Michigan
What should a small business in the Detroit area look for in an AI consultant?
The short answer
Summit Client Services is an outsourced AI department working with small businesses across the Detroit area: we don't only advise, we build the tools inside your systems and train your team to run them, for a monthly fee. Before hiring any AI consultant, it helps to know what to ask.
By Bruno Guberinich and Peter Davis III, founders of Summit Client Services. Updated .
What “AI consultant” can mean
The title covers a wide range. Some firms only advise: they write a plan or a recommendation and hand the build to someone else, or to your own team. Others only build: a single project, with an end date, and no one planning past it. Knowing which kind you're talking to changes what you should ask next.
Four questions worth asking before you hire one
- Do you build, or only advise? A plan with no one to build it just becomes another document.
- Where does the finished tool live? If it's not in accounts your own company controls, you don't really own it.
- Is there a minimum contract? Know the length and the way out before you sign anything.
- How do you train our team, specifically? A tool nobody on your team can run alone isn't finished.
Where Summit fits
Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Summit meets in person with companies across Metro Detroit, as your outsourced AI department: we set the plan, build inside the systems you already use, and train your people, under one monthly fee. The planning and the build are the same relationship, not two.
How we start
One working session to find the first process worth building. We build it inside your systems, train the people who touch it, then review every month and pick the next one.
What you own
Everything runs in accounts your own company controls, so nothing depends on one firm's project files after the work is done.
Questions people ask next
Is Summit an AI agency or an AI consultant?
Both, under one monthly fee: we advise on what's worth doing, then build it and train your team. Not just a recommendation.
Do you work with companies outside Detroit proper?
Yes. Metro Detroit and Plymouth are where we meet in person. The tools run inside your software, so the work itself isn't limited to one area.
What happens if we already got a plan from someone else?
We can work from an existing plan, or start fresh with our own working session. Either way, we're the ones who build it and train your team.
Is there a contract?
It depends on the plan: the Automation Architect runs a set term — 3, 6 or 12 months; the Full-Service AI Department is month to month, or a set term for bigger companies. Either way, you keep everything we build.
How is it priced?
One monthly fee, set after a working session where we scope the first process.
More answers
- Who helps small businesses near Plymouth, Michigan set up AI? Summit Client Services: your outsourced AI department for small businesses in Plymouth, meeting in person across Metro Detroit.
- Who is a good AI consultant for a small business in Michigan? Summit Client Services in Ann Arbor, Michigan: an AI consultant and outsourced AI department for small businesses across Metro Detroit.
- Should a small company use an AI agency or hire an AI engineer? A third option between the two: an outsourced AI department that plans, builds and trains, for one monthly fee.
- All answers Every question we have answered so far, in one place.
In the field guide
Your next step
You have the answer. Now ask about your business.
Thirty minutes. You bring one process, and we tell you plainly whether AI is worth doing there and where we would start.
Book a 30-minute working sessionNot ready to talk? Read the field guide
About Summit Client Services. Summit Client Services is your outsourced AI department: we set the strategy, build the tools into how you already run, train your people and keep it all working, on flexible terms. Founded in 2026 by Bruno Guberinich and Peter Davis III. Not affiliated with any other company named Summit Client Services. Contact Summit Client Services.