Compliance Guard — AI Governance for SMEs

The EU AI Act does not ask for a one-off certificate; it asks for governance you can evidence, kept current as your tools and staff change. That ongoing burden is real, and hiring a compliance officer is overkill for most SMEs. Compliance Guard is the middle path: human-led AI governance on a monthly basis — your AI register, usage policies, Article 4 training records and audit-ready documentation maintained for you, without the cost of a full-time hire or the false comfort of software that only tracks what you feed it.

What is Compliance Guard?

Compliance Guard is a monthly service that sets up and maintains your EU AI Act governance: an AI register, usage policies, AI literacy training records and audit-ready documentation. It is a human-led governance service, not a software subscription and not a high-risk engineering build.

It gives an SME the compliance function it needs without the headcount. We build the governance foundation — the register, the policies, the training evidence — and then keep it current month to month as you adopt new tools, onboard staff and as the regulation evolves. The deliverable is a defensible, up-to-date governance position you can show a client or an auditor at any time.

What exactly does Compliance Guard cover — and not cover?

It covers AI governance and documentation: your AI register, usage policies, Article 4 training records, transparency measures and audit-ready evidence, kept current. It does not include building, modifying or certifying high-risk AI systems — that engineering and conformity work is a separate, scoped engagement.

What Compliance Guard includes

• A maintained AI register — every AI system and AI feature you use, kept up to date as tools change.
• AI usage policies — clear, followable rules for staff, especially around client and personal data.
• Article 4 AI literacy training records — evidence that your literacy obligation is being met.
• Transparency measures — ensuring chatbot and AI-content disclosures are in place where Article 50 applies.
• Audit-ready documentation — assembled and current, ready for a client questionnaire or an auditor.
• Ongoing updates — the governance position kept live as your business and the regulation change.

What it deliberately does not include

Compliance Guard is a governance and documentation service. It does not include the engineering, risk-management-system build, or conformity assessment required for genuinely high-risk AI systems under Annex III or Annex I. If your assessment shows you operate such a system, that is specialist project work we scope separately — not something bundled into a monthly governance retainer. We are explicit about this boundary so you get exactly the service you need, without paying for scope you do not, or expecting engineering a governance service is not designed to deliver.

Why choose a human-led service over compliance software?

Compliance software tracks and stores what you already know; it cannot decide what your obligations are, write a policy that fits your business, or judge whether your evidence would satisfy an auditor. Compliance Guard provides the human judgement that turns a tool's checklists into an actual, defensible compliance position.

GRC and compliance platforms are useful for storing evidence and automating reminders — but they assume you already know what to put in them. For an SME, that assumption is the whole problem. Software will not tell you that your CRM's AI feature makes you a deployer, draft a usage policy your staff will follow, or spot that your training records will not stand up to a client's due diligence. That judgement is human work. Compliance Guard sits in the genuine gap between self-serve tooling — cheap but requiring expertise you may not have — and expensive advisory retainers built for large enterprises. You get the expertise, delivered as an ongoing service, at an SME price.

How much does Compliance Guard cost?

Compliance Guard is available from £295 per month as an add-on to Automation Care, or combined with it in the Professional bundle from £995 per month. Pricing reflects the size and complexity of your AI footprint and how much documentation needs maintaining.

Because governance and automation upkeep so often go together, Compliance Guard is designed to pair with Automation Care — the Professional bundle from £995 per month covers both your automations and your AI Act governance in one relationship. Standalone governance engagements are also available where you do not need automation maintenance.

Who needs Compliance Guard?

SMEs that use AI and face client due diligence, operate in regulated or DACH markets, or simply want their AI Act obligations handled without hiring. It suits compliance and operations leads who need defensible documentation but cannot justify a full-time compliance officer.

The clearest trigger is an enterprise client asking about your AI governance before they sign — a moment that turns compliance from an abstraction into a deal condition. Businesses selling into German-speaking markets feel this earliest, given the rigorous documentation culture there. But the underlying need is universal: the AI Act's live obligations, especially Article 4 literacy, apply now and are easy to let lapse. If you would like to know where you stand before committing, start with our free EU AI Act self-assessment, and read the detail in AI Act Article 4 AI Literacy.

Frequently asked questions

What do AI governance services actually do?

They establish and maintain the structures that evidence responsible AI use — an AI register, usage policies, training records and audit-ready documentation — and keep them current as your tools, staff and the regulation change. Compliance Guard delivers this as an ongoing, human-led monthly service.

Is Compliance Guard AI governance for small business or large enterprise?

It is designed specifically for SMEs. It gives a small business the compliance function it needs — maintained governance and documentation — without the cost of a full-time compliance officer or an enterprise advisory retainer.

Does Compliance Guard include building high-risk AI systems?

No. Compliance Guard is a governance and documentation service. The engineering, risk-management-system build and conformity assessment required for high-risk AI systems are specialist project work scoped separately, not part of the monthly governance service.

How is this different from AI compliance software?

Software stores and tracks what you already know; it cannot decide your obligations, write policies that fit your business, or judge whether your evidence satisfies an auditor. Compliance Guard provides that human judgement, sitting between self-serve tools and expensive enterprise retainers.