Rochester · Buffalo · Syracuse · Finger Lakes
AI and automation consulting in Rochester, NY
Civic Dialog is a small consulting practice based in Rochester. We train your people to build their own automations, build custom automations and internal apps with them, or lead the AI work month to month. Every engagement ends with a measured result.
- Rochester, NY
- where the practice is based
- On site
- across Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Finger Lakes
- Free
- one-hour Lunch & Learn at your office
- Two days
- to a reply, in business days
01What we do
Three ways to work with us.
They differ in who does the building and who stays on afterward. All three end with automations running in your real work.
01
AI Training
4 to 12 people · 12 weeks
A twelve-week program for 4 to 12 people who scope, build, deploy, and measure their own automations, with our coaching.
02
Automation & Apps
0 to 4 builders, plus stakeholders · Scoping sprint, then 4 to 8 weeks per project
Custom automations and internal apps, built in weeks with your stakeholders in the room and anywhere from none to four of your people at the keyboard, on tools and accounts you own.
03
AI Strategy
Leadership and department leads · 4 to 6 weeks, then month to month
A fixed-fee assessment that maps your workflows and systems, baselines the hours, and ends with a ranked roadmap. Then, if you want it, a fractional chief AI officer who leads the work month to month.
02Why local matters
Some of this work goes better in the room.
Mapping how a process really runs means watching it run. The parts that need that happen at your site. The rest happens wherever is easiest for your team.
What happens in person
- A free one-hour Lunch & Learn for your team, at your office
- The onsite week of the systems and workflow assessment: interviews and shadowing in every department
- The leadership readout at the end of an assessment
- The four workshop days of the in-person Cohort format
- Scoping sessions with your stakeholders in the room before a CoBuild project
Where
- Rochester
- Buffalo
- Syracuse
- Finger Lakes
Farther away? We work remotely, and onsite days are quoted separately when they help.
03Ways to start
Three low-commitment first steps.
Free, one hour
Lunch & Learn
We come to your team, in person or on a call, and work through what AI and automation can do for your specific work. Questions welcome. No pitch.
Fixed fee, 4 to 6 weeks
Systems and workflow assessment
An onsite week and four themed check-ins that map your workflows and systems, baseline the hours, and produce a prioritized opportunity map with a roadmap your leadership can act on.
Free, eight questions
Online readiness check
A short self-assessment that scores where your organization stands and suggests which lane fits.
04The Savings Ledger
Savings get measured, not promised.
Every engagement is measured the same way: baseline the process, build against it, log every run, report the result. Hours are valued at your staff rate. Revenue counts when it is collected.
Common questions
Do you work on site in Rochester?
Yes. The practice is based in Rochester, New York. Lunch & Learns, the onsite week of an assessment, leadership readouts, and Cohort workshop days happen in person. Weekly check-ins during a build are usually remote because that is easier on your team.
Do you work with organizations in Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Finger Lakes?
Yes. In-person work covers Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Finger Lakes. Organizations farther away work with us remotely, and onsite days are quoted separately when they help.
What size of organization is this for?
Small and mid-sized organizations, usually without a software team of their own. The people we work with are owners, operations leaders, and finance or HR leads who know the process and want it fixed.
We are a nonprofit in the Rochester area. Where do we start?
Start at 501 Labs, the 501(c)(3) our founder started, where the software is free and the Lab takes on pro bono builds. When a nonprofit needs a paid build on a deadline, Civic Dialog does the work.
What does a first conversation look like?
Thirty minutes on a call, or a free Lunch & Learn with your team. Bring the process that is eating your week. You will leave knowing which kind of help fits, or that none does yet.
Who does the work
The person who scopes the work does the work.
Civic Dialog is a small practice. Our founder scopes every engagement, builds or coaches the build, and reads the Savings Ledger with you, so nothing gets lost between the first call and the finished work.
Erik OehlerFounder, Civic Dialog
- 20 years
- across technology, data strategy, and organizational development
- B.S. and MBA
- computer science, then business
- Salesforce
- former administrator who built and led enterprise automations and integrations
- $66,612
- saved or generated for nonprofits so far through 501 Labs, the nonprofit our founder started
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes on a call. Bring the process that is eating your week. You will leave knowing which lane fits, or that none does yet.
Prefer email? erik@civic-dialog.com