with your team, find the repetitive work, and show what it costs you today and what it could cost with AI. Then we rank each idea on value, data readiness, effort and risk, and tell you which ones are not worth doing yet.
What this looks like in your industry
| Industry | Business problem | How AI helps |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing and B2B | Quotes take days to prepare | Drafts quotes from past jobs and pricing for your review |
| Healthcare practices | Front desk tied up on routine calls | Answers routine calls and books appointments |
| Professional services | Hours spent reading contracts and claims | Pulls out key terms and flags what's missing |
| E-commerce and retail | Product listings written one by one | Writes listings for your team to approve |
What you get
- A list of the manual tasks AI can take over, with the time and cost each one takes today
- Estimated savings for the top three, with a budget and timeline to build each
- The recommended starting point and which of our four services fits it
- Data or system gaps to fix first
BUILD, BUY & INTEGRATE
Build, buy or integrate: we help you choose.
Once the right AI opportunities have been prioritized, the next decision is how each initiative should be delivered. Not every requirement needs a fully custom platform. An existing product, a capability already available in your business software, or a focused integration may provide a faster and more cost-effective solution. OST evaluates off-the-shelf platforms, commercial APIs, open-source models, existing CRM or ERP capabilities, and custom AI development options before recommending an approach. We compare implementation effort, flexibility, data control, licensing, vendor dependency, integration limitations, and long-term operating costs.
We recommend a custom solution only when the workflow, data, user experience, or integration requirements justify it. In many cases, the right choice is a hybrid architecture that combines established third-party models with custom software and existing business systems. Our AI consulting services help organizations make this decision before committing budget, reducing unnecessary development while preserving the flexibility needed for future growth.
Why OST
AI built for real use.
We build AI that people use every day, inside the tools they already have.
AI SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Works inside your existing systems
Your website, app, customer portal, CRM, online store or internal dashboard. No extra login and no new tool for your team to learn.
AI IMPLEMENTATION & ADOPTION
Your team actually uses it
We decide with you who uses it, when a person checks the output and how exceptions are handled, then train your staff. AI that nobody trusts is wasted money.
AI RISK & COMPLIANCE
Rules before automation
Before anything goes live, we agree on what the AI may do, which data it may use and when a person must decide.
PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION
Already have a prototype?
We keep what works and add what real users need: error handling, cost limits, monitoring
and security.
Industries we serve
AI Consulting And Implementation across 15 verticals.
Six core verticals where OST has the deepest engagement experience. Plus nine adjacent industries served on selective engagements.
01
Education
K-12 charter networks, higher education, public sector portals.
02
Nonprofit & Civic
Donor-cycle nonprofits, advocacy organizations, civic platforms.
03
Healthcare & Wellness
HIPAA-aware platforms, medical directories, telemedicine adjacency.
04
Real Estate Technology
Multi-tenant SaaS, brokerage tools, self-storage operators.
05
E-commerce & Marketplaces
OpenCart specialists, custom commerce, $10B+ in transactions processed.
06
Manufacturing & B2B
Industrial platforms, B2B safety-tech, embedded engineering teams.
Also serves on selective engagements
Our AI work
AI we have already shipped & built.
Real AI systems, live with real users: built for our clients and as our own products.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions on ai consulting and implementation engagements.
How do you decide whether AI fits a use case?
During discovery we look for repetitive decisions, high-volume queries, or pattern recognition tasks. AI fits when the task has clear inputs and ambiguous outputs that humans currently handle. We say no when a deterministic system would do the job better.
What does a typical AI engagement cost?
Pilot deployments (one channel, basic KB) start around $25K. Production deployments (multi-channel, custom training, escalation flows) run $50K to $150K. Enterprise multi-tenant rollouts run higher. See our AI chatbot ROI calculator for a defensible bracket.
Open-source models or closed-source?
Both. Closed-source (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) when production quality and cost-per-query are predictable. Open-source (Llama, Mistral) when data sovereignty, fine-tuning depth, or per-query cost dominates the equation.
How do you handle AI cost monitoring?
Token-cost tracking per query, hard ceilings, fallback to cheaper models when traffic spikes, and graceful degradation when limits hit. Cost should be predictable, not surprising.
What about hallucinations and accuracy?
Knowledge-base grounding constrains the model to your documented content. Refusal paths for out-of-scope questions. Continuous evaluation with synthetic test sets and real user feedback.
Ready to build?
Pick a path forward.
Multiple ways to start: schedule a discovery call, run our cost calculator for a budget bracket, or use the contact form for a written response.
Schedule a 60-min call
No pitch deck. We tell you straight if we are a fit.
Book a time →Run the cost calculator
A defensible budget bracket at our blended rate. No email gate, no upsell.
Use the calculator →Use the contact form
A written response from a senior, within one business day.
Contact Us →