Comparison
TRARDI vs AI consulting firms — choosing your partner
Two legitimate engagement shapes. Different governance, different velocity, different economics. Pick the structure that matches the real constraint.
TRARDI typically works on bounded AI deliverables with senior execution, fixed-price milestones, and contractual transfer of the agreed deliverables. Large consulting firms (Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey, BCG, Capgemini, EY, KPMG, PwC) often operate on broader, longer, more transformation-heavy programs. Different shapes for different engagement economics.
How we differ
Often layered: partner + engagement manager + juniors
Senior-only squads (PhD, staff+ engineers)
Typically 3–12 months per engagement
1–6 weeks per deliverable
Typically time & materials, day rates
Fixed-price per milestone
Varies by contract and engagement structure
Contractual transfer of the agreed deliverables
May involve internal platforms or accelerators depending on the engagement
Designed to operate in client stack when the mandate requires it
Mixed (depends on engagement)
PhD-led; builders ship code
Strong (100+ countries, 24/7 ops)
Focused engagements, not global scale-out
Fortune 500 transformations, regulated programs
First AI systems, fast pilots, IP-sensitive builds
- You need a rollout in 20+ countries with local compliance teams on the ground.
- Procurement requires a Fortune 500-grade supplier on the master agreement.
- You're buying board-level air cover for a politically sensitive transformation.
- You need 50+ people staffed on a program for 18+ months.
- You want your first production AI system shipped in weeks, not quarters.
- You need a clean contractual transfer of deliverables and no artificial dependency at handover.
- Your data cannot leave your stack without explicit framing. You want senior technical builders on the critical path.
- You need a fixed-price contract, not open-ended time & materials.
Three scenarios
A CAC40 deploying an AI assistant across 15 countries
Large consultancy likely — global delivery depth and local coordination dominate.
A mid-market firm shipping its first production RAG on sensitive docs
TRARDI likely — bounded scope, execution speed, and technical continuity dominate.
A scale-up replacing a stalled consulting pilot
TRARDI can be relevant if recovery can be tightly scoped and the codebase remains accessible.
FAQ
Are large consulting firms bad for AI?
No. Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey, and the rest excel at global transformations where scale and local compliance are primary constraints. It's not good vs bad — it's which shape matches your problem.
Can TRARDI handle a Fortune 500 engagement?
We focus on bounded, measurable builds — an audit, a production system, an adoption program. For a 500-person transformation, pair us with your consulting partner or your internal delivery team.
Why fixed-price over time & materials?
Fixed-price aligns incentives around deliverables, not billable hours. Scope changes happen — we handle them with named change orders, not creep.
How concrete is your IP transfer?
Every TRARDI engagement closes with contractual handover of the agreed deliverables: code, models, data pipelines, and documentation within signed scope. We do not build artificial lock-in into the operating handover.
Which firms do you compare against?
Tier-1 consulting firms active in AI in France and Europe: Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, McKinsey, BCG, Sopra Steria. The Big 4 specifically refers to Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC.
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We'll tell you honestly whether your use case fits us or a larger consulting firm — and why.
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