What managing directors ask us most often

A pre-configured AI agent that takes on a clearly defined role: research, reporting or quote preparation, for example. It works in your existing tools, fits into your processes and relieves your team. You don’t buy software, you fill a position.

Both mean the same thing, and so do AI agent, virtual worker and AI assistant. We lead with “AI employees” because that is the wording people actually search for.

In German the choice has a second dimension. We write „KI-Mitarbeiter“ in the generic masculine rather than the gender-neutral „KI-Mitarbeitende“, again so that people find us. We consider gender-inclusive language right and use it in German wherever we write about people, including our own team.

Essentially yes: an AI employee is a pre-configured AI agent. We deliberately say “AI employees” because you don’t buy abstract technology, you fill a clearly defined role: the agent works in your tools, follows your processes and hands over to humans when needed. “AI agent” describes the technology, “AI employee” the job and responsibility within the team.

An AI employee is not a tool you operate but a filled role that works for you. An AI tool like a chatbot waits for input; an AI employee independently takes on a recurring task inside your existing programs, follows your processes and hands over to a human when a decision is needed. You don’t buy a software licence, you fill a position at a fixed monthly price.

No. AI employees complement your team, they don’t replace it. They take on recurring, time-consuming tasks so your people can focus on what requires judgement and customer proximity. Especially given the skills shortage, this gives you capacity without new hires.

In the tools you already use: Microsoft 365, common ERP and CRM systems, email, Teams. There is no new interface your team has to learn first. The AI employee comes to you, not the other way round.

A fixed monthly price per role: catalogue roles €149, specialist roles from €499. It gets cheaper from the third role onwards and again from the sixth. No per-seat licences, no hidden costs. Your first catalogue role is free for one month. A role you set up yourself in self-service carries no setup fee; if we take on the setup it is a one-off €500. All prices net plus VAT.

The ongoing costs of the underlying AI models are included in your fixed monthly price per role, within typical team usage. You pay no tokens, no credits and have nothing to track; the price stays as predictable as a salary. To keep this promise fair and stable for all customers, a fair-use limit on the included model costs applies per role and month. These limits are well above what a role consumes under normal team usage, so ongoing operation is fully covered. Only when a single role is permanently and significantly above this range does a fair surcharge apply: we then charge exclusively the actually documented extra costs above the limit, never a flat markup.

Which model (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini) is used in each case is chosen by us based on suitability, cost and data protection, and we may switch it as long as the agreed functionality is preserved. That keeps performance current and costs efficient, with nothing changing for you. A final note on clean billing: the DigiFair contribution and any partner commissions are calculated solely on the Hainzelman list price per role. Passed-through LLM costs are expressly excluded.

The monthly subscription per role is cancellable monthly, with seven days’ notice to the end of the month, in text form. No annual contract, no lock-in. You stay in control.

That depends on what you need. You can book and set up a catalogue role yourself in self-service, with no setup fee, or leave the setup to us for a one-off €500. For a specialist role we start with a free qualification call, an optional AI-potential workshop, and then a Specification Sprint that ends with a specification, a prototype and a quote. Only afterwards do you decide on ongoing operation.

That depends on the role. In self-service you set a catalogue role up yourself in minutes to a few hours. There is no setup fee for that. If we take on the setup of a catalogue role, it is in use within a few days, for a one-off €500. Only larger roles need a Specification Sprint, cost accordingly more, and take as long as their scope requires. During the guided onboarding phase every role is then fine-tuned to your formats and decision criteria.

A separately billed, clearly scoped phase that ends with a finished specification for your role, including an integration plan and success criteria, optionally with a prototype on your real data. Its length depends on the effort involved. It applies to specialist roles, meaning larger projects we build around your process. Catalogue roles do not need it: you book those in self-service or have us set them up for a one-off €500.

Your data stays your data. Processing and storage take place on infrastructure within the EU, primarily in Germany. We process personal data exclusively on your behalf and do not use it for our own purposes. Before going live we conclude a data-processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR.

Your data is processed and stored exclusively on infrastructure within the EU, primarily in Germany. On request, operation in your own data centre (on-premises) is also possible. This keeps full data sovereignty, and the solution remains GDPR- and AI-Act-compliant.

The AI employee learns from your processes, not with your data. Your content does not flow into the training of third-party models. Whatever we improve in generic patterns never reveals your confidential information.

Yes. EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant and built on a human-in-the-loop principle: the AI employee asks when unsure, escalates when a human must decide, and documents every action traceably. Fully autonomous execution of irreversible actions without your approval is not provided for.

The AI employee prepares, your team approves. Every action is recorded in a log accessible to you. You keep control over what goes out or into your systems. The responsibility stays with you.

Catalogue roles are designed so that you can review and correct results before they are passed on. For tasks with direct external or financial impact, human approval is part of the workflow. As with any new colleague: verify first, then trust. More and more over time.

We are the European alternative for SMEs: fixed prices per role instead of per-seat licences, EU hosting instead of mixed locations, and AI-Act compliance built in rather than your responsibility. How you start is up to you: set a catalogue role up yourself in self-service, or leave the setup to us. We address the managing director, not the IT department.

For every active AI employee, Hainzelman pays a symbolic employee contribution to projects that mirror the pillars of the German social system. This is binding. You can additionally cover the employer’s share, just as you would for any human colleague.

The subscription includes continuous learning and adaptation, LLM costs within typical team usage, email support and EU hosting. Only in the case of permanently above-average consumption does a fair surcharge apply. Everything transparent, nothing hidden.

We spell it Hainzelman, with an a. If you searched for Heinzelman, Heinzelmann or Heinzelmännchen, you have still come to the right place. The name is a deliberate reference to the Heinzelmännchen of Cologne folklore, the helpers who did the work left over at night so that everything was finished by morning. That is exactly what our AI employees do, with one difference: nothing stays hidden here, every action is recorded in a log. Our registered name is Hainzelman GmbH and the website is hainzelman.com.