FAQ
Questions we're asked.
What we do, where to start, what it costs, and what happens to your people, your systems and your data.
01About Carbon
What does Carbon do?
Carbon is an AI transformation firm for Europe's real economy. We find where AI pays off in a business, build it into how the work runs and measure the result against a number the business already tracks.
How is that different from an AI consultancy?
We do the strategy and the build as one team. We gather the evidence on your own work in Discover and Prove, build what the evidence supports, and stay accountable until the system is in production and measured against its baseline.
How is it different from buying AI software?
Software vendors start from their product. We start from your workflow and use whatever fits it: a bespoke build, an existing tool or a reusable component of our own.
Which industries do you work with?
Distribution and wholesale, logistics and freight, insurance, and manufacturing. For smaller firms: insurance broking, property surveying, building and fire safety, and wealth management.
Where do you work?
Across the UK, the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
02Getting started
Where do we start?
With Discover. For mid-market companies, that is a fixed-scope stage in one function: we assess AI readiness across your leadership team, map how the work runs today and rank the workflows where AI will create the most value. For smaller firms, it is two workshops in one week. What happens in Discover
How long until something is live?
We agree the timeline with you before you commit. For smaller firms building with us as founding clients, expect 8 to 12 weeks.
Is our data good enough for AI?
It rarely needs to be perfect. Discover checks the data behind the workflow we choose and tells you what to fix first and what can wait.
We've already assessed where AI fits. Can we skip Discover?
Existing assessment work can shorten Discover once we have validated it. What we never skip is the baseline, because it's how we show you what changed.
03Cost and commitment
What does it cost?
Discover is a fixed fee, agreed before we start. Each later stage is priced on its business case before it begins.
What if we want to stop?
Discover is the first step. Every stage ends with a decision: you sign off each one and can stop at any stage.
04How we work
What is the parallel test?
Part of Prove in our mid-market Programme: the same real work done three ways, by people alone, by people with an AI co-pilot, and by a standalone AI agent, so you decide what to automate on evidence. For smaller firms, Prove is a simpler side-by-side check against your team’s own work. The parallel test
Do we need new systems?
We start from your existing systems, subject to access and integration checks. Where a new tool would fit better, we say so, and we only recommend tools we've tested ourselves.
What happens to our people?
Role changes, and where freed capacity goes, are agreed with your leadership and the people involved. The work that needs judgement stays with your people: exceptions, customers, suppliers and decisions. Champions in each team carry the new way of working after we step back.
05Ownership
Who owns what you build?
You own your data, workflow designs and configuration. Carbon software is licensed to you. Hosting and maintenance are an ongoing service.
06For smaller firms
How is it different for a firm of 80 to 300 people?
We take one workflow end to end with one Carbon team, starting with two workshops in one week. There is a fixed implementation fee plus an ongoing licence, and once it's live we host and maintain it for you. How it works for smaller firms
What if we want to leave?
You own your data, workflow designs and configuration. Carbon software is licensed to you. Hosting and maintenance are an ongoing service.
07For private equity
Do you work across a portfolio?
Yes. We can run Discover across up to three portfolio companies at once, then take each one through the stages with its own baseline.
Do you work with buy-and-build platforms?
Yes. The workflow design is reused across your businesses. Integrations, permissions and local processes are assessed for each one.
Start with one function and one metric.
Tell us the workflow you want to improve and the result that matters. We will agree where to start.