Home / AI & Automation / Build & Operate
Project SKU · Fixed-scope build · Operate retainer optional

From a specific AI idea to a working, governed system.
Built on Microsoft 365 and Azure. Vendor-neutral on AI.

Build & Operate is the third pillar — how you put a specific AI use case into your business and keep it running afterwards. Fixed-scope, fixed-price builds delivered to a written acceptance test. Optional managed operations to keep the build secure, monitored, and updated. No MSP relationship required.

See sample builds → Not sure yet? Start with the Sprint
Engineer building AI integration
M365 + AZURE · VENDOR-NEUTRAL ON AI
"AI adoption is easy. Operations is where most programs stall. Build & Operate exists to make sure what we build doesn't end up in that pile."
Where the work lives

Microsoft-aligned on infrastructure. Vendor-neutral on the AI.

Every Build runs inside Microsoft 365 and Azure. That's where we have nine years of depth, and where the security stack we've already deployed for your business naturally extends. The AI tooling on top is chosen per project — for fit, not for partner margin.

We don't deliver AWS-native or GCP-native infrastructure work. If your use case genuinely needs that, we'll say so and recommend a different partner. We earn margin on the engagement, not on the licence — that recommendation costs us nothing.

The Build environment by default

  • Microsoft 365 — Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Automate, SharePoint, Teams, Graph integration.
  • Azure infrastructure — AI services, Azure OpenAI, Functions, Logic Apps, vector stores.
  • Microsoft Purview — governance, DLP, sensitivity labels applied to AI workflows.
  • Endpoint-flexible — Windows or MacOS, your team's choice.
  • Anthropic Claude — API and Claude Desktop for reasoning-heavy use cases where model behaviour matters.
Sample build catalogue

Productised builds. Custom scopes welcome.

The six patterns below cover most of what businesses ask for. Custom work is quoted on the same productisation discipline — fixed scope, fixed price, written acceptance test before commitment. Most custom Builds fit one of these patterns within ~20%.

Productivity

Copilot deployment + governance

Toolchain: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Purview, Intune.
Tenant-wide M365 Copilot rollout with Purview controls aligned to Essential Eight, training, change management, and adoption telemetry. The "do Copilot properly" build.
From $7,500 + GST 2–3 weeks
Custom AI agent

Microsoft Copilot Studio agent

Toolchain: Microsoft Copilot Studio, M365 connectors, SharePoint, Teams.
Custom agent that lives inside your Microsoft tenant — client onboarding, support triage, document review, knowledge base access. Integrates with your existing M365 data and surfaces through Teams or Outlook.
From $9,500 + GST 3–6 weeks
Reasoning + drafting

Anthropic Claude integration

Toolchain: Anthropic Claude API, Claude Desktop, Azure-hosted sandbox.
Claude integrated into your business workflows — long-document analysis, regulatory review, complex drafting. Picked when model behaviour matters more than M365 alignment. Includes Claude Desktop pilot rollout where the use case fits.
From $8,500 + GST 3–5 weeks
Workflow automation

Power Automate workflow suite

Toolchain: Power Automate, M365 connectors, Copilot or Claude AI steps where useful.
Multi-step business workflow automation — approvals, document routing, data sync, notifications. AI steps where they add value, deterministic logic where they don't.
From $6,500 + GST 2–4 weeks
Discovery + monitoring

Shadow-AI discovery automation

Toolchain: Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Purview, custom dashboarding.
Continuous, automated discovery of AI tool usage across your environment — beyond the one-shot Sprint audit. Alerts on new tools, new data flows, policy violations. Outputs a live dashboard for your governance team.
From $11,500 + GST 4 weeks
Knowledge + search

AI knowledge base / search

Toolchain: Azure OpenAI or Claude, SharePoint, vector store, semantic search.
Searchable AI-powered knowledge base over your company documents. Asks questions in plain English, gets answers with citations back to source. Lives on your tenant; your data never leaves Azure.
From $14,000 + GST 5–8 weeks

DON'T SEE YOUR USE CASE? IF IT FITS THE M365/AZURE INFRASTRUCTURE, WE'LL SCOPE IT TO THE SAME PRODUCTISATION DISCIPLINE.

How the build phase works

Five steps. No endless changes. Acceptance against written criteria.

Every Build follows the same five-step delivery model. Each step has a defined gate to the next — you always know what's been done, what's next, and how to push back if the work drifts from what you signed.

1

Scoping session

$300 fee, credited against the Build if it proceeds. Defines deliverable, integration points, acceptance test.

2

SoW

Single-page Statement of Work. Scope, price, timeline, acceptance criteria, vendor-neutral architecture statement, 30-day exit clause.

3

Build sprints

Typically 2-week iterations. End-of-sprint demo. You see progress every fortnight; no end-of-project surprises.

4

Acceptance

You sign off against the criteria written in the SoW. No moving goalposts. No "endless changes" trap.

5

Handover

Documentation, source artefacts, prompts, configs handed to you. Optional handoff into Operate retainer.

The Operate retainer · from $850/mo per build

Most AI builds stall in operations. Yours don't have to.

AI changes monthly. Vendors update models, deprecate APIs, ship features that quietly change behaviour. Without operations, your $14,000 Build slowly degrades into a fragile, unsupported piece of your tech stack — which is exactly where most internal AI projects end up.

The Operate retainer is the practice that keeps Builds working. Monitoring, security posture, vendor change management, quarterly optimisation, and full documentation maintained so you can always take the work elsewhere.

Monitoring

Telemetry on adoption, cost, errors, drift. Alerts on anomalies.

