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The AI operating layer

Put AI into production. Keep control.

Put AI into production in your company, with the rigor the most regulated industries demand.

For mid-market and enterprise organizations, we engineer and operate the layer that connects AI models, data and business workflows. Every AI workflow gets a named owner, a full record and a way to stop it, on the models you choose.

25+ years, 600+ projects, 450+ senior operators and 4 exits: the collective experience of our leadership team and network.

Book a 30-min call Send the full brief

The first exchange is free: a named partner replies quickly, in writing, then the 30-minute call. No newsletter. No junior delegation. United States · Switzerland · France.

An AI agent takes a customer order through the company’s applications, a person approves it, and the order ships.

What we build

Systems that survive contact with operations.

We design, build and run the layer that puts AI to work in your operations. A named partner answers for it from diagnosis to handover.

  • Enterprise AI Agents

    AI agents engineered around your people, systems and business goals, that turn repetitive work into coordinated execution.

    See a workflow transformed

  • AI‑Enabled Operations

    AI agents that run inside your real workflows, under control from the first day, with every action recorded and visible to your teams.

    How we operate AI in production

  • Custom software platforms

    Modern internal and customer-facing platforms built around speed, reliability, security and business ownership.

    How we architect platforms

  • Transformation & run

    Senior-led programs that move from diagnosis to deployment, then from deployment to operational autonomy.

    How we run a program

See all nine solutions

Business impact

Intelligence is the capability. Performance is the objective.

We engineer AI into business operations to help organizations improve execution, build new capabilities, and maintain control.

Diagram: an AI capability becomes execution inside a business workflow, and execution becomes value, under control.
CapabilityExecutionValue
  • An AI agent prepares a quote inside a sales workflow, and a salesperson approves it before it reaches the customer.

    Revenue growth

    AI takes on the preparation work around each sale: qualification, quotes and follow-ups. Your teams spend their time on the decisions that win the customer.

  • A business workflow runs with AI inside it, and its existing indicators track cost, lead time and quality.

    Operational efficiency

    We put AI inside the workflows where cost, lead time and quality are decided, not beside them. Each workflow is redesigned with the team that runs it and tracked on the indicators it already reports.

  • One operating layer connects models, data and business systems, and each new AI use is added on top of it.

    Strategic advantage

    One operating layer connects your models, your data and your business systems. Each new AI use builds on that layer instead of starting again from a blank project.

  • A workflow in production with its named owner, its record of decisions and its stop path.

    Enterprise control

    Each workflow we put in production has a named owner, a record of its decisions and a stop path. Ownership moves to your teams when the system is ready to run.

Strategy without deployment is theatre. Deployment without ownership is dependency. We do neither.

New to the category? Read the definition: what is an AI operating layer?

Enterprise AI Agents

Put AI agents to work across your business.

Turn repetitive work and fragmented workflows into coordinated execution, with AI agents engineered around your people, systems, and business goals.

  1. Before: requests wait in a queue while a person copies them by hand between the CRM, the ERP and the knowledge base.

    Before

    A fragmented process

    Requests wait in a queue. Your team copies the same data between the CRM, the ERP and the knowledge base, by hand, one case at a time.

  2. Hikari Blue: specialized agents are engineered into the CRM, the ERP and the knowledge base, each within its declared permissions.

    Hikari Blue

    Specialized agents, inside your systems

    We engineer agents into your existing applications, data and operations. Each one works within defined permissions and answers to a named owner.

  3. After: requests move through the agents and the systems, a person approves the reply that commits the company, and the result is measured.

    After

    Coordinated execution

    The operation runs coordinated, with more capacity to execute. Your team approves what commits the company and keeps control, and the result is measured on the indicators you already report.

Illustrative workflow. Possible gains, measured workflow by workflow and never promised: faster execution, greater operational capacity, lower avoidable operating costs, new business capabilities, governed autonomy.

We do not sell agents. We engineer business capability.

The outcome is why you act. Agents are the capability. The AI operating layer integrates and runs them. Governance makes the value last.

