AI Agency or AI Consultant? Choosing for a Small Business in Eastleigh

What the word tells you

Searching for an "AI agency" usually means you want somebody else to do the work. That is a fair thing to want. What differs is who you deal with and how the work is organised, so it is worth knowing which you are getting before you spend an hour on calls.

An agency normally takes a brief, scopes a project and assigns people to it. A consultant is a person you talk to directly, from the first call to the support afterwards. Dean Keating is the second kind. He describes himself as an AI automation consultant, not an agency.

What he does instead

His website describes a done-for-you service: he builds the AI agents, installs them in the tools the business already uses, trains your team and supports it. It is installed for you, not handed over. The work runs in four steps: a free call, an audit of the work worth automating, the build and install, then training and support.

He starts with the single task that would make the most difference. You leave the free call with a plan you can use with or without him, which is a useful test of any provider.

A picture of one optician's practice

The directory lists four opticians across Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford. Picture one of them. Enquiries about appointments come in by email, through the website and on WhatsApp, while everyone is with a patient. The jobs on his website that fit are replying to a new enquiry within minutes, booking into the diary, sending confirmations and reminders, and passing anything unusual to a named person.

Nothing there needs a large organisation. It needs somebody to look at how the enquiries actually arrive, build something that fits, and stay around when it needs adjusting.

When an agency is the better choice

- You need several different kinds of work coordinated under one roof, not one task done well.
- You want a supplier with a big organisation behind it.
- You want someone in the room every week. His website says he can visit businesses in Hampshire or nearby, but the build and install are done remotely.

Questions to put to any provider

Who does the work? Where does it go live: in my existing tools, or in new ones? What happens after it is installed? What do I leave the first call with? And what does it cost, in writing, before I commit? His answer on cost is that there is no published price list: it is given after the free call, with no obligation.

Honest limits

He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, the same county as Eastleigh, and sets everything up remotely. He publishes this directory, so weigh his service against others. The guide to AI consultants in Hampshire describes several, and the guide to consultants who install explains the difference that matters most. Call Dean or book the free AI call.

Contact

Call or WhatsApp Dean Keating on 07418 627304, or email dean@deankeating.com. See the Dean Keating profile on Eastleigh.co. Websites: ai-agent.deankeating.com and deankeating.com.

About this guide

Eastleigh.co is published by Dean Keating, who also runs the service described here. He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, not in Eastleigh, and works with Eastleigh businesses remotely. This guide recommends our own service, so compare it with other providers before you decide.