Choosing AI Vendors: Evaluation Framework for Partners

Everyone has a demo. Few have a deployment.

The Wrapper Trap

The AI market is flooded with startups that are Thin Wrappers around OpenAI.

The Risk: If OpenAI releases a feature next week, that vendor ceases to exist.
The Mitigation: Ask, What is your IP? Is it the prompt? Or is it the integration/workflow?

The Evaluation Matrix

When interviewing an AI partner , ask these 4 questions:

1. Show me your Evaluation Pipeline.

If they show you a demo, thats nice.
If they show you a spreadsheet of Accuracy vs. Latency benchmarks on a test dataset, hire them. It means they treat AI as engineering, not magic.

2. How do you handle Data Privacy?

Bad Answer: We are secure.
Good Answer: We use zero-retention APIs. We can deploy into your VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). Here is our SOC 2 report.

3. What happens when the model drifts?

Do they have a plan for Day 2? Do they offer ongoing monitoring? Or do they just build and leave?

4. Can you train us to fish?

Vendor lock-in is dangerous in AI. A good partner should be willing to upskill your internal team to manage the system eventually.

Conclusion

Pick a partner who talks about Process and Data more than they talk about Models. Models are commodities. Process is the asset.

This concludes the Enterprise AI Integration series.

How This Article Was Made

This article is a live example of the AI-enabled content workflow we build for clients.

Stage	Who	What
Research	Claude Opus 4.5	Analyzed current industry data, studies, and expert sources
Curation	Tom Hundley	Directed focus, validated relevance, ensured strategic alignment
Drafting	Claude Opus 4.5	Synthesized research into structured narrative
Fact-Check	Human + AI	All statistics linked to original sources below
Editorial	Tom Hundley	Final review for accuracy, tone, and value

The result: Research-backed content in a fraction of the time, with full transparency and human accountability.

Why We Work This Way

Were an AI enablement company. It would be strange if we didnt use AI to create content. But more importantly, we believe the future of professional content isnt AI vs. Human—its AI amplifying human expertise.

Every article we publish demonstrates the same workflow we help clients implement: AI handles the heavy lifting of research and drafting, humans provide direction, judgment, and accountability.

Want to build this capability for your team? Lets talk about AI enablement →