smartimpact | gecco

Overview

smartimpact is a UK digital transformation consultancy serving professional organisations. In early 2025, they recognised that AI could transform both their client delivery and their own operations. They had the client relationships and transformation expertise. They did not have an AI practice, methodology, team or toolset.

gecco built the entire AI practice from scratch. We recruited two people to lead it, trained the wider consulting team, deployed a 44-user internal AI workspace, and delivered custom AI solutions across seven client organisations. The result: 240+ AI tools deployed, 300+ professionals trained, and 25,000+ hours of annual productivity gains across the client portfolio.

smartimpact now operates independently. They have a full AI workspace and assistant offering, a consulting and training methodology, and the capability to deliver AI solutions to their customers as a gecco reseller. The partnership continues, with gecco in a supportive role rather than hands-on delivery.

No AI practice, growing demand

smartimpact's transformation engagements are complex. Their clients face cultural resistance, process redesign, stakeholder alignment and technology implementation. The work requires deep human expertise: workshops, relationship-building, escalation management, persuasion. That expertise is what makes smartimpact valuable.

Beneath the human work sits a layer of repeatable tasks: documentation, policy drafting, stakeholder research, impact assessment, communications, training materials. These tasks are high-value (they feed into expert decisions) but time-consuming and repetitive. smartimpact's consultants were spending significant hours on work that could be systematised.

Building a practice from scratch

We started with smartimpact's own house. We deployed an internal AI workspace for 44 users across the organisation, giving every consultant and support staff member access to standard assistants from day one. This meant smartimpact's team experienced AI adoption firsthand before delivering it to clients.

We recruited two people to lead the AI practice and trained them in gecco's methodology: the GRAFT framework for assistant design, the SCALE framework for AI adoption, and the four-phase delivery model (Onboard, Discover, Build, Sustain). We then upskilled the wider consulting team so they could support AI delivery alongside their transformation work.

Across the seven client organisations, we deployed custom AI solutions tailored to each client's terminology, processes and quality standards. The work ranged from standard assistant toolkits across entire staff bases to complex custom builds: a 10-step content production pipeline, executive committee automation, circular collation systems, CRM integrations and clinical governance tools.

Each client engagement followed the same model: onboard the team, discover pain points, build custom solutions using GRAFT, then sustain through AI Champions and ongoing support. The consistency of the methodology meant smartimpact's team could learn from each engagement and apply those lessons to the next.

25,000+ hours saved, 300+ trained

The numbers across the seven client organisations tell the story. 240+ AI tools deployed. 300+ professionals trained with 92% onboarding completion and 63% average confidence uplift. Combined annual productivity gains of 25,000+ hours. Every client retained.

The individual results were strong across the board. One client compressed a three-week executive process to a single day, 14 times a year. Another deployed 52 tools with 98% onboarding completion. A third built a 10-step AI production pipeline processing 1.4 million words. Each engagement proved the methodology worked in a different context.

For smartimpact internally, the shift was equally significant. Consultants recovered days per project. Proposals that took a week now took days. Documentation backlogs cleared. The team had more capacity for the high-value transformation work that commands premium attention.

Independent and growing

smartimpact now runs its own AI practice. The two recruits we placed lead the delivery. The wider consulting team supports AI alongside their transformation work. The methodology is embedded. The tools are in place. gecco has moved from hands-on delivery to a supportive role.

smartimpact offers their customers a complete AI service: workspace deployment, custom assistants, consulting, training, and ongoing support. They have the GRAFT framework for building solutions, the SCALE framework for driving adoption, and the four-phase delivery model for structuring engagements. This is a full practice, not a bolt-on feature.

The partnership continues. smartimpact operates as a gecco reseller, combining their transformation expertise with gecco's AI methodology. As demand for AI adoption grows across professional services, smartimpact is positioned to meet it with proven capability and a track record across seven organisations.

What we learned

Building an AI practice inside another consultancy requires more than deploying tools. You need to recruit the right people, train the wider team, prove the methodology with real clients, and then step back. The goal is independence, not dependency.

Deploying smartimpact's own internal workspace first was the right call. Their consultants experienced AI adoption as users before delivering it to clients. That first-hand experience gave them credibility and confidence that no amount of training slides could provide.

Consistency of methodology across seven very different organisations proved that the GRAFT and SCALE frameworks work at scale. Each client was unique, but the approach was the same. That repeatability is what makes a practice scalable.