Security posture

Build stays aligned to your Bundle or industry standard. Purview controls maintained.

Vendor change management

Copilot updates, Claude model changes, API breaks — we test, patch, document.

Quarterly review

Usage data analysed, cost-vs-value reviewed, refinements proposed.

Continuity

Full documentation kept current — including a 30-day exit clause that lets you take the Build elsewhere with all source artefacts. The point isn't to make you stay; it's that you choose to.

The portability checklist

Every Build is architected against a vendor-neutral checklist.

Most AI engagements quietly create lock-in: bespoke prompts in vendor-locked tooling, data pipelines that don't export cleanly, governance assuming one vendor's posture. We architect against this by default — the checklist below sits inside every SoW so the client knows what they're getting.

See the full /how-we-work commitment →

Portability checklist (per Build)

  • Prompts and configurations live in a client-owned source repository — not in our tooling.
  • Data flows documented end-to-end, with substitute-vendor paths noted where realistic.
  • 30-day exit clause with full documentation handover in every engagement contract.
  • Where vendor lock-in is unavoidable (e.g. deep Microsoft Graph integration), it's named explicitly in the SoW. You make the choice with eyes open.
  • We have the right to recommend Claude over Copilot, or the reverse — no margin structure tilts the answer.
  • Source artefacts (prompts, flows, agent configs) vest in you on creation — not in Evisent. We retain no licence beyond the engagement term.
Pricing summary

Two components. Both transparent.

Build is one-off, Operate is monthly. You can take just the Build (most do at first), or pair with Operate if you want the build kept current. Pricing is in every SoW; nothing hidden until invoice.

BUILD · ONE-OFF
From $7,500
+ GST · 2–8 weeks · scope-dependent · fixed-price per SoW
  • Scoping session ($300, credited)
  • Single-page Statement of Work
  • 2-week build sprints with demos
  • Acceptance against written criteria
  • Full documentation + source artefacts handover
  • Vendor-neutral architecture (checklist in SoW)
  • 30-day exit clause
Book a scoping session →
OPERATE · MONTHLY PER BUILD
From $850/mo
+ GST · per build · monthly · cancel with 30 days' notice
  • Monitoring + telemetry alerts
  • Security posture maintenance
  • Vendor change management
  • Quarterly optimisation review
  • Full documentation kept current
  • Take-elsewhere optionality preserved
  • Pairs with the AI Governance Bundle if you have it
Discuss Operate retainer →
Who Build & Operate is for

Five typical buyers we work with.

Post-Sprint buyers

Did the AI Readiness Sprint, surfaced a specific use case in the board summary, ready to act on it. Most common entry path.

Existing Bundle clients

Have the AI Governance Bundle in place, want a specific Build inside that governance frame. Build inherits the Bundle's controls automatically.

Vendor-neutral seekers

IT/Ops leaders explicitly wanting a partner who'll honestly say "Copilot isn't the right answer here" or "Claude is the better fit". Most channel-aligned partners can't say that.

Referrals with a use case

Sent by an accountant, consultant, or solicitor whose client has surfaced a specific AI need. Scoping session converts the referral.

Existing AI take-overs

Have an internal AI build that's struggling — built by someone who's left, vendor that's gone quiet, or simply drifting without maintenance. Operate-only engagements possible after a take-over audit.

Existing Evisent MSP clients

Adding AI builds inside the existing managed-IT relationship. Build sits naturally on top of the security stack we already run.

Common questions

What people ask before they book.

Most custom Builds fit one of the six patterns within ~20%. If yours genuinely doesn't, the scoping session ($300, credited against the Build if it proceeds) defines the deliverable and writes the SoW from scratch. The productisation discipline is the same — fixed scope, fixed price, written acceptance test before commitment. We don't take blank-cheque engagements.

Yes. Source artefacts (prompts, flows, agent configurations, integration code) vest in you on creation — they live in your repository or tenant, not in ours. Documentation is handed over at the end of the build. If you ever want to take the work elsewhere, the 30-day exit clause and full documentation make that clean.

No — Build is sold independently. Most clients take Operate because the alternative is the build slowly degrading without maintenance, but it's optional. You can also start without Operate, then add it later if the Build matters enough to your business to keep current.

Not natively. Our delivery stack is Microsoft 365 and Azure — that's where nine years of depth lives. If your use case genuinely needs AWS-native or GCP-native infrastructure, we'll say so and recommend a different partner. We earn margin on the engagement, not on the licence, so that recommendation costs us nothing. Where the use case is cloud-agnostic, we'll build on Azure.

The smallest productised Build is the Power Automate workflow suite at from $6,500. Below that, scope tends not to justify the engagement overhead — we'll usually steer you to the AI Readiness Sprint ($4,950) instead, which produces a board-ready summary plus an Acceptable Use Policy and Copilot/Purview review. For one-off, very-small builds we sometimes refer to specialist consultants we trust.

Three differences. First, we don't take Microsoft licence margin — so when Claude is the right answer instead of Copilot, we say so. Second, every Build inherits our security DNA — Purview controls, Essential Eight alignment, framework mapping for your industry regulator. Third, the productisation discipline — fixed scope, fixed price, written acceptance test, 30-day exit clause — is unusual in the Microsoft Partner ecosystem, which tends toward time-and-materials engagements.

Three ways to get to a Build

Take the quiz, do the Sprint, or just scope a Build directly.

Most Builds start one of three ways. The quiz routes you to the right SKU based on your answers. The Sprint surfaces specific use cases inside a board-ready summary. Or — if you already know exactly what you want — book a scoping session direct.

Take the readiness quiz → Or do the Sprint Or scope a Build direct