How It Works / Managed AI
Layer III — Managed AI

Your program keeps growing.
You don't hire a team
to run it.

Active program management, workflow maintenance, and monthly PRISM-governed development — without the fully-loaded cost of an in-house AI program manager.

Monthly subscription Scales with your catalog PRISM governs all development Executive-ready reporting
The Build-vs-Buy Math

A senior AI program manager
costs $180,000–$220,000
fully loaded.

That's before ramp time — typically three to six months before a new hire is genuinely productive. Before institutional knowledge build. Before turnover risk. Before the reality that one person, however capable, cannot provide round-the-clock platform monitoring, run a PRISM assessment on every new workflow, and actively maintain a growing production catalog simultaneously.

Managed AI is the embedded function that makes that hire unnecessary. Dedicated capacity, systematic methodology, monthly reporting your leadership can act on, and a development allocation that grows your program without requiring a new headcount justification for every workflow.

The question isn't whether you need program management capacity. It's whether you should hire it or subscribe to it.

Senior AI Program Manager — Hire
$180,000 – $220,000
Fully loaded · Plus ramp time · Plus turnover risk
Limited to one person's bandwidth · No systematic methodology
Managed AI — Platform base + per-workflow
Scales with your catalog
Platform ops · Maintenance per live agent · PRISM development allocation · Monthly reporting · No ramp time
Example: 10 live agents
$4,500 base + $3,200 maintenance
= $7,700 / month · $92,400 / year · Scales as catalog grows
Four Components

What Managed AI
actually covers.

01
Platform Operations
Fixed monthly Non-negotiable floor
Monitoring, incident response, platform updates, and SLA management for your production Moveworks environment. Active platform oversight is not optional for a program in production. Systems change. Schemas drift. Connectors expire. Platform Operations is the continuous work that keeps what's live, live.
Prevents
Silent agent failures. Connector token expiry. Unnoticed platform updates that break running workflows. The discovery that something stopped working three weeks ago.
02
Workflow Maintenance
Per live agent Scales with catalog
Active management of every live agent as systems change, schemas shift, and processes evolve. Priced per agent in your production environment. As your catalog grows, maintenance coverage grows automatically — no renegotiation, no change orders, no surprise invoices when you add agents. The cost structure mirrors the value delivered.
Prevents
Agent performance degradation as source systems evolve. Schema drift causing incorrect responses. Untested API changes breaking production workflows.
03
Monthly PRISM Allocation
Monthly WCU budget Banked unused capacity
A defined monthly development budget for net new agents, denominated in Workflow Complexity Units. Every new agent is PRISM-scored before it enters the build queue. Unused WCUs bank up to a quarterly cap. Anything over your allocation is scoped and priced at the standard rate card. Your program grows systematically, not opportunistically.
Enables
Continuous program expansion without triggering a new procurement cycle for every workflow. A development rhythm that compounds over time.
04
Monthly Reporting
Delivered monthly Executive-ready
Deflection rates, resolution quality, adoption metrics, cost-per-resolution trends, and roadmap progress — reported monthly in language your leadership can read, act on, and bring to a budget review. Not a spreadsheet export. Not a dashboard login. A report written for people who need to make decisions from it.
Enables
Sustained internal investment in the AI program. Leadership visibility that turns a pilot into a permanent capability. The data you need to justify the next phase.
Quality Control at Scale

Every new workflow.
PRISM-scored first.
No exceptions.

The most common failure mode of managed services engagements is scope creep disguised as progress — new workflows added without proper complexity assessment, leading to cost overruns and quality degradation. The PRISM framework prevents this by design.

No agent enters the Managed AI build queue without a PRISM score. The score determines whether the workflow fits within your monthly allocation, requires an overage authorization, or needs a dedicated scoping conversation first. The same rigor that governed your initial Activation governs every subsequent workflow.

The framework that built your program governs how your program grows.

Workflow requested
New use case identified from employee requests, roadmap, or leadership priorities.
PRISM scored first
All five dimensions assessed before any build commitment. WCU count determined.
$
Allocation check
Does this fit your monthly PRISM allocation? If yes, enters queue. If not, overage authorized or deferred to next month.
Approved into build queue
Scope confirmed, timeline set, implementation begins with the same standard as Activation.
Delivered and added to maintenance
New agent enters production. Per-workflow maintenance fee activates. Monthly reporting updated.
Pricing Structure

Transparent pricing.
Scales with your program.

Platform OperationsFixed monthly · Non-negotiable floor
$4,500/month
Workflow MaintenancePer agent in production
$320/agent/month
Monthly PRISM AllocationNet new agent development
$5,500/month

Example at 10 live agents: $4,500 + (10 × $320) + $5,500 = $13,200/month. As your catalog grows, maintenance scales. The PRISM allocation remains fixed unless you elect to increase it.

Ready to grow your program
without growing your team?

AIRO gives you a readiness profile and a recommended entry point. If Managed AI is right for your stage, we'll show you exactly what it looks like at your scale.

Start with AIRO →

Free · 4 minutes · No commitment

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