What's possible

Don't just add AI. Reinvent what your company can achieve.

Six functions where one workflow in production changes how the work gets done. Each runs with a named owner, a full record and a way to stop it.

  • A sales workflow in production, from the incoming lead to a quote approved by a salesperson.

    Sales & Revenue

    Leads are qualified, quotes are prepared and follow-ups are sent inside your CRM, and a salesperson approves what leaves the company.

    E-commerce & Digital Growth
  • A finance workflow in production, where an invoice is matched and a named approver releases the payment above the threshold.

    Finance & Administration

    Invoices are matched, payments are prepared and closing entries are checked against your rules, with a named approver above each threshold.

    AI‑Enabled Operations
  • A customer request is routed and answered from company knowledge, and a person reviews the reply that commits the company.

    Customer Experience

    Requests are read, routed and answered from your own knowledge, and every reply that commits the company goes to a person first.

    Customer Experience & Product Design
  • Orders and purchasing prepared from current data, with an exception routed to the planner who owns it.

    Operations & Supply Chain

    Orders, purchasing and forecasts are prepared from current data, and each exception reaches the planner who owns it, with the record of what the agent did.

    AI‑Enabled Operations
  • Contracts, procedures and past decisions become cited answers, filtered by what each person may see.

    Enterprise Knowledge

    Contracts, procedures and past decisions become answers your teams can cite, limited to what each person is allowed to see.

    Custom Software Platforms
  • One operating layer rolled out across several portfolio companies, one workflow at a time, with a single record read by the fund.

    Portfolio Transformation

    The same operating layer is rolled out across portfolio companies, one workflow at a time, with one record the fund can read.

    Digital Transformation Programs

Proof

Built by operators. Proven in complex environments.

These figures describe the collective experience of our leadership team and expert network, not of one company alone.

  • 25+Years. Entrepreneurial and technology leadership experience
  • 600+Projects. Delivered across our leadership teams and expert network
  • 450+Senior operators. An extended network of experienced specialists
  • 4Exits. Entrepreneurial exits across our leadership team

Clients who agreed to be named

Software and platform engagements. References on request, under NDA and with each client’s consent.

Selected engagement

Cross‑border digital sovereignty for a global luxury leader.

Luxury goods · Engineering · Cross‑border governance

Client context
A global luxury maison operating across two continents.
Business challenge
Keep the brand's digital presence in mainland China under local data residency, without breaking brand consistency across continents.
What was engineered
Data residency engineered in for mainland China, one governance across both jurisdictions, and a governed transfer between them, with its record.
Operational outcome
The brand's digital presence secured across mainland China, with brand consistency and operational reliability preserved across two continents.
AI production references on request, under NDA and with each client’s consent.

Financial services · European tier-1

Production AI workflows under model risk discipline.

Challenge
AI‑augmented decision support in a regulated customer workflow, with DORA in scope.
Ambition
Run that workflow in production under model risk discipline.
Transformation
Model risk governance integrated from the architecture phase, with multi‑model orchestration.
Execution
Audit trail emitted at runtime; a model swap is a routing change, with the audit unchanged.
Outcome
Production AI workflows whose evidence is emitted, not assembled.
Evidence
Walk‑through under mutual NDA. No performance figure is published.
Read the healthcare case

AI in practice

AI in production. Not in slides.

We architect AI systems that ship with audit trails, model flexibility, data controls and kill switches built into the operating layer. Not features. Properties. See Hikari Blue Ops

The AI operating layer, in one view

Your people at the controls above, your models and systems below.

Users / Business workflows

  • Human approvalAwaiting a decision
  • HaltHalt, throttle, rollback
  • AuditEvery step recorded
human approval · halt · audit

Hikari Blue · AI operating layer

  • Multi-model routing
  • Policy & authorization
  • Append-only audit trail
  • Kill switch / halt
  • Named ownership
  • Data residency control

Multi-model LLMs

  • Anthropic
  • OpenAI
  • Mistral
  • Google
  • Grok / xAI

Local open-weight models · your cloud or on-prem

Existing systems

  • ERP
  • CRM
  • Legacy
  • Cloud
  • Data
  • On-prem
  • Active
  • Awaiting a human decision
  • Stopped
  • Recorded

Schematic view of our reference architecture. Models and data residency are set per client, by configuration.

