A growing AI consultancy had outgrown spreadsheets. AppleBoar delivered a fully functioning, production-ready operations platform in 20 working days, at a fraction of what a conventional agency build would have cost.
Problem
AIConfident is a fast-growing AI consultancy, helping clients across the UK with AI strategy, governance and training. The business was quickly outgrowing its management systems, with client information spread across spreadsheets, documents, and the founders' heads. Once a client moved into delivery, that information got harder to find and share, and the admin work kept growing.
Process
AIConfident had already mapped out early requirements with a product consultant, giving AppleBoar a solid starting point to work out what the platform needed to do, not just what would be nice to have.
Big projects like this carry a risk: what you think you need at the start often isn't what you need in practice, and AI tools make it easy to build the wrong thing fast. So AppleBoar spent the first stretch sharpening the axe rather than swinging it, working out what information the platform needed to hold, how it should be organised, who could see or change it, and how it would be built, hosted, and kept secure.
With that done, AppleBoar built a working mock-up so the team could see and try it before any real building began. Only once everyone agreed did the build start.
The platform was built mainly using an AI coding tool called Claude Code, with every part checked and signed off by experienced software engineers before going live. That let AppleBoar move fast and keep costs down without cutting corners on security, stability, or scalability.
Solution
One secure platform now runs the business operations day to day, with a single place to manage every client. Staff see what they need for each engagement, and the team manages every client relationship in one place, without jumping between systems. A client-facing portal is in active development, with personalised action and outcome trackers planned as the next phase.
Impact
- A working first iteration was ready within a week.
- A fully functional, secure platform was live within a month.
- Built in 20 working days, start to launch, a fraction of a typical agency timeline.
- Considerably cheaper than a standard software project.
- Used every day by multiple people on the AIConfident team.
- Less admin, with information now in one place and easy to find.
- Development continues, with the client portal launching soon.
"As a scaling company, we're always looking to improve our processes and make sure we're set up efficiently as we grow. Working with Rob and AppleBoar was fantastic; Rob challenged us to always think about the problem we were trying to solve, rather than just building things because the AI tools let us do it quickly. We've ended up with a product that's entirely customised to our needs and affordable to build.
It has massively improved our operational efficiency (we're continuing to grow the number of clients we onboard without increasing operational support) and made us more resilient in our delivery. This was also a great opportunity for us to build in the open, so our clients can see what's possible with AI today."