AI ENGINEERING

AI consulting for companies, not innovation theater

AI consulting for companies means building and operating real systems inside your business — agents, automations, integration with your existing ERP — not slide decks. A single industrial client has already given us four real projects: training, a redemption platform, an SAP discovery, and a sovereign AI platform.

4AI projects delivered for a single industrial client
28employees trained in a single AI training program
0data sent to train Claude Team/Enterprise/API models
Engineers in an industrial control room analyzing data on large screens.
AI ENGINEERING
01

Nine ways to start, one way of working.

Each line below has its own page, with what we build, what stays human, indicative pricing, and the questions clients actually ask us. If you are not sure where to start, the selector below takes you to the right page. For companies looking for the term used correctly, AI consulting for companies means engineers who write and operate code inside your business, not consultants who just recommend someone else’s technology.

What type of AI project fits you?

Two questions, no score. The result is the page worth starting from.

What do you want to solve right now?
02

What we build, concretely.

AI implementation in a company and AI process automation start from the same place: a discovery that maps your real processes before any technical decision. If you are not sure where to start, what an AI implementation in a company looks like, step by step is explained separately, with discovery, pilot and acceptance criteria written down before you start.

AI agents

Agents that act, not just respond

An AI agent takes a task, carries it through, and asks for approval only where it matters — it doesn't just generate text in response to a question. We design agents around real processes: filings, procurement, contracts, quality checks.

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Automation

The repetitive processes, taken off people's plate

Bank reconciliation, cross-checks, resource allocation — processes that eat hours of manual work today can run automatically, with a human in the loop only for exceptions. We've automated workflows like this from scratch, with verified tests.

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Implementation

From idea to a running system

Implementing AI at a company isn't a ChatGPT subscription — it's a discovery, a pilot with acceptance criteria written beforehand, then rollout. We explain the steps, with no unfounded promises.

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Training

Your team, ready to work with AI

We took 28 employees at a manufacturing company from zero to daily use of Claude, in two days per group. The curriculum is built on Andrej Karpathy's mental models, not slogans.

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Second brain

An assistant that reads your company, not the internet

We build assistants connected to your company's real data — contracts, accounting, internal documentation — that answer with a source, not a guess. The model stays a copilot: the human signs and files.

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Computer-use

When your system has no API

Many systems used daily in Romania (accounting, older ERPs) don't have and won't get an API. We build agents that read the data directly or operate the existing interface, safely and with human validation.

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ERP & MCP

AI connected to SAP and SAGA, without touching the core

We integrate AI on top of your existing ERP through side-by-side extensions (Clean Core) or governed MCP servers, not by modifying the core. Raw data never reaches the model directly.

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AI Infrastructure

Private AI infrastructure, on-premise or in the EU cloud.

For companies that want AI on their own data without sending it to APIs outside the EU: a platform with open-weight models running on your own servers or on a dedicated GPU at EU providers, with an interface for employees, RAG on documents, and agents connected to your ERP. We size the server to your real use cases and hand over the code and infrastructure.

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Forecast

Production planning, optimized under real constraints

Production Brain combines demand simulation with mathematical optimization under constraints (capacity, shelf life, allergen changes) for a plan the human approves, not blindly executes. We pilot on one line before scaling up.

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RPA + agents

Classic automation, with an agent that decides when it's needed

Classic RPA executes fixed steps; we add an agent layer that recognizes exceptions and handles them differently, instead of letting the workflow break. Result: fewer broken workflows, fewer ignored alerts.

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03

Paid discovery, a pilot with written criteria, then rollout.

We do not sell „digital transformation”. We sell a short discovery, a pilot measured against criteria written before we start, and a go/no-go decision made on data. Only then rollout and a retainer. A forward-deployed AI engineer works directly inside your team, on your real data and processes — unlike classic consulting, where you get a report and implementation stays your job. The four projects above are part of the full case study with FOX, with context, real problems and what concretely changed at each stage.

  • 01A one-day discovery: processes, available data, friction points, an opportunity map with estimates.
  • 02A 2–6 week pilot on 1–2 cases, built and tested on real data.
  • 03Go/no-go decision, based on the criteria written at the start.
  • 04Rollout across multiple departments, training for the team, monthly maintenance.
04

The same client, four projects.

An industrial manufacturer in Romania started with AI training for 28 employees, continued with a redemption platform for a campaign with 250 winners, then moved to a discovery for production digitalization on SAP and a proposal for a sovereign AI platform hosted in the EU. Not marketing figures: projects, in the order they actually happened. For the company that also asked for a sovereign AI platform, we explain separately what a sovereign AI platform, hosted in the EU, actually means, and when it actually makes sense compared with a regular external cloud.

