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Connected Strategies est. 2026

AI that earns its keep.For businesses your size.

We're a small team that helps small businesses install practical AI where it actually pays back: in operations, in customer work, in the stuff your team is already doing twice. No moonshots. No keynote slides. Just leverage you can measure by next quarter.

Book a discovery call See how we work
  • 30-min call, no slide deck
  • You leave with one concrete idea
  • We tell you if AI isn't the answer

Why we exist

Most AI work is sold to the Fortune 500. We do it for the people who actually run their own business.

You don't need a 40-slide AI strategy. You need three things unstuck before the end of the quarter, a team that knows what to do with the new tools, and a partner who picks up the phone when something breaks.

  • A.Plain language. If we can't explain it to a customer of yours, we shouldn't be building it.
  • B.Concrete deliverables. Not strategy decks. Working systems with measurable outcomes.
  • C.Honest scope. If AI isn't the answer, we'll tell you on the discovery call. No hours billed.

What we do

Three engagements. Built to compound.

Each engagement stands alone. Most clients run them in order: assess what to build, build the right thing, then train the team to own it.

  1. Two overlapping circles, the union filled with a warm gold, denoting aligned goals.011–2 weeks

    AI Assessment

    We sit with you and your team, map how the work actually moves through the business, and hand back an AI roadmap with five to ten prioritized opportunities. Each one carries a rough cost, a rough payback, and a recommendation: build it, buy it, or skip it.

    • Process map of your operations
    • Prioritized opportunity list with ROI estimates
    • Build / buy / skip recommendation for each
    • 60-min walkthrough with your leadership
  2. A central hub with eight nodes radiating outward, denoting connected systems.022–6 weeks

    AI Operating System

    We build and install an AI infrastructure layer that knows your business: your customers, your products, your operating context. It connects the systems you already use, automates the repetitive work, and gives your team a single place to ask questions and take action.

    • Custom AI layer connected to your tools
    • Automation flows for repetitive tasks
    • Internal interface your team actually uses
    • Documentation and on-call support
  3. Three stacked chevrons pointing up, the topmost in gold, denoting forward motion.03Ongoing

    AI Training

    We train you and your team to operate, maintain, and improve the systems we install, so the value compounds instead of decaying. Live workshops, written playbooks, and a standing channel where your people can ask us anything for as long as the engagement runs.

    • Hands-on workshops for your team
    • Written playbooks for each system
    • Standing async channel for questions
    • Quarterly review of what's working

A working example

What one quarter looks like for a 12-person manufacturer.

We don't have public case studies yet. We're new. So here's a worked example of what an engagement actually delivers, drawn from the patterns we see across small operators.

before the work

A team running on momentum

  • 3 daysto turn an inbound RFQ into a quote. Two people touch every one.
  • 11 hrs / wkspent rekeying order data between the ERP, the spreadsheet, and the shipping portal.
  • ~30%of customer emails answered after 4pm by the founder, on her phone, from her car.

after 90 days

A team running on a system

  • 30 minRFQ to drafted quote. The system reads the email, prices the job, and routes it to one approver.
  • 0 hrsrekeying. Orders flow from inbox to ERP to shipping with one human checkpoint.
  • < 1 hrmedian customer email response, including weekends. Founder reads, doesn't draft.

Investment: ~$10k – $30k across assessment + build. Payback: estimated 4.5 months in recovered hours alone, before counting the deals won by being the first to respond.

Edu van Zyl, founder of Connected Strategies, in a light shirt with arms crossed, photographed against a concrete wall.
CS-001Founder · Edu van Zyl

Who you're hiring

I started Connected Strategies because the businesses I love don't get the attention they deserve.

I've spent years inside small operating businesses: the kind with twelve employees, five customers who matter, and a founder who knows everyone's kid's name. The AI industry has spent the same years selling to companies a thousand times their size.

That gap is where Connected Strategies works. Not strategy decks. Not pilots that never ship. Real systems, installed in real businesses, with the founders and operators who run them. If we talk and I don't see a clear path to value within the year, I'll tell you on the call.

Edu van ZylFounder, Connected Strategies

Talk to us

A 30-minute call. No deck. No pressure.

We'll ask about the business, listen, and tell you whether we see something worth building. If we don't, we'll point you at someone who does.

Book a discovery call