Principal Consultants · Authors
The Star Nova AI Specialists — principal AI consultants for SMBs
We are Star AI Consulting — a boutique AI consulting team for 30–300 person businesses. 15+ years collective experience architecting AI and cloud solutions across enterprise, public sector, and social-impact organisations. We write about the work here.
What we work on
Microsoft AI stack for SMBs
M365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Platform with AI Builder, Azure AI Foundry, Purview. Most 30–300 person firms already own 60–80% of the AI capability they need — the work is activating it.
AI strategy & roadmaps
Use-case shortlists, ROI sizing, governance posture, and 90-day rollout plans. We optimise for what survives contact with reality, not what looks good on a slide.
Copilot Studio & custom agents
Design, build, and harden agents — from policy bots and internal knowledge bases through to Azure AI Foundry-grade custom workflows when the use case actually warrants it.
Fractional AI leadership
When you need senior AI direction but a full-time CAIO is overkill. Roadmap ownership, vendor calls, governance, and weekly executive readouts — typically 6–12 months.
How we work
- Honest ROI math first. If the numbers don’t work, we’ll tell you before you sign anything.
- Microsoft-first stack assumption — most SMBs are already paying for it. We’ll only recommend a non-Microsoft tool when the fit is genuinely better.
- Governance posture before launch, not after. Nine one-page documents, two weeks, one named owner.
- Pilots have written exit criteria. We kill what isn’t working at the checkpoint, not six months later.
- No big-agency overhead. Senior delivery on every call, no junior pass-through.
Published field notes· 17 posts
Copilot Champion 90-Day Onboarding Checklist
You hired a Copilot Champion — now what? The week-by-week 90-day plan we hand every new Champion: listen, ship one measurable win, scale, review.
Azure OpenAI vs. AWS Bedrock for SMBs (2026)
The platform decision is rarely about model quality — it’s about identity, residency, grounding store, and which compliance docs already exist.
Power Automate vs. Self-Hosted n8n for SMBs
Self-hosted n8n is free to license and expensive to operate. Power Automate is the reverse. The honest 30–300-seat comparison plus the hybrid pattern.
Microsoft 365 Copilot vs. Gemini for Workspace
For Workspace-first SMBs in 2026: when Gemini is enough, when the M365 + Copilot switch pencils, and the decision matrix we use. No vendor loyalty.
EU AI Act for SMBs in 2026 — the plain-English guide
Plain-English EU AI Act guide for SMBs: risk tiers, GPAI deployer duties, Article 4 literacy, and the August 2026 bite-date.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Pricing 2026: Real TCO
The $30 sticker is half the year-one spend. A line-by-line TCO walkthrough for a 100-seat SMB — plus the cost traps nobody quotes you for.
Copilot Champion Job Description Template
The single biggest predictor of Copilot rollout success: a named, paid, accountable Champion. The JD we recommend — with comp, interview, 90-day plan.
Copilot Studio vs. Custom Agents: Build vs Buy
The build-vs-buy framework we walk every SMB through before scoping an agent: four Copilot Studio signals, four Azure AI Foundry signals, 24-mo TCO.
7 SMB Mistakes in First 90 Days of Copilot
About a third of Copilot rollouts limping in month 3 do so for the same seven reasons. None are tech bugs. All recoverable in 3 weeks if caught early.
Microsoft Copilot vs. ChatGPT for SMBs
The math, workload fit, and decision matrix we walk every 30–300 person firm through. Where Copilot wins, where ChatGPT wins, and the buy-both case.
5 Questions That Disqualify an AI Use Case Fast
The most expensive AI projects aren’t the ones that fail — they’re the ones that should never have started. Five questions we ask before any build.
Power Automate + AI Builder vs. Zapier for SMBs
Most SMBs on Microsoft 365 are paying twice for the same automation. Migration playbook, 80/20 rule, and 5 AI Builder patterns that pay back in month one.
8 Copilot Studio Agent Patterns for SMBs
Eight Copilot Studio agent patterns we build most often for 30–300 person businesses — tile composition, build cost, gotchas, and which to ship first.
AI Governance for SMBs: the 9-Document Pack
Nine one-page documents, two weeks, one named owner. The minimum-viable AI governance posture that answers 80% of any vendor-risk questionnaire.
4-Week AI Activation Playbook for SMBs
Week-by-week schedule, exit criteria, deliverables, and the three checkpoints that decide whether you scale or kill a pilot. The honest version.
The 6-Tile Microsoft AI Stack Every SMB Owns
Most 30–300 person companies pay for 60–80% of the Microsoft AI capability they need. The six-tile map of what you have — and four pieces few activate.
What SMBs Get Wrong About Copilot ROI
Four ROI levers, the trap nobody talks about, and a worked example of how a 120-person firm gets to 3.2× year-one ROI on Microsoft Copilot.
Need a hand with your AI rollout?
Start with the free readiness assessment, or email us directly. First call is always 30 minutes, no obligation.