Applied Gradient

From AI potential
to real-world impact.

AI strategy. Engineering. Automation. Governance.

Our engineers visit your business, observe how work gets done, and deliver narrowly scoped improvements—from custom software and automation to governed AI access, model routing, on-premises deployment, and custom training.

Typical engagements · 3–6 months

Start a conversation Discover our approach

Our team brings experience from

  • Stanford
  • MIT
  • Microsoft
  • OpenAI
  • Google
The opportunity

Beyond chatbots.
Built for your business.

Meaningful AI adoption goes beyond giving employees access to chatbots. We use AI to accelerate custom software development and automate the existing processes that take up your team’s day.

Repeatable steps run on deterministic business rules, with validation, approvals, and exception handling built in. Where a workflow uses models, we evaluate their outputs against defined requirements and add review where it is needed.

From your business to working software.Your processes, systems, and data inform AI-assisted engineering. Engineers build, integrate, and validate custom software. The resulting workflows use explicit rules, approvals, and exception handling to reduce repetitive work while keeping control with your team.01Your businessProcesses · systems · data02AI-assisted engineeringBuild · integrate · validate03Working softwareRules · approvalsException handling
01 — From process to softwareLess repetitive work
What we do

The right expertise.
At every stage.

From an early idea to an everyday capability.
We meet you where you are and help you move forward.

01

AI strategy & discovery

Find the opportunities worth pursuing. We work with your team to understand your workflows, assess what is technically possible, and turn a broad ambition into a focused plan.

  • Opportunity mapping
  • Data & feasibility assessment
  • Prioritized AI roadmap
02

Custom business software

Use AI-assisted development to build purpose-built software around the way your business works. We deliver practical internal tools and applications that replace manual steps, connect information, and help your team get more done.

  • AI-assisted development
  • Full-stack product engineering
  • Custom internal tools
03

Process automation & integrations

Turn repeatable business processes into reliable software workflows. We connect your existing systems, implement clear business rules, and automate routine steps—with approvals and exception handling where they are needed.

  • Deterministic workflows
  • System integrations
  • Approvals & exception handling
04

AI governance & access

Centralize governance over employee access to AI systems. Standardize connections to your existing systems, knowledge bases, and data while enforcing your organization’s access controls and privacy requirements.

  • Centralized AI access
  • Integration with existing permissions
  • Privacy controls
05

Production & enablement

Close the gap between a promising demo and a dependable system. We help you evaluate quality, integrate with your environment, manage cost, and give your team the confidence to take it forward.

  • Evaluation & monitoring
  • Deployment & optimization
  • Documentation & team training
Model strategy

Intelligence,
on your terms.

When a solution needs AI, the model should fit the work, your budget, and your requirements for control.

01

Intelligent model routing.

Not every task needs the latest frontier model. We route requests to models that meet the job’s requirements at an appropriate cost, reserving more capable models for work that needs them. We test quality and measure the savings.

02

On-premises AI.

Run suitable open-source and open-weight models on infrastructure you control. We design on-premises deployments around your privacy requirements and evaluate hardware, operating costs, and performance to determine where local AI makes practical and financial sense.

03

Custom model training.

Custom training and fine-tuning can create focused capabilities for specialized business problems. We combine your domain expertise and proprietary data with targeted evaluation to build capabilities shaped around your business—an advantage that can be harder for competitors to replicate.

How we work

Narrow scope.
Maximum impact.

We’re not a typical consultancy. Our projects are narrowly scoped and focused on the changes that can have the greatest impact on your business.

A typical engagement lasts 3–6 months. We start by seeing how your business works, then follow through from recommendations to implementation and results.

  1. 01

    Observe

    One or more forward deployed engineers visit your business to observe employees performing their day-to-day work.

  2. 02

    Recommend

    We provide a report outlining recommended projects, their scope, and their expected impact.

  3. 03

    Implement

    We implement the recommendations you select, with working software for your team to test and help shape.

  4. 04

    Monitor

    We measure the results against agreed success criteria, making quality and operating costs visible.

  5. 05

    Refine

    We adjust based on the results and equip your team with documentation and the knowledge to move forward.

Example use cases

Where AI becomes useful.

Practical workflows built around your systems, data, and business rules. Explore what we could help you automate.

Accounts receivable & invoice processing

Create and validate customer invoices, match incoming payments, and prepare routine follow-ups—keeping discrepancies visible and approval decisions with your team.

  • Invoice processing
  • Payment matching
  • Accounts receivable

Tier 1 customer support automation

Resolve routine support requests using approved information and defined policies, while routing complex questions and exceptions to the people best equipped to handle them.

  • Support workflows
  • Approved knowledge
  • Escalation

Clinical trial participant follow-up

Coordinate study-approved reminders, visit scheduling, and questionnaires, with participant responses and follow-up needs routed to authorized members of the study team.

  • Participant communications
  • Study scheduling
  • Staff escalation

Marketing analytics & query creation

Turn marketing questions into reviewable queries across approved reporting data, helping your team explore campaign performance without rebuilding every analysis from scratch.

  • SQL generation
  • Marketing data
  • Reporting

Sales operations & CRM updates

Keep customer records current, turn approved meeting notes into structured updates, and prepare follow-up tasks so your sales team spends less time on administration.

  • CRM integration
  • Record updates
  • Follow-up preparation

Employee onboarding & access provisioning

Coordinate onboarding tasks, document collection, and system access through a consistent workflow that follows role requirements and routes access requests for approval.

  • Onboarding workflows
  • Access approvals
  • Task coordination

Procurement & vendor onboarding

Collect vendor information, check required documentation, organize purchasing requests, and route approvals through a consistent process with fewer manual handoffs.

  • Vendor onboarding
  • Document validation
  • Purchase approvals

Order processing & exception management

Validate incoming orders, connect order information across systems, and surface fulfillment exceptions early so your operations team can focus on the cases needing attention.

  • Order intake
  • System integration
  • Exception handling
Good questions

A little more clarity.

Every organization starts from a different place. Here are a few things you may be wondering.

Ask us something else
What does an engagement look like?

Typical engagements last 3–6 months. We observe your team on site and recommend narrowly scoped projects with expected impact. You choose what we implement; we agree on success criteria, then monitor results and refine. A workflow or business problem is enough to start—you do not need a technical brief.

Can you take an existing prototype into production?

Yes. We review the architecture, business rules, reliability, and integration gaps, then define the work needed for deployment. We can work alongside your engineers or own a specific part of delivery.

Will you work with our existing tools and data?

Yes, wherever practical. We assess your systems, data, access requirements, and integration constraints before choosing technology. The solution should fit your environment and preserve existing permissions.

Can you centralize employee access to AI?

Yes. We standardize access to approved AI systems and connections to your business systems, knowledge bases, and data, while enforcing your existing access controls and privacy requirements.

How do you make workflows dependable?

We test business rules and model outputs against representative examples and agreed requirements. Validation, monitoring, approvals, and exception handling make failures visible and keep decisions with people where review is needed.

How do you balance model quality, cost, and privacy?

We evaluate task quality and total operating cost before choosing models. The right combination may include request routing, on-premises open-source or open-weight models, and targeted training. Data handling and privacy requirements guide the design from the start.

What happens after launch?

We monitor results, make adjustments, and provide documentation and team training during the engagement. Any continuing support or further projects are scoped with your team.

The next step starts with a conversation

What could AI make
possible for your business?

Tell us which workflow slows your team down, the systems involved, and what a better outcome would look like. We’ll use the first conversation to understand the opportunity and whether a focused engagement makes sense.

Let’s talk hello@appliedgradient.com
Based in Palo Alto, California