TRAINING

28 employees, two groups

Fundamentals and prompt engineering, then Claude Code, Skills and MCP. Half the time is practice on their own cases.

PLATFORM

Redemption for a campaign

Code validation, anti-fraud, fiscal data for winners, admin panel.

PRODUCTION

SAP discovery

Side-by-side production and logistics digitalization (Clean Core), with a "Production Brain" as the flagship project.

05

Three different ways to buy AI for your company

When you compare vendors, the biggest difference is not the price, it is who writes the code and who keeps it at the end. A forward-deployed AI engineer works inside your team, on your real processes, and the resulting code belongs entirely to the company, not to a third-party platform you rent monthly. The table below shows, briefly, the difference from the other two common ways of buying AI today: a generic chatbot vendor, or traditional strategy consulting with no code delivered. We apply that same rigorous build discipline to our own site as well, in the visibility in AI search engines chapter, not just to the systems we build for clients.

TNS — forward-deployed engineerGeneric chatbot vendorTraditional consulting
Who writes the codeThe engineers who run discovery, directly on your processesAn already-configured platform, not code dedicated to youUsually no one — the deliverable is a report
Who owns the code at the endThe client company, entirelyThe platform vendor; you stay a tenantNot applicable, no code is delivered
Pricing modelFixed price, set after a short discoveryMonthly subscription, usually per userHourly fee, or a fee per strategy project
What remains after the projectA running system, documented, and yoursDependence on keeping the subscription activeWritten recommendations; you handle implementation separately
06

A fixed price, after a short discovery call.

AI discovery
on request · after discoveryA day of analysis with your team + an opportunity map with estimated ROI for each
  • process and data audit
  • opportunity map
  • report with prioritization
Pilot implementation
on request · after discoveryA use case taken through to production, with acceptance criteria written beforehand
  • 1-2 use cases
  • written acceptance criteria
  • handover + documentation
Complete platform
on request · after discoveryRollout across multiple departments, with ongoing maintenance and support
  • complete architecture
  • team training
  • monthly retainer

Every project has a different context, workflows and infrastructure, so the price is set after a short, paid discovery and does not change along the way.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What does "agentic AI" mean?

Agentic AI means a system that doesn't just answer a question, but takes on a task, plans the steps, uses tools (search, calculation, calls to other systems), and carries the job through, asking for human approval where it matters. The difference from a regular chatbot is that the agent acts, rather than just talking.

How is AI implemented in a company?

In practice, in three steps: a one-day discovery that maps processes and data, a pilot on 1-2 use cases with acceptance criteria written before the start, then a rollout with team training and long-term maintenance. Skipping discovery is the most common reason AI projects never make it to production.

What does AI implementation actually mean?

It's the process by which an AI model or agent ends up connected to a company's real data and processes — not just used ad hoc by a few employees, but integrated with rules, permissions, and an audit trail. It includes both the technical side (connectors, agents, ERP integration) and the human side (training, internal usage policy).

How do I implement AI in my own business if I don't have a technical team?

The most realistic path is an external partner who does the discovery, builds the pilot, and hands over a documented system, with training included for your in-house team. You don't need an in-house AI department from day one — you need a first use case taken all the way through.

How much do AI agents cost for a company?

The exact figures are set after discovery.

What are AI agents?

They're software systems built on top of a language model, given tools (search, calculation, database access, API calls) and the ability to decide on their own what steps to take to carry a task through, within permissions set in advance. A good agent stops and asks for a human when it goes beyond those limits.

Who handles AI implementation at a company in Romania?

In Romania, the market is still young: most firms offering "AI consulting" actually do training or presentations, not implementation with code that reaches production. The Niche Society works as forward-deployed AI engineering: a small team that moves temporarily inside the client company, builds the system, and hands it over documented.

What does forward-deployed AI engineer mean?

A forward-deployed AI engineer is an engineer who works directly inside the client company, writing and operating code on its real processes — unlike a classic consultant, who delivers only recommendations, or a chatbot vendor, who delivers a generic, configurable product.

What is AI engineering, as a discipline, actually?

AI engineering means building and operating real AI systems — agents, automations, integrations — directly in production, not just recommending them on paper. It differs from consulting in that it delivers code that runs, not just an implementation plan.

The Niche Society
The Niche Society TeamAI and software engineers from Bucharest · LinkedIn
updated 15 Sep 2026

Let's see what can be automated in your business.

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