An AI project is won or lost before the first line of code: which use case to address, which architecture to choose, under which legal framework. We inform these decisions with the experience of a team that designs and operates its own systems in production. You leave with a clear roadmap, independent of any vendor.
We work out of Poitiers and Montréal, remotely or on your premises.
A first video call, no commitment. Reply within 24 business hours.
ADEME Our advice is grounded in practice: ADEME asked us to take its funding-application screening agent into production.Since 2019
we design, ship and operate our own Data & AI products in production
500+
organisations use our GDPR compliance software
ADEME
asked us to take its screening agent into production, after its challenge
0 licences
zero reselling, zero vendor commissions — advice without a conflict of interest
AI consulting means scoping an artificial intelligence project, choosing its architecture and steering its delivery. Three decisions shape that work: which use cases to prioritise, which models and hosting to pick, how to comply with GDPR or Quebec's Law 25. Good scoping gets the prototype into production, instead of leaving it in the lab.
DPLIANCE is an independent AI consulting firm, founded in Poitiers, France, in 2019 and present in Montréal. It offers three formats: AI project audit and scoping, architecture and technical choices, and a fractional CTO for AI and data. The first two are fixed-fee engagements; the third is a subscription of a few days per month to steer your roadmap alongside your teams.
The difference: our consultants have designed and operated AI solutions in production since 2019, including a case-analysis agent that won the Dis-ADEME challenge. Our advice stays independent from any sale: zero licences to place, zero developer days to fill.
The first call is 30 minutes, with an engineer, no commitment. Reply within 24 business hours.
You are already convinced you need to "do AI" — everyone keeps telling you so. Your problem is elsewhere: every vendor recommends their software, every consultancy recommends an engagement, every cloud recommends its infrastructure. When the advice and the sale come from the same pocket, the recommendation is a pitch.
The result: technology choices you endure rather than make, impressive demos that stay stuck at prototype stage. Budgets get spent before anyone examines compliance. An IT director is then left alone to decide on topics that few hires cover.
The classic alternative is to recruit a full-time AI-specialised technical director. The profile is scarce and expensive, and most project volumes are rarely enough to justify one. That is exactly the space our consulting covers.
Sound familiar? Describe your situation to an engineer. Talk to an engineer
Two fixed-fee engagements to decide, one subscription to steer. Every engagement is quoted for your context: scope, data readiness, integration depth. The price stays firm before we start.
You have use cases in mind — or an "AI" mandate and a blank page.
Duration: 2 to 3 weeks
Your project is decided — what remains is how to build it, with what, and where.
Duration: 3 to 4 weeks
You want an AI technical director at your side, without hiring one full-time.
Duration: adjustable monthly commitment
Torn between two formats? That is exactly what the first call is for. Talk to an engineer
Most SMEs, mid-caps and public bodies rarely have the need or the budget for a full-time AI technical director. Yet they face the same decisions: which project to launch, which architecture to choose, which vendor to trust, how to stay compliant. Today those decisions get made with nobody to instruct them.
That is the role we play: a part-time technical director who knows your systems and sits on your committees. We combine a specialisation few CTOs share: artificial intelligence, data and privacy, practised together since 2019.
We operate our own products in production. Our opinions come from that ground, not from an analyst report. When we advise against an architecture, it is often because we have already paid to learn why.
A delivery consultancy lives off its developers' billable days: its advice naturally leads to a delivery engagement. A vendor lives off licences: its audit rarely concludes its product is useless to you. Our consulting aims at something other than delivery: our deliverables stay actionable by any competent team, yours as much as a vendor's. Delivery through us remains one option among others, not an obligation.
That independence lets us make the recommendations that sting. An off-the-shelf tool can be enough, a project can need more maturity, AI can be the wrong answer to your problem. Advice that always says yes is worthless.
Tool choices follow your criteria alone: zero software reselling, zero vendor or cloud commissions.
Fixed-fee engagements have a deliverable and an end. The CTO subscription scales up, down or off, always under your control.
Deliverables are documented and actionable without us. If we vanished tomorrow, your roadmap would still work.
DPLIANCE works in two complementary ways. The right mode comes down to one question: who builds?
The agency builds your solution and keeps it running afterwards. That is the right mode when you want a result in production without tying up an internal technical team.
