Answer page
AI agency, freelancer or APPIQ: which fits which project
An AI agency brings a team, and with it coordination overhead. A freelancer is quick and affordable but is one person who can drop out. APPIQ Solutions sits between the two: a senior developer as your single contact, backed by our own platform ACE, which coordinates specialised AI agents across the software lifecycle.
What do you get from a classic AI agency?
A team with roles: project management, concept, development, testing. That carries large programmes and holds together when someone resigns.
The price is coordination. Your requirement travels through several heads before it becomes code. On a project with many stakeholders that effort pays off. On a single process you are paying for structure you do not need.
When is a freelancer the right choice?
When the task is clearly bounded, you can hold your own technically, and an outage would not sink you. Short paths, little overhead, often the best price.
The risk is the singular. Illness, a better-paid contract, or a holiday stops your project. And if nobody else knows the code afterwards, the handover costs more than the build did.
What does APPIQ Solutions do differently?
You talk to one person: Viktor Hermann, solution architect for over 8 years, based in Oerlinghausen. The same person writes the analysis, builds, and hands over.
Capacity comes from ACE, our own platform. It coordinates specialised AI agents across analysis, implementation, and review, keeps project knowledge in a knowledge graph, and checks results against technical debt. A person decides what gets accepted.
In practice: short paths like a freelancer, documented project knowledge like an agency. In one documented case, four apps shipped in 90 days.
When is APPIQ clearly the wrong fit?
Some projects need a different partner. We would rather say so in the first call than after three months.
- Enterprise rollouts with fifty stakeholders, several countries, and their own programme office. That needs an organisation, not a small unit.
- Pure strategy work without implementation. If you need a target picture for the board and nobody builds afterwards, strategy firms are better equipped.
- Projects with no counterpart on your side. Without someone who explains processes and approves results, the software misses the need.
- Engagements where AI is decided up front and the process gets bent to fit it afterwards.
How does the collaboration actually run?
A free first call. Then a risk analysis with a process list and an effort estimate. Then a fixed-price prototype you can stop if it does not convince you.
During operation you get one channel and a weekly status. The code and the documentation are yours, so you can continue in-house or with another provider at any point.
How do you spot an unserious AI provider?
By promises without evidence. Anyone who quotes you savings figures before seeing your processes is guessing. Anyone who sends a proposal after one meeting without looking at your data situation is pricing blind.
A second warning sign: the provider talks about models instead of your workflow. The model is replaceable, your process is not. Ask for an example where a project was stopped, and how they handled it.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if Viktor Hermann is unavailable?
Project knowledge does not live only in one head. It sits documented in the ACE knowledge graph and in repositories you have access to, so another developer can take over without starting from zero.
Is a single provider cheaper than an agency?
Usually yes, because the coordination overhead disappears. The comparison only means something at equal scope, so ask both sides to price the same prototype and the same integrations.
Do you work with our existing IT department?
Yes. In most projects your IT team is the key counterpart, because they know the systems, permissions, and interfaces. We hand over documentation your team can work with.
Do you take over existing projects?
Yes, after a review. We look at the code, dependencies, and documentation, then tell you what a takeover costs and where the legacy problems sit. Sometimes rebuilding is cheaper.
Do you also build software without AI?
Yes. Web and mobile applications are core business. Not every problem needs a language model, and we say so when an interface is the better answer.
Can I use ACE without commissioning a project?
Tech teams evaluating ACE have their own entry point on the ACE page. Raise it in the first call and we will settle scope and prerequisites.