The framework page shows how the five stages translate into real decisions, workshops and build work, with two worked professional services examples.
See the framework in practiceLocations / Ipswich
Agents built in your Microsoft 365, mostly online, with days in Ipswich when they genuinely help.
AI agents and Copilot consultancy in Ipswich
We design and build AI agents for organisations in and around Ipswich, working inside Microsoft 365 with Copilot Studio and the Power Platform, and we train local teams to use Copilot and build their own. Most sessions run live through Teams, with days on site where face-to-face time makes a difference.
FiveForward is a UK AI agent consultancy based in Colchester, working with accountancy and professional services firms in Ipswich and across Suffolk. We design and build AI agents and automations inside a firm's own Microsoft 365, using Copilot Studio and Power Automate. Our agents start on their own when something happens, do the checking, drafting and filing, then stop for a person at the firm to approve. We also train a firm's team, hands-on, to use Copilot and build their own agents.
This page is for Suffolk organisations with Microsoft 365 already in place but too much manual admin still moving through email: intake, chasing, filing and approvals handled by hand. Most have heard plenty about AI agents. The harder question is which workflow deserves one first and what it should cost.
Most of the work runs live online through Teams so the programme is not held hostage by travel. Discover interviews, the Design playback and build reviews all work well remotely for a distributed Suffolk team, and we come to Ipswich for the days where being in the room genuinely helps.
Run an accountancy firm? See the six accountancy agents: what starts each one and where your team approves.
Want your team trained? Start with Copilot training on your own work, or see every training session, from Cowork to building agents.
Agent projects rarely stall because the technology is weak. They stall because the build starts before the job is named. Someone connects Copilot Studio to a SharePoint folder, a demo impresses a meeting and months later there is an agent nobody trusts because nobody agreed what it was for, what it connects to or who checks its work.
The FiveForward Framework gives Ipswich teams a clearer route: name the workflows worth an agent, design each one before anything is built, then build the agents or coach your own team to build them. Most of it runs online, which suits a distributed Suffolk organisation.
How an engagement runs in Ipswich
Five stages, framed for Ipswich teams.
The route in is the free 30-minute call. From there it's a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover. The stages that follow are sized to what you chose.
01
Discover
£1,500 fixed, covering Discover and Design. Structured interviews, usually remote, map where admin time really goes across your Ipswich teams and which workflows deserve an agent.
02
Design
Covered by the Discover fee. Discover and Design together produce the workflow map, prioritised agent use cases and a costed plan, and Design ends with a playback session of about an hour where you choose the route and the price is fixed.
03
Enable
Copilot Studio workshops for the people who will build, live online through Teams or in Ipswich. First session from £1,150, hands-on and built around your own processes. A half day ends with one working agent built by the group; a full day gives each person their own agent and a first skill. For the rest of the team, Copilot in your workflows trains people on what the Copilot licence already includes.
04
Automate
We build the agents and automations from the plan, typically £2,500 to £15,000 depending on the number of agents, the systems they connect to and the state of the source data. Build with us, at £3,950 fixed, is the alternative: a few of your team build the agents on the plan with us alongside.
05
Embed
Care at £295 a month for one live agent, or Embed from £750 a month for up to three, keeps agents reviewed, measured and improved after go-live, without anything depending on travel.
Who this suits
- Suffolk organisations with Microsoft 365 in place but too much manual admin still moving through email
- Leadership teams that want a clear view of which workflows deserve an agent first and what it should cost
- Distributed and hybrid teams that need workshops, playbacks and build reviews run live through Microsoft Teams
- Operations and support teams whose intake, chasing, filing and approvals work repeats every week
Common work
- Intake agents that read incoming email and forms, capture the details and route work to the right team
- Records chasing flows that send reminders, track replies and keep progress visible across sites
- Document filing agents that read, match and file attachments with an audit trail
- Approval flows for finance, HR and operations that stop depending on one inbox
- Reporting flows that gather the week's numbers from a distributed team without the copy and paste
The usual model combines remote delivery with practical days in Ipswich: enough face-to-face time to build confidence in the plan and the first agents, without making every session depend on travel.
Ipswich is within practical driving reach for the days that justify being in the room: Discover interviews, a leadership playback or a hands-on training session. We are happy to come up for those.
For everything else, online is usually the better call. Playback sessions, build reviews and training sessions run live through Teams and reach a distributed Suffolk team without anyone losing time to the A12.
Proof and examples
Case studies, not local name-drops.
The examples below show how we build these engagements.
A case study shows an AI post room reading, matching and filing incoming post against more than 1,500 live clients in about two minutes, with people handling only the letters that need judgement.
Read the post room case studyCommon questions
Questions before you choose the next step.
Do you work on site in Ipswich?
Yes. Ipswich is within practical driving reach, so Discover interviews, training sessions and playback sessions can run in the room where that helps. Most build reviews and follow-up sessions run live online through Microsoft Teams, which suits distributed Suffolk teams.
What does an agent build cost?
Discover is £1,500 fixed and covers Discover and Design. Builds are typically £2,500 to £15,000 depending on the number of agents, the systems they connect to and the state of the source data, fixed before anything is built. The £1,500 is credited back in full once your follow-on work passes £3,500 (ex VAT) within 90 days.
Can our team learn to build agents themselves?
Yes. Training is built around your firm's own processes and never needs Discover first. It runs in stages, and your firm can stop at any of them: Copilot in your workflows, on what the Copilot licence already includes, then Cowork, a short agents course for anyone in the firm and Copilot Studio workshops for the few who'll build. First sessions from £950, each per group (recommended up to 12 people), hands-on and follow-along, online through Teams or on site. Build with us, at £3,950 fixed, goes further: your team builds the agents with us alongside, over two guided build days, two build reviews and 90 days of email support.
Is our data safe?
We build agents in your own Microsoft 365, not on our servers, and we don't host your data. An agent your team talks to only sees what the person using it can already see. Agents that run on their own use a dedicated service account, limited to the mailboxes, folders and systems the job needs, agreed with you in advance. We build in UK regions wherever Microsoft offers them, and anything that has to run elsewhere is set out for your compliance lead to approve before go-live. Microsoft doesn't use your Microsoft 365 content to train its foundation models, and every run is logged. Every agent has agreed review points, so judgement and sign-off stay with people.
How do we start?
With a free 30-minute call, no pitch, no obligation. From there it's a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover if you're not sure yet where agents would help. If you already know what you want, such as one of the six accountancy agents, we scope it on the free call and the specification is included in the fixed build price. Most scoped builds take two to six weeks from sign-off.
Where to go next
Copilot Studio agents
The build service behind most of our agent work: scoped and priced before anything is built, and delivered inside your own Microsoft 365.
Training
Copilot in your workflows and Cowork for the whole team, a short agents course for anyone in your firm and hands-on Copilot Studio workshops for the people who'll build, all built around your own processes.
The FiveForward Framework
The five-stage method behind every agent engagement we run.
What is a Copilot agent?
A plain-English guide for leadership teams weighing up where agents fit.
Next step
Talk through the first job you'd hand to an agent, or the training your team needs.
A free 30-minute call is enough to work out the right next step: a fixed-price build, training for your team or Discover, a fixed £1,500 covering Discover and Design, if you're not sure yet where agents would help.