How the AI operating layer works

Four planes carry every operation: C1 routing and runtime, C2 evidence and audit, C3 policy and governance, C4 control. Follow one payment through them, or stop it.

One operation, end to end

Operating layer console Vendor payment release · UTC

Illustrative simulation. Example data, audit record format of Reference Architecture v1.0.

  1. RequestAn agent asks to release a vendor paymentPendingReceived
  2. PolicyCompany policy requires a human above the thresholdPendingAppliedNot executed
  3. RoutingThe task goes to the approved modelPendingRoutedNot executed
  4. Human approvalA treasury operator approvesA human stops the agentPendingApprovedStoppedNot executed
  5. EvidenceEach step is recorded and chainedThe halt is recorded with its author and timePendingRecorded
  6. OutcomeThe payment is released and reportedThe payment is held, the halt is reportedPendingExecutedInterrupted
Request Agent ap-pay-02 requests: approve vendor payment above threshold
  1. Identity bound via IdP · scope: payment release, ERPAgent halted · tool permissions revoked
  2. Authorized by policy set v3 P-04 Not reached before the halt. AppliedPendingNot executed
  3. Model selected by task profile: Provider A, pinned snapshot Not reached before the halt. RoutedPendingNot executed
  4. A. Moreau, treasury operator, approved Not reached before the halt. ApprovedPendingNot executed
  5. Record #4127 hash-linked to #4126Record #4128: trigger, author and halt time RecordedPendingNot executed
  6. Payment released in the ERP · board report, regulator exportPayment not released · halt in board report, regulator export ExecutedPendingNot executed

In the reference architecture, halt, throttle and rollback apply per workflow, per model and per user.Example: kill switch triggered from the control plane. Replay runs the operation again.

See the operating layer, plane by plane
Enterprise identity provider ERP · payment request Agent register ap-pay-02 Permission matrix: payment release, ERP Kill switch runbook Policy set P-04 v3 Human approval required above threshold Routing table: Provider A, pinned snapshot Fallback model, declared A. Moreau, treasury operator Record #4126 Record #4127, hash-linked Record #4128: kill switch trigger Regulator export Board report ERP · payment releaseERP · payment release not executed Agent ap-pay-02 Stop path
  • Enterprise identity provider
  • ERP · payment request
  • Agent register ap-pay-02
  • Permission matrix: payment release, ERP
  • Kill switch runbook
  • Stop path
  • Policy set P-04 v3
  • Human approval required above threshold
  • Routing table: Provider A, pinned snapshot
  • Fallback model, declared
  • Agent ap-pay-02
  • A. Moreau, treasury operator
  • Record #4126
  • Record #4127, hash-linked
  • Record #4128: kill switch trigger
  • Regulator export
  • Board report
  • ERP · payment releaseERP · payment release not executed

  • Multi-model by design

    In our reference architecture, frontier models run by API (Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, Google) and local open-weight models in your cloud or on premises, by configuration; switching models is a routing change, not a rebuild. No vendor lock‑in.

  • Audit trail by architecture

    In our reference architecture, every action, tool call and operator decision is recorded: append-only, queryable, exportable. EU AI Act evidence by architecture.

  • Sovereign by construction

    Data residency selectable per workload. EU, US, on‑prem. Zero cleartext data server‑side, by configuration in our reference architecture.

An open ecosystem

Independent by architecture.

Models, cloud platforms and data infrastructure evolve. Our architecture stays focused on your operations, not on a vendor.

Examples of the technologies the layer connects. Logos identify products.

You can't scale AI you can't stop.

KILLSWITCH by Hikari Blue × Grok Bot: what's your AI's Time to Stop?

