What is an AI Opportunity Audit?

It's a paid 1–2 week diagnostic engagement (£5,000–£15,000 depending on scope). I interview you and 3–5 key team members, map your workflows end-to-end, find the expensive bottlenecks, quantify the £ cost of each, and deliver a prioritised AI roadmap covering quick wins, big swings, and ROI projections. You walk away with the roadmap regardless of whether you hire me to build it.

How much does an AI consultant cost?

The 30-minute discovery call is free. The AI Opportunity Audit is £5,000–£15,000 depending on your business size and complexity. Implementation projects vary by scope, typically £8,000–£60,000+. Monthly advisory retainers are £3,000–£5,000. Most clients see a payback period under 12 months — often far shorter — based on the £ value the audit identifies.

Do I need technical knowledge to work with you?

Not at all. I'm specifically the consultant for non-technical owners and senior leaders. I translate AI into plain English, ROI numbers, and business outcomes. I also provide team training so your staff feel confident with whatever we put in place.

What types of businesses do you work with?

Owner-operated SMBs with roughly 10–100 staff and £1m–£50m in revenue. Sweet-spot industries include manufacturing, professional services, accountancy, property management, healthcare practices, estate agents, recruitment, and trades businesses with sales teams. The common thread is an owner who's still personally doing work AI could do better.

Is there an AI consultant near Plymouth, Devon?

Yes. I'm Chanikul, an AI consultant based in Plymouth, Devon, UK. I work face to face with business owners across Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay, Cornwall, and the wider South West, plus remote engagements across the UK and internationally. Book a free 30-minute discovery call at chanikul.com/book.

How long does an AI Opportunity Audit take?

The audit itself runs over 1–2 weeks: discovery interviews, workflow mapping, ROI analysis, and a final delivered roadmap. If we then move into implementation, typical projects take 2–8 weeks depending on complexity, with you seeing measurable results inside the first month.

Do you build the AI yourself or just consult?

Both. I'm a diagnostic consultant who can also ship — I build live production software solo, including the TRT Platform clinical SaaS for UK men's-health clinics. For client implementations I either build directly using Claude Code or partner with specialist white-label implementers for larger or specialised builds.

What is the difference between AI automation and traditional software?

Traditional software follows fixed rules — it does exactly what it's programmed to do. AI automation can understand context, handle variation, and learn patterns. For example, traditional software might file an email based on a keyword, while AI can read the email, understand what it's about, and take the right action — even if the wording is different every time.

Can AI replace my employees?

No, and that's not the goal. AI handles the boring bits — the repetitive admin, the copy-pasting, the chasing — so your team can focus on the work that actually matters. Think of it as giving your team a digital assistant that never forgets, never gets tired, and works around the clock on the tasks no one enjoys doing.

AI for SMBs — 5 stories, £103k recovered, £15/month tools | Chanikul

Story 01 · Manufacturing

Plymouth · 14 staff · £3.6m revenue

£10,400

recovered annually

The quoting bottleneck that was costing 6 hours a week

The bleed

Owner was writing every quote himself. 12 enquiries a week, 30 mins each = 6 hours of his time. Three out of ten enquiries went cold because the quote came back too slow.

The fix

ChatGPT trained on his pricing sheet and 50 historical quotes. He talks the customer brief into it. Quote drafts back in 90 seconds. He reviews, edits 10%, sends.

Tool

ChatGPT Plus

Cost

£18 / month

Setup

4 hrs (one-off)

The result

6 hours/week back. Quote turnaround dropped from 2 days to 1 hour. Closed 3 extra jobs/month at avg £4,200.

Story 02 · Accountancy

Exeter · 6 staff · £680k revenue

£18,000

in new client revenue

The bookkeeping triage that ate 12 hours a week

The bleed

Junior bookkeeper spent two full days a week sorting receipts, categorising transactions, and chasing missing invoices for 40+ small clients.

The fix

Dext (receipt OCR + AI categorisation) plugged into Xero. AI does the first pass on every transaction. Human reviews exceptions only.

Tool

Dext Prepare + Xero

Cost

£42 / month per firm

Setup

6 hrs (one-off)

The result

10 hours/week back. Bookkeeper took on 3 new clients without hiring. Practice revenue up £18k in 6 months.

Story 03 · Plumbing & Heating

Plympton · 4 engineers

£50,400

annual revenue uplift

The evening enquiries that went straight to voicemail

The bleed

60% of out-of-hours callers never rang back. Owner was losing an estimated £4,000/month to competitors who answered.

The fix

AI voice agent answers 24/7, asks 5 qualifying questions, books the job into the calendar, and texts the owner a summary by morning.

Tool

AI voice agent (white-label)

Cost

£99 / month

Setup

8 hrs (one-off)

The result

18 extra jobs in month 1. £4,200 revenue uplift. Owner stopped answering personal phone after 6pm for the first time in 11 years.

Story 04 · Chiropractic Clinic

Exeter · 3 practitioners

£24,960

recovered annually

The 15% no-show rate that was costing £600 a week

The bleed

One in seven appointments was a no-show. At £60/slot, that meant £600 walking out the door every week.

The fix

Workflow in their CRM sends a personalised reminder the day before — voice-matched to each practitioner, references the specific treatment, gives a one-tap reschedule link.

Tool

GHL / similar with AI step

Cost

£97 / month

Setup

5 hrs (one-off)

The result

No-show rate dropped from 15% to 4%. £480/week recovered. Practitioners stopped manually phoning patients to confirm.

Story 05 · Property Management

Plymouth · 1 owner-operator · 38 units

300 hours

recovered annually

The 7 hours a week disappearing into tenant emails

The bleed

3 hours chasing late rent. 4 hours writing the same maintenance and tenancy emails over and over. Saturday mornings gone.

The fix

Claude reads the inbox at 7am every weekday. Drafts replies in his voice (warm, direct, no waffle) for every recurring conversation. He reviews and clicks send in 20 minutes.

Tool

Claude Pro

Cost

£15 / month

Setup

3 hrs (one-off)

The result

6+ hours/week back. Owner got his Saturdays back. Tenant response time went from "by Tuesday" to "within the hour."

If your business has 10+ staff,
you're probably leaking
£40,000 a year
to manual work AI now does for £15 a month.

Same pattern, every time.

The quoting bottleneck that was costing 6 hours a week

The bookkeeping triage that ate 12 hours a week

The evening enquiries that went straight to voicemail

The 15% no-show rate that was costing £600 a week

The 7 hours a week disappearing into tenant emails

What this costs you if you wait another 12 months.

Pick your path. Both work.

Free 18-page install guide.

AI Opportunity Audit.

Want a story like this every Friday?

These are composite examples. The pattern is real.

Find out what manual work is costing you