As an AI consultant I accompany companies with SIFAMO from the first use-case idea to a productive, auditable system. Not as a slide supplier, but with a team of around 30 consultants, architects and developers who also build the systems.

Most AI projects do not fail because of technology. They fail because nobody clarified beforehand which data may be used, who is accountable for the system’s decision and how to switch it off again. That is where our consulting starts. We come from enterprise software development and shifted our focus to AI in 2023, with a clear niche: AI in regulated environments.

Services as an AI consultant

• AI readiness and use-case prioritisation: we assess your processes, data and systems and tell you which use cases bring the greatest benefit at an acceptable risk.
• Regulatory classification: risk class under the EU AI Act, GDPR compliance, requirements from BaFin, DORA and MaRisk, before the first line of code is written.
• Architecture and delivery: large language models, RAG, agents, data pipelines and integration into existing enterprise systems. Our teams design some of the largest platforms in Germany today.
• AI governance layer: registration of all models, logging of every step, escalation on anomalies, audit-ready documentation instead of spreadsheets.
• Data strategy and training: pseudonymisation, data quality, training and evaluation processes that pass an audit.
• Enablement: workshops for business and IT so the knowledge stays in the company.

How we work

We do not start with the model. First we build the safety: a register, clear boundaries, defined escalation and the human at the points where they can really intervene. Only then come the use cases. It sounds like a detour, but it saves the rebuild we see in projects that started with speed and were stopped at the first audit.

We say openly what we do not know yet. Our first AI project was a document management system for a client with huge volumes of data. We told him it was our first time, worked four weeks for free and only invoiced after the result. The project is still running today. Honesty about your own level of experience plus a solid concept beats any senior label.

Who we work for

Banks and insurers, public administration, industry and logistics, plus mid-sized companies that want to introduce AI not as an experiment but as part of their core processes. Our references include companies such as Commerzbank, VW Bank, Bosch, DHL, Zurich and VGH as well as projects for the public sector. Offices are in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main; projects also run in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the United States.

What sets us apart from other AI consultants

• We build what we recommend. Consulting and delivery come from one team.
• We have done it ourselves. SIFAMO runs almost entirely on AI internally, from recruiting to ERP.
• German quality as a principle. Quality gates before every go-live. Our international clients come to us for exactly that reason.
• Healthy growth instead of hype. Self-financed since 2019, without loans, growing with quality.

Further reading: AI in business

• AI, Cognitive Transformation & Data Integrity: Key Takeaways from My Keynote at the Frankfurt Business Forum
• How Skilldex Helped Us Fix Hiring, Stop Wasting Time, and Finally Match the Right People
• From Data Lag to Real-Time — Why Event-Driven Architectures Are Critical for Scalable AI
• Why Most AI Projects Never Leave the Lab — And How to Change That
• Why AI is Reshaping Business Models Faster Than Expected
• AI-Powered Business Transformation: The Future is Now
• Making Digital Systems Intelligent: From Digital to Cognitive Transformation
• Mastering Fine-Tuning in AI: The Salesforce Advantage

About Umair Zaffar

I started as a freelance software developer in 2017 with a first project at an insurer in Hanover. In 2019 my co-founder Ayman Kalaie and I founded sifamo GmbH, self-financed and without loans. Today around 30 consultants, architects and developers work from Berlin and Frankfurt am Main; above the GmbH sits SFM Holding with SIFAMO Events, the organiser of the SIFAMO AI Summit. Since 2023 our focus has been AI in regulated industries. On my YouTube channel and in this blog I share what we learn along the way: unfiltered, with numbers and without consultant jargon. Most posts are in German; the English articles from 2024 and 2025 are listed below.

Frequently asked questions

What does AI consulting with SIFAMO cost?

It depends on scope, from a one-day workshop to multi-year platform development. The usual entry point is a workshop on use-case assessment with regulatory classification. After that you get a concrete proposal with milestones.

Do you also work with mid-sized companies?

Yes. Many requirements from the banking world transfer to the Mittelstand and protect against bad decisions there too. We scale the solutions to the size of the company.

How quickly can a project start?

A workshop can usually be scheduled within a few weeks. For larger projects we assemble a dedicated team. Enquiries via the contact page or to contact@sifamo.com.

Want to know which of your AI ideas are viable and how to implement them compliantly? Reach me via the contact page, by e-mail at contact@sifamo.com or directly on LinkedIn.