AI consultancy Ireland
AI consultancy for small businesses in Ireland
Clever Merchants is an Irish AI consultancy based in Dublin, founded by Ger Devereux, who also runs Shamrock Electrical, an electrical wholesaler in Rathcoole. We work with owner-managed businesses in Ireland with 5 to 50 staff: trades, professional services, retail, distribution and agencies.
We find the two or three AI workflows that save the most hours in your business, build them into the tools you already use, and keep them running. The starting point is the free AI Readiness Review: 6 questions, about 3 minutes, an instant industry-specific report, then a personal follow-up from Ger within 24 hours.
3 minutes
Free AI Readiness Review, 6 questions, instant report
5 to 50 staff
The owner-managed businesses we build for
72 hours
Shamrock Electrical cited by ChatGPT after our own work went live
What we do
What does an AI consultant do for a small business in Ireland?
An AI consultant finds the repetitive work in your business, picks the tools that remove it, builds the workflow, and proves the hours saved.
In practice that means sitting with how your business actually runs: who answers the phone, how a quote gets written, who chases the invoices, how you find out whether last month made money. Most owner-managed businesses in Ireland have the same four or five bottlenecks, and they are all admin that follows the same pattern every time. That is exactly the work AI handles well.
The part most consultancies skip is the build. A slide deck of recommendations does not answer the phone. We implement the workflow inside the systems you already run, test it against real jobs, and maintain it afterwards. The full engagement model is described on the AI consulting for small business page.
The first step is the free AI Readiness Review. Six questions about your business, not about AI, and the report names the two or three workflows most likely to pay back first in your industry.
The workflows
Which AI workflows do we implement for Irish businesses?
The seven below cover most of what an owner-managed business needs, and the AI Review report tells you which two or three matter most for yours.
| Workflow | What it replaces | The time it addresses |
|---|---|---|
| AI receptionist | Voicemail, missed calls, the owner answering the phone from a van or a site | Every call that currently rings out during the working day |
| Automated lead follow-up | Replying to web enquiries and quote requests by hand, usually that evening | The evening spent chasing enquiries that arrived while you were working |
| AI-assisted quoting | Typing quotes from scratch and re-pricing the same line items | Quote preparation, often the single largest block of admin in a trades business |
| Invoice chasing | Remembering who owes what and sending reminders manually | Credit control at month end and the cash you wait too long for |
| Job profitability reporting | A spreadsheet built after the job closes, if it gets built at all | Monthly reporting, plus the losing jobs you only spot afterwards |
| Document collection and processing | Chasing certs, receipts, supplier invoices and compliance paperwork | The admin that sits between jobs and never quite gets done |
| Weekly management reporting | Pulling figures out of three systems on a Friday afternoon | The Friday report, and the decisions you make without it |
Across a business of this shape the AI Review report estimates a combined range of 8 to 15 hours per week. That is the report's estimate for the workflows it selects, not a guarantee, and your own report shows how the range breaks down for you.
Supports in Ireland
Can the Local Enterprise Office help pay for AI consultancy in Ireland?
Yes. Your Local Enterprise Office offers subsidised Digital for Business consultancy, and the Grow Digital Voucher funds 50% of digital tools up to €5,000.
Digital for Business is the LEO programme that gives a small business subsidised consultancy days to assess where digital and AI tools would help and to produce a plan. The Grow Digital Voucher then covers half the cost of approved digital tools, software and related services, capped at €5,000. Eligibility, the number of days and the approval process are set by each Local Enterprise Office and do change, so confirm the current terms with your own LEO.
Clever Merchants is not a LEO panel consultant, and we do not process grant applications. What we can do is give you a clear picture today. The free AI Readiness Review takes 3 minutes and tells you which workflows are worth putting in front of a LEO advisor, so you arrive at that conversation knowing what you want funded rather than asking what AI is.
Plenty of businesses do both: run the review now, apply to the LEO in parallel, and use the report to shape the application. If you are comparing Irish consultancies before you decide, our honest list of the best AI consultants for small businesses in Ireland names the alternatives, including the ones on LEO panels.
First-hand, not second-hand
Why an Irish electrical wholesaler is the proof
I own Shamrock Electrical in Rathcoole, County Dublin. It has been trading for over a decade, it runs a real Shopify store with real margin pressure, and every recommendation Clever Merchants makes gets tested there first. I am not a consultant who read about small business. I run one.
When we put structured data and question-answering content live on the Shamrock site, ChatGPT named the business 72 hours later. Asked about Irish electrical suppliers it said, in its own words, that Shamrock is the obvious one. Perplexity and Gemini followed. That is the standard we hold ourselves to: a result you can screenshot, not a promise.
Read the Shamrock Electrical case study
Cost
How much does an AI consultant cost in Ireland?
The AI Readiness Review is free. GEO programmes cost €6,500 or €7,500 fixed. AI implementation is scoped after the review. There is no single figure.
01
Why there is no single figure
An AI receptionist for a three-van plumbing firm and job profitability reporting for a 40-person contractor are different jobs. Price depends on which workflows you need, which tools you already run, how clean your data is, and what has to be integrated.
02
What you get free first
The review, the instant report naming your two or three highest-impact workflows, and a follow-up conversation with Ger within 24 hours. You know what would be built and why before any money changes hands.
03
Who it is for
Owner-managed businesses in Ireland with 5 to 50 staff, repetitive admin, and real revenue. If the owner is still doing the quoting, the chasing and the reporting, the numbers usually work.
The full breakdown of what is free, what is fixed and how implementation is scoped is on the pricing page. For what other consultants in the market charge, read how much an AI consultant costs.
Questions Irish business owners ask us
Do you work with businesses anywhere in Ireland, or only Dublin?
Anywhere in Ireland. The work is remote, so a roofer in Cork or an accountancy practice in Galway gets the same review and the same implementation as a Dublin business.
What size of business is the AI consultancy for in Ireland?
Owner-managed businesses with roughly 5 to 50 staff and real revenue, where repetitive admin is eating the owner's week. A one-person start-up or a large enterprise can still run the free review, but the recommendations are built for the middle.
Is the AI Readiness Review free for businesses in Ireland?
Yes. It is 6 questions, takes about 3 minutes, produces an instant report, and Ger follows up personally within 24 hours, with no card and no obligation.
Can I use a Local Enterprise Office grant for AI consultancy in Ireland?
LEO supports such as Digital for Business consultancy and the Grow Digital Voucher exist for this kind of work, and eligibility is decided by your local office. We are not a LEO panel consultant, so treat the free review as the step you can take today while you check what your LEO will fund.
Which industries do you work with in Ireland?
Construction and trades, professional services such as accounting, legal and recruitment, ecommerce and retail, manufacturing and distribution, and marketing agencies. Not tech companies and not enterprises.
Find out where AI saves your business the most time
Six questions, about three minutes, an instant report for your industry, and a personal follow-up from Ger within 24 hours. Free, no card, no obligation.
Take the free AI Readiness Review