Discover the agency offerConsulting instructs your decisions; the build stays with your teams or your vendors. You keep your hands on the work, we secure the choices that commit it.
See the three consulting offersIn both cases, the same engineers apply the same Prod First method. The same sovereignty doctrine applies too: your data stays in your jurisdiction, under your legal framework.
An engineer reviews your situation over video, no commitment. We talk projects, teams and constraints. We tell you frankly whether a consulting engagement makes sense.
You receive a written proposal: scope, deliverables, schedule and a firm quote. The rate card stays transparent — you know exactly what you are buying before you sign.
Scoping or architecture as a short fixed-fee engagement, fractional CTO over the months: either way, you work directly with the consultant, never through a junior.
Every engagement ends with actionable deliverables and a debrief to your leadership. You continue alone, with your vendor, or with us — your call.
The first step takes only 30 minutes of your time.
An AI consultant helps an organisation decide on and succeed with its artificial intelligence projects. Their role: identifying profitable use cases, scoping the project, choosing the architecture and models, selecting vendors and steering delivery. At DPLIANCE this advice rests on something specific: our consultants have designed and operated AI solutions in production themselves since 2019. GDPR and Law 25 compliance is a daily discipline here.
An AI-specialised technical director is a scarce, expensive profile that is hard to keep busy full-time outside large organisations. External consulting gives you that level of expertise on demand. Budget a few weeks for a scoping, a few days per month for ongoing steering. And the day your project volume justifies a hire, we help you get it right — it is part of the fractional CTO offer.
Three criteria are enough to sort the field. Independence first: does the firm also sell the build, licences or hosting? If so, its recommendation is a sales pitch. Practice next: have its consultants actually shipped an AI solution to production, or only produced reports? A scoping written by someone who runs models in production themselves is worth more than a theoretical one, which usually underestimates integration and compliance. The legal framework last: hosting, transfers outside the EU, lawful basis, AI Act documentation. A firm discovering those topics mid-engagement will make you pay for them twice. DPLIANCE ticks all three criteria: zero reselling, zero commissions, AI solutions designed and operated in production since 2019. Both the GDPR and Quebec's Law 25 are practised daily.
A delivery consultancy sells developer days: its advice prepares its own engagement. A strategy firm delivers recommendations that are rarely production-tested. Our consulting combines the two missing qualities. Independence first: we stay away from delivery. Practice next: our practitioners operate their own AI solutions in production. Our deliverables are written to be executed, not archived.
Yes, structurally so: zero licences resold, zero vendor or hosting commissions, and our consulting engagements exclude any delivery. If the best answer to your need is an off-the-shelf tool at €30 a month, that is what the deliverable will say. The freedom to conclude "walk away" is precisely what you are paying for.
Every engagement is quoted individually, based on scope, data readiness and the depth of analysis required. Fixed-fee engagements, scoping and architecture, come with a firm price announced before we start. The fractional CTO subscription is sized in days per month and adjusts over time. Describe your need to an engineer: you will receive a priced proposal within days, with a reply within 24 business hours.
It is even recommended. A two-to-three-week scoping is enough to prioritise your use cases and avoid bad investments. You then decide, with full knowledge, whether to go further. The fractional CTO subscription starts at a few days per month and adjusts. And the first 30-minute call remains free of charge.
That is the whole point of the offer: we support your teams, we don't replace them. In practice, we instruct decisions for your IT director and review architecture with your developers. We also evaluate vendor proposals and upskill your data teams. Consulting succeeds when your teams are more autonomous after the engagement than before.
You are free to choose. The deliverables, roadmap and architecture blueprint, are written to stay actionable by any competent team: yours or a third-party vendor's. If you choose to entrust the build to our agency, we apply the Prod First method described on the agency page. That build remains one option among others, not a condition of the consulting.
Yes. Florian Gadal, our CTO, is based in Montréal, and we practise Law 25 daily — records, PIAs, data governance. Quebec and Canadian organisations get the same consulting as in Europe. Hosting and architecture recommendations align with their own legal framework, rather than a simple transposition of the European one.
Your question isn't here? Ask an engineer directly
In practice: you write to us, and we reply within 24 business hours to set a slot. You then spend 30 minutes on a video call with an engineer. That reply comes straight from the engineer, outside any sales process and without an automated email sequence.
Reply within 24 business hours, from a human.
