AI Consulting in Portland

Yes. Portland's outdoor and CPG brands frequently run Shopify Plus on the storefront side and SAP (or similar ERP) on the operations side, with a gap in between that requires manual handoffs for order routing, inventory updates, and return processing. We build integration layers that sit between the two systems — reading order events from Shopify, pushing status updates to SAP, and triggering customer-facing responses through whatever support stack is already in place (Gorgias, Zendesk, or a custom queue). The build scope depends on how many workflows you're connecting and whether the SAP instance is cloud or on-prem. The $99 audit maps the actual data flows before we quote anything, so you're not guessing at scope.

Semiconductor and advanced manufacturing suppliers near Hillsboro deal with export-control classification, supplier certification tracking, and contract-vehicle documentation that changes faster than most teams can manually manage. We build knowledge-assistant and document-automation tooling that can ingest your existing compliance library — EAR classifications, ITAR-flagged product lists, approved supplier matrices — and surface the right policy or requirement when a BD rep or compliance analyst asks for it. The tooling runs on enterprise model endpoints with no-training contractual terms, and data scoping is explicit from day one: the assistant only sees what it's been permissioned to see. We don't handle legal filings, but we can dramatically reduce the time your team spends hunting through documentation to answer a question they've answered fifteen times before.

Three things have to be in place before a build goes near PHI. First, the model endpoint needs a signed Business Associate Agreement — we route healthcare workloads through enterprise endpoints from Anthropic, OpenAI, or Azure OpenAI that offer BAAs and zero-retention terms, meaning prompts and outputs aren't retained or used for training. Second, data access is scoped to the minimum necessary: the automation touches only the fields and record types the workflow actually requires, not a full EHR pull. Third, the audit trail is explicit — every automation step is logged with enough detail to satisfy an OCR inquiry if one ever comes. For OHSU-connected practices and covered entities in the Portland metro, we document all three controls in writing before any credential changes hands, and the compliance review memo is part of what you receive at the end of the engagement.

Oregon's Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA), effective July 2024, applies to businesses that process personal data on a meaningful number of Oregon consumers and gives residents rights around access, deletion, and opt-out of certain data uses. If your automation handles consumer-facing data — e-commerce customer records, lead intake forms, appointment scheduling — the build needs to be designed with OCPA in mind from the start, not bolted on after. In practice that means data minimization in what the automation collects, clear retention limits, and a mechanism for honoring deletion requests. Oregon also adopted pharmacy-specific rules under state health privacy law that layer on top of federal HIPAA for certain covered entities. We're not your legal counsel, but we build with these requirements in the room, and for regulated industries we recommend your privacy attorney review the data flow documentation we produce before go-live.

The clearest early wins tend to fall into two categories. First, any business with high inbound volume and inconsistent response times — outdoor and CPG brands fielding post-launch customer service spikes, healthcare practices losing after-hours appointment requests to voicemail, professional service firms where a prospect calls, hits hold, and calls a competitor. A missed-call responder or AI intake triage can close that leak within a few weeks of go-live. Second, knowledge-intensive businesses where the same questions get answered from scratch every week — semiconductor suppliers whose compliance team spends hours re-researching export classifications, agencies whose project managers dig through old Notion docs to answer a client's billing question. A knowledge assistant that's trained on your actual documentation cuts that time significantly. The $99 audit tells you which category applies to you and which specific workflow to attack first.