Implementation
Intelligent automation consulting
Intelligent automation consulting, the way we do it: work out where your existing bots still earn their keep, where AI agents should replace or extend them, and where the whole thing is running without the guardrails a regulated process needs.
From RPA to AI agents
Most companies that search for this term already have automation. They bought RPA a few years ago, it automated the clean, structured work, and then it stalled on everything with variation in it: the invoice in an odd format, the exception nobody wrote a rule for, the document that needs reading rather than copying. That is the gap intelligent automation fills. An AI layer handles the judgment the bot could not, and the bot keeps doing the parts it was always good at.
So the first job is rarely a fresh build. It is deciding, process by process, what to keep, what to retire, and where an agent belongs. A bot that moves structured data between two systems reliably is cheap and worth keeping. A bot that breaks every time a supplier changes a template is a liability, and an agent that can actually read the document is the fix.
The governance gap most programs carry
RPA estates tend to grow without anyone owning the whole picture. Bots run under a shared login, with access nobody reviews, doing work nobody logged. That was a manageable risk when the bots only followed rules. It stops being manageable the moment an AI model is making judgment calls on regulated data. Access boundaries, audit trails, and a human on the decisions that matter are part of the build here, not a later phase. How we govern automated systems is on the AI governance consulting page and in our AI compliance framework guide.
How the engagement works
We do not quote a program on a hunch. It starts with a fixed-scope assessment: 3–6 weeks, priced at $20,000 to $80,000, and where in that range depends on scope: how many systems and teams we assess, company size, and regulatory exposure. You get a written recommendation with the numbers behind it: which bots to keep, which to replace, where agents pay off, and what governance is missing. Builds that follow are scoped in phases with a working piece at the end of each. If the honest answer is that your current estate is fine and the spend would not pay, that is the recommendation.
Which page fits you
This page is for companies with an existing automation estate to modernize. If you are starting from manual work with no bots yet, the broader AI automation service is the better door, and the free automation opportunity assessment worksheet helps you find the processes worth doing first. Intelligent automation lands hardest in finance operations; if that is you, the financial services automation page has the sector detail.
Who does the work
The senior people at Tillerbridge are Nick Major, the engineer who builds these systems, and Isaac Major, the operator who has run the kinds of teams they land in. No bench, no handoff after the sale, no vendor commissions, no software resale. We are a young firm and we will not dress that up with invented case studies or logos; our backgrounds are on the about page.
Questions people ask
- What is the difference between RPA and intelligent automation?
- RPA is a bot following fixed rules: it clicks the same screens and moves the same fields every time, and it breaks the moment the input varies. Intelligent automation adds a layer that can read an unstructured document, judge an exception, or decide which path to take, so it handles the variation that made a plain bot fail. Most real systems end up as a mix: rules where the work is rule-shaped, models where it is not.
- Do AI agents replace RPA?
- Not wholesale. A bot that reliably moves structured data between two systems is cheap and predictable, and there is no reason to rip it out. Agents earn their place on the steps a bot could never do: reading a messy PDF, clearing an exception queue, deciding when to escalate. We usually keep the working bots, retire the brittle ones, and put an agent only where judgment was the thing missing. Where the whole estate is worth rethinking, that is an AI agent consulting conversation.
- What does an intelligent automation consultant do?
- Finds the processes worth automating, decides for each one whether it needs a rule-based bot, an AI model, or a person, builds it into your real systems, and puts guardrails on the parts that touch money or regulated data. The honest version also tells you which processes to leave alone. Our method for that decision is the free automation opportunity assessment worksheet.
- How much does intelligent automation consulting cost?
- Our fixed-scope assessment runs $20,000 to $80,000; where in that range depends on scope: how many systems and teams we assess, company size, and regulatory exposure. For the build, $50,000–$250,000 is the band from published 2026 ranges for a typical scoped production build; small builds start near $20k, and that band is a single scoped build; multi-system, multi-year programs run seven figures and beyond, and scale like that is work we take. Modernizing an existing RPA estate can cost less than a first build, because the process is already mapped; the assessment tells you which.
Tell us about the work.
A few lines is enough. We read every enquiry ourselves and reply within one business day.