AI automation
AI Automation for Small Business
Built for and owned by you.
Written by Rea Hailley, CEO and Co-Founder
New Idea Machine is a Calgary custom software and AI automation agency serving small business owners worldwide.
Tell us the job that eats your team's week. You get an AI solution built to do exactly that job.
Most small businesses are held together by five subscriptions and a spreadsheet, and one person who knows how they all connect.
Most business owners who call us say "we need AI automation." What they mean is: there's a task we do over and over, the tools we rent don't quite do it, and someone on the team is stuck doing the rest by hand.
Why it matters: the tools you rent do most of the job. The part they can't do is where your hours go.
- Real examples first, so you can picture your own.
- A number before you commit, in a complimentary meeting with Rea and AL Del Degan, our CTO with 33 years building software.
- Yours from day one, and you can leave whenever you want.
I'm not a developer. I work with technology the same way you do, which is why everything below is written in plain language.
Rea Hailley, CEO and Co-Founder
Nobody equipped you to make these decisions.
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What can AI automation do for a small business?
Three real builds, in plain language: an AI assistant that knows your internal processes, AI customer support trained on your own information, and a meeting assistant.
One business owner came to us asking for AI automation. She coordinates 18 subcontractors and 78 clients from a paper calendar, a spreadsheet and hand-typed invoices. What she needed was one platform that did all of it, because automations break every time the tools they connect to change.
The meeting assistant
Nine back-to-back meetings a day left no time for notes, so the CRM went stale and follow-ups got dropped. Hermes Ear sits on my desk, listens to each meeting, fills in the CRM, and emails me one list of outstanding tasks every day. I stopped opening the CRM by hand.
The single front door
A short-staffed nonprofit could not keep up with inquiries by phone, email, web and in person. Their AI agent answers as one front door, in grade-8 language, points people to the right resource, and offers a warm introduction. Staff step in only when someone needs them.
The firm's memory
Associates could not search past cases, so they knocked on the owner's door and he recited file numbers from memory. Their AI agent is a digital twin of the firm's case knowledge that the team can question directly, and he got his day back.
Read the full story of two of these builds →
Browse more examples by business problem →of 5
What does AI automation cost?
Know the number before you decide.
It depends on what the solution has to do, who uses it, and what it connects to. That is why the first conversation is about the job, not the technology.
If your company is Canadian, your project may qualify for government funding such as SR&ED tax credits and IRAP, which can cover part of the cost.
What does an AI automation build start at?
$10,000
CAD, starting rate for automations and AI agents
Compare it to what you already pay each year for the tools that almost do the job.
Most builds we take on finish in about two months, and you pay for time and materials only, so you see the hours as they happen.
Start the conversationNot ready for a meeting? Answer simple, non-technical questions about what you want the AI to do, and in about 20 minutes the App Cost Calculator gives you the list a developer needs to quote it properly.
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AI build vs buy: should you build AI automation or buy a tool?
Rent when a tool fits. Build when nothing does.
If a $100-a-month tool does the job, use it. One business owner came to us ready to spend $30,000 on a custom platform, and we sent her to a $100-a-month tool so she could validate her idea first.
Build when the job is specific to how your business runs, or when you are paying every month for software you own nothing of. The portal she priced was about $600 a month plus a cut of every payment, and it would have forced her workflow into theirs.
"The biggest change is not having the over $2,500 a year bill for software I owned nothing of."
Paisley Churchill
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Can you automate your business with AI yourself?
If you can type, you can use AI to build.
If what you're building is a straightforward prototype, internal tool, or website, you can likely build it yourself in an AI for Business Bootcamp: four hours, live online, with the guardrails to keep it safe. You learn how to train ChatGPT on your own data and automate the small jobs first.
See the bootcamps →of 5
How do you protect yourself when you hire for AI automation?
Pay for your software once. And, make sure you own it from day one.
Ask every vendor the same questions: who owns the build, how you are billed, whether you can leave, and where your data lives.
Have an independent expert review security. You never want a developer checking their own homework.
You own the software outright. If you ever sell the business, it sells with it, and a business that runs on its own system is more attractive to a buyer than one renting somebody else's.
With us, you own your build from day one, you pay for time and materials only, and you can leave at any time and take everything built to date. You decide where in the world your data lives.
Get the 14 Questions →AI automation questions, answered
What is AI automation for a small business?
Software that does one of your repetitive jobs for you, built around how your business already works, with an AI model doing the reading, writing or deciding in the middle. You describe the job; the build does it.
Is this AI automation consulting or a build?
Both, in that order. The complimentary meeting is the consulting: you leave with a plain-language recommendation and a budget range. If a build is the right answer, the same team builds it.
How much does AI automation cost for a small business?
It depends on what the solution has to do, who uses it, and what it connects to. Builds start at $10,000 CAD and most finish in about two months.
How long does an AI automation build take?
Most builds finish in about two months.
Do I own the AI automation you build?
Yes. You own your build from day one, pay for time and materials only, and can leave at any time and take everything with you.
Which AI model will my automation use?
Whichever fits the job today. We build custom AI software with a model-agnostic architecture, so you can swap AI providers later without a rewrite.
Where does my data live?
You decide. We build private AI agents: when a solution connects to the cloud, you choose the geographic location where your data is stored.
Can I build AI automation myself?
For a straightforward prototype, internal tool, or website, yes. Start with the AI for Business Bootcamp.
Still got questions? Reach out.
No pitch. No pressure. Just cost-saving advice.
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