Frequently asked questions

Accolades IT is a Lafayette, Louisiana based engineering firm specializing in AI development, AI consulting, custom software, custom web applications, and custom mobile applications. We pair production AI work (LLMs, agents, RAG, automation, predictive analytics) with the custom web and mobile applications those systems live inside. We are a Veteran-Owned Small Business with 30+ years of experience.

Our AI development practice ships production-grade AI — not just demos. That includes LLM-powered assistants and chatbots, AI agents with tool use, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) over your private data, intelligent document processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics. We build on Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, and open-source models, with evals, guardrails, monitoring, and cost controls baked in from day one.

AI consulting is strategic — we help leadership decide where AI should and shouldn't move the needle. A typical engagement delivers an AI roadmap, opportunity map, model selection guidance, build-vs-buy analysis, data and risk readiness review, and a prioritized backlog of AI use cases. AI development is the execution side — we then build, deploy, and operate the solutions the roadmap calls for.

Yes. Custom web applications, SaaS platforms, customer portals, e-commerce systems, and internal business tools are a core practice. We use modern stacks — Django and Python on the backend, TypeScript and React on the front end, cloud-native infrastructure — and we architect for AI features from the first commit so they can be added without rewrites later.

Yes. We build native and cross-platform mobile applications for iOS and Android, primarily with React Native and TypeScript so a single, maintainable codebase ships to both the App Store and Google Play. We can integrate AI features such as on-device assistants, intelligent search, and personalization.

A custom application is software built specifically for your business processes — instead of forcing your team to adapt to off-the-shelf SaaS. Custom apps make sense when your workflow is a competitive differentiator, when existing tools can't integrate cleanly, when you've outgrown spreadsheets and point tools, or when you want to embed AI deeply into how your team actually works.

Most engagements start with a short discovery and AI consulting phase to validate the opportunity, scope, and success metrics. We then run a rapid proof-of-concept (typically weeks, not months) on real data. If the POC clears the bar, we move into a production build with iterative releases, evals, and observability. Every phase has clear deliverables and decision points so you are never locked in blind.

We work with Anthropic Claude, OpenAI's GPT family, Google's Gemini, and open-source models when self-hosting or fine-tuning is the right call. We are deliberately model-agnostic — the right choice depends on your latency, cost, privacy, and accuracy targets. For retrieval and orchestration we use modern vector databases, tool-use patterns, and agentic frameworks.

We design AI systems with privacy and security as first-class concerns: enterprise API tiers that don't train on your data, private deployments where required, prompt and output guardrails, PII handling, audit logging, role-based access, and clear data retention policies. For regulated industries we map controls to the relevant framework before we ship.

Costs vary widely with scope. A focused AI consulting engagement or rapid prototype is typically a few weeks of senior engineering time. A production custom web or mobile application is usually a multi-month build. We share a written estimate after a free discovery call so you see ranges, milestones, and assumptions before signing anything.

AI consulting roadmaps land in 2–4 weeks. Proofs of concept run 3–6 weeks. Production custom web or mobile applications usually launch a first usable version in 8–16 weeks and continue iterating. We