“AI consulting” and “AI integration” get used interchangeably, but they’re different things — and knowing which you need (often both) saves time and money. Here’s the distinction, and how dgm does both. (dgm implements osFoundry, a separate company’s platform — we are not osFoundry.)
The core difference
- AI consulting delivers advice and strategy — where AI can help, what to prioritize, how to approach it. The deliverable is a plan.
- AI integration delivers a working system — AI connected to your tools and data, doing real work. The deliverable is a system.
In short: consulting answers “what should we do”; integration does it.
When you need which
- Consulting when you need direction — a strategy, a prioritized roadmap, a readiness read (see AI strategy consulting).
- Integration when you know what you want and need it built and connected (see AI integration services).
- Both — the common case — when you need to decide and execute.
The two failure modes
- Advice without execution — a beautiful strategy deck with no path to a working system. Decoration.
- Execution without strategy — building fast without deciding whether it’s the right thing. Risks building the wrong system well.
The fix for both is connecting strategy to execution.
Why one partner for both helps
When the same partner does both, the strategy connects directly to execution — no hand-off, no gap between the plan and the build. The firm owns the path from “what should we do” to “here’s the working system.” That’s harder to achieve when consulting and integration are split across vendors.
How dgm helps
dgm does both: its $399 assessment delivers the consulting (strategy, ranked opportunities, a roadmap), and its $3,999/month engagement delivers the integration (a working system connected to your tools and data, with training). The plan connects to execution because the same partner does both. If you’d rather explore the platform yourself first, go straight to osFoundry; if you want strategy and a working system, that’s where dgm comes in.