A tabletop kill‑switch drill. It does not stop any system.

Tabletop exercise, timed and self-reported; not a measurement of a real stop.

Grok BotGrok Bot
Public template

KILLSWITCH by Hikari Blue

Your AI goes off the rails at 3 a.m. Who stops it, and how fast? KILLSWITCH by Hikari Blue times it. One scenario, your clock, a card you keep. It does not stop any system.

Open the template

Opens in Grok Bot (xAI). macOS app.

Hikari Blue builds agents on Grok Bot.

Compliance posture

Engineered for audit. Honest about certification.

We do not publish certifications we have not earned. Our systems are designed to produce the evidence enterprises actually need: audit trails, access control, data governance, privacy documentation and regulatory readiness. Open the trust center

Standard Status Evidence
SOC 2 Type II In preparation Not certified. Control mapping in preparation; the audit start date is published when the auditor is engaged.
ISO 27001 Target 2027 Not certified. Information security management system in preparation; certification audit targeted for 2027.
GDPR & CCPA Available Privacy notice and DPA available. Sub‑processors list maintained.
EU AI Act Architecture property Hikari Blue Ops is designed to emit, through its audit trail, the record-keeping evidence the regulation requires of high-risk AI systems (Article 12). Not a certification, an architecture property.

Request the trust pack under NDA

Commercial engagement

Four steps, from a free drill to AI that runs in production.

Start free with KILLSWITCH by Hikari Blue. The first paid step is the one-week Operating Assessment. Each step gives you what you need to decide on the next one, before you commit to it.

  1. One scenario · Your clock

    KILLSWITCH by Hikari Blue

    Tabletop exerciseFree

    Who stops your AI, and how fast? Your team times one scenario and keeps the card.

    What you get:

    • One AI use, one timed scenario
    • A card your team keeps
    • No system connected or stopped
    Run the drill

  2. One week · Paid engagement

    Operating Assessment

    $18,000,fixed · one week

    One week on one critical workflow, at a public price. Multi-workflow scope on quote.

    What you get in one week:

    • Time to Stop established
    • The workflow's value, quantified
    • A named owner
    • A plan to put it into production
    The four deliverables of the Operating Assessment: Time to Stop established, the workflow's value quantified, a named owner and a plan to put it into production.
    Book a 30-min call

  3. 12 to 24 weeks · Delivered by a pod

    AI‑Enabled Operations

    Fixed priceset at the Assessment · paid in phases, each ending with a go/no-go

    One workflow put into governed production by a pod, then handed to your team with the controls to run it.

    What you get: one critical workflow in production, with:

    • Operational controls
    • Governance
    • Auditability
    Explore engagement models

  4. Ongoing subscription

    Run

    Monthly,sized to what runs in production

    Your systems kept in production, with costs and incidents under control, on a monthly retainer.

    What you get, every month:

    • Costs under control
    • Incidents under control
    • A named partner who answers for it
    See the Run retainer

Start at any step. The first exchange is free: a written reply from a named partner, then a 30-minute call. Scope, pricing and duration depend on the agreed engagement.

Ask Hikari

Describe your challenge. A senior partner will take it from there.

Four lines are enough to start a serious conversation.

Plain words. No polish needed.

Or pick a starting point:

What happens next

  1. Describe the challenge

    Four lines in Ask Hikari. A first structured reading appears on screen.

  2. We review the context

    Send it with your name and work email. Your question and the reading reach a senior partner together.

  3. A named senior contact responds

    Quickly, in writing.

  4. We determine the appropriate next step

    The first exchange is free: the written response, then a 30-minute call.

The Operating Assessment that may follow is paid: one week, from $18,000.

Ask Hikari prepares the brief. A person answers it. Or send a full brief

Bring the real problem

Bring us the critical workflow.

Describe the system, the constraint and the outcome you need. A named senior partner will review your request and respond quickly.

Book a 30-min call
Prefer to write? Send the brief here.

A named senior partner replies quickly, in writing.

Provide a more detailed brief.

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