APPLIED AI SERIES / INTERACTIVE COMPANION

Faster to build.
What changes
in the price?

Test how implementation savings, expertise, assurance and tooling change delivery costs and pricing constraints.

Explore the pricing model

THE ARTICLE EXAMPLE / HYPOTHETICAL

70%

less implementation effort

12.5%

lower total delivery cost

The cost mix changes. The responsibilities remain.

Illustrative assumptions · USD · excluding taxes

Price an accepted capability. Include the expertise, verification and commitments needed to deliver it. Assess customer value separately.

Conventional baseline$88,000.00Fixed hypothetical internal cost

DEVELOPMENT PRICING MODEL

Hypothetical USD · excluding taxes

Start with an example

Your delivery assumptions.

Keep the conventional baseline fixed. Change the AI-led cost mix and test your proposed fee.

Implementation effort reduction%Reduction from 100 implementation person-days. This is effort, not elapsed project time.Implementation day costUSD / person-dayInternal delivery cost. Not a market charge-out rate or an SFIA rate.Architecture & reviewperson-daysAt an illustrative $900/day. Includes architecture and review, excluding the security line.Security verificationperson-daysAt an illustrative $900/day. This is separate from architecture and review.Tools & environmentsUSDTotal assumed tools and environment cost for this engagement.Target contribution margin% of feeContribution divided by fee. This is a margin, not a markup.Proposed feeUSDAn amount you choose to test. The model does not recommend a fee.Assumed customer ceiling (optional)USDHypothetical and unverified. Leave blank for unknown; zero means zero.

Review and security work can also be automated. Their days may decrease. Higher assurance effort and a higher-cost implementation mix are assumptions you can change.

Fixed assurance cost: $900.00 per day. Fixed handover, support and overhead: $10,000.00. No inputs are stored or sent.

THE ECONOMICSCalculated from the assumptions

Cost is one side
of the conversation.

AI-led internal delivery cost$77,000.00

12.50% lower than the $88,000.00 conventional baseline

Conventional$88,000.00

AI-led$77,000.00

Zero-based bars · hypothetical costs · same scope assumed

AI-led fee floor at 40% margin$128,333.33

Conventional floor at the same margin$146,666.67

Floor = delivery cost ÷ (1 − target margin). It is a cost constraint, not a recommended price. Amounts are displayed to two decimals; comparisons use full precision.

At your proposed $130,000.00 fee

Contribution: $53,000.00
Contribution margin: 40.77%
Implementation effort: 30.00 person-days

Supplier economicsMeets the entered target margin

Customer constraint · separately assessedWithin the assumed customer ceiling

Assumed ceiling less AI-led margin floor$21,666.67

Arithmetic room only. It does not establish customer value, willingness to pay or an approved deal.

Inspect every part of the cost.

These are internal cost assumptions. Categories must not overlap. Existing security work is already included in the conventional baseline.

Hypothetical delivery cost · USD excluding taxes · last calculated assumptions
Cost category	Conventional	AI-led	AI-led assumption
Implementation	$50,000.00	$27,000.00	30.00 days × $900.00
Architecture / review	$18,000.00	$22,500.00	25 days × $900.00
Security verification	$9,000.00	$13,500.00	15 days × $900.00
Tools / environments	$1,000.00	$4,000.00	Entered engagement allowance
Handover / support / overhead	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	Fixed illustrative allowance
Total	$88,000.00	$77,000.00	Same scope assumed

Implementation savings are person-days, not elapsed project time.

Contribution includes the stated allowances; it does not guarantee company profit.

No tax, foreign-exchange or cash-flow model is included.

THE CUSTOMER SIDE

What is the accepted
capability worth?

Assess value separately from supplier cost. Released capacity becomes cash only when the business can realise it.

Optional working notes remain in this tab’s memory. Nothing is saved or submitted.

Accepted capabilityBenefit baseline & evidenceAdoption & running costsAlternativesOwnership & ongoing commitments

The article example is shown: $77,000.00 AI-led cost, 12.5% below the conventional baseline, and a $128,333.33 fee floor at 40% contribution margin. JavaScript is required to recalculate. The worksheet is not saved or submitted.

Faster to build.What changesin the price?

Your delivery assumptions.

Cost is one sideof the conversation.

At your proposed $130,000.00 fee

Inspect every part of the cost.

What is the acceptedcapability worth?

Put the economicsin context.

Faster to build.
What changes
in the price?

Cost is one side
of the conversation.

What is the accepted
capability worth?

Put the economics
in context.