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How long does AI agent implementation take?
Short answer
A full AI agent rollout at Syntalith usually takes 6 to 16 weeks, and a limited pilot 3 to 6 weeks. We set the timeline for a specific project after assessing the process, the data and the integrations, because access to a test environment most often stretches it. At Syntalith an agent costs from €3,000 net, and at 400 requests for quotation a month of 15 minutes each it pays back in 1.2 months.
How we workDetails ↓
- 01Call30 minutes with an engineer, free
- 02PrototypeA working system on your process and data, free
- 03ImplementationTarget and fixed price in the contract; 50% at signing
- 04Acceptance50% once the agreed target is met
- net per agent for one process, build paid once
- from €3,000
- from signing the contract to acceptance
- 6–16 weeks
- free prototype on your cases
- €0
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
AI agents: statistics 2026
1.2 mo.
payback of a €3,000 agent at 400 requests for quotation a month: €3,490 of work today, €890 with checking and the model. Scenario.
20% and 40%
According to Anthropic (2026), about 20% of sessions among new Claude Code users run with full auto-approval of actions, and over 40% among experienced users.
Source: Anthropic, Measuring AI agent autonomy in practice (2026) ↗
40%
According to Gartner (2025), over 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027 because of costs, unclear value or weak risk controls.
90%
According to the European Commission (2026), 90% of EU companies that use AI say people take the decisions.
Source: European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer 578 (2026) ↗
50%
According to the European Commission (2026), half of EU SMEs and mid-caps name high investment costs as a barrier to AI.
Source: European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer 578 (2026) ↗
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
What has to be ready before a date is set
The starting point is one described case, for example an incomplete request for quotation: spotting the gaps, gathering the information and preparing material for the salesperson. Before we propose a timeline, we check the data sources, whether the systems can be connected, and whether the people who judge the result are available. The process owner names the exceptions, because a test that covers only complete requests will not tell you whether the agent helps with the work.
A small decision can move the calendar: who will grant access to the test environment. If an outside system vendor has to agree, that dependency has to be in the schedule, even when the work on the agent itself is short.
| Stage | What the company checks before moving on |
|---|---|
| Process assessment | the chosen problem, the expected result and whether an agent makes sense |
| Agreeing the scope | data, integrations, permissions and acceptance criteria |
| Pilot | results on the agreed cases and the errors to fix |
| Preparing production | handling failures, user access and responsibility for the service |
| Acceptance | the whole process working, including the approver's work |
| Maintenance | the response to changes in systems, documents and the team's needs |
- 01Weeks 1–2process assessment and a scope with acceptance criteria
- 02Weeks 3–6a pilot on the agreed cases
- 03Weeks 7–10integrations, handling failures and user access
- 04Weeks 11–12acceptance with the approver
- 05After thatmaintenance and measurement after changes
- Access to the test environment that depends on an outside vendor
- No person to judge the pilot's results
- Data in a format whose fields need their meaning agreed
- Exceptions known to only one person in the team
What it costs and when it pays back
- Today
- 400 requests for quotation × 15 min = 100 h (€3,490)
- With the system, a person checks the output in 25% of the time
- €873
- Model, 3 calls per case, Claude Sonnet 5.5
- €17
- Cost of one case
- €8.73 today, €2.23 with the system
- Saving
- €2,600 a month
Payback of €3,000
1.2 months
The volume, the time and the checking share are the scenario's assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat. Model: 5,000 input tokens and 600 output tokens per call at Anthropic's rates, at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
The count covers the work around a case: searching, reading, writing and handing over. What remains is the time to check the result, 25% of today's work in the scenario. Before the quote, we measure both times on 20 to 100 cases the team has already handled, in a free test that takes 5 working days.
The ranges in the offer are a starting point for the conversation. One project needs mainly integrations, another needs the meaning of the data agreed or time from the specialists who judge the results, so we do not give the stages the same number of days in every company.
A pilot that does not end at a demo
The model may start answering earlier. A company, however, needs to know when an employee will use the system on a real case and what happens after an error, so the schedule describes the results of the stages and the decisions. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework organises the risks. According to Anthropic (2026), about 20% of sessions among new Claude Code users run with full auto-approval, and over 40% among experienced users. Trust grows with experience, so you widen an agent's autonomy in stages too. Acceptance with a handover trial is described in accepting an AI agent.
One case, data available, the team ready
a pilot of 3 to 6 weeks
from €3,000
A full process with integrations
a rollout of 6 to 16 weeks
€3,000–€17,500
Several processes or departments
an AI implementation plan before the first agent
audit from €600
Where to start
You can collect the requirements in an implementation brief, and a plan for several processes is described in the guide to AI implementation in a company. We build this kind of rollout as part of AI agents. For the free analysis, a description of one case from recent weeks and of the tools it passed through is enough. You do not need to send confidential documents, and you get a written plan within 2 working days.
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: an agent for requests for quotation
We run the same count for your process in the free analysis.
€2,094
a month for preparing 120 quotes from customer enquiries by hand
Payback: 1.7 mo.
30 minutes per quote from an enquiry and checking in 15% of the old time are our assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. Model cost: Claude Sonnet 5.5, about 4,000 + 1,500 tokens per draft quote, at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026. The extra margin is a scenario: we assume that 1 in 40 enquiries quoted the same day ends in an order that a slow reply loses today, with a margin of €344. In the review we count it on your sales process.
See the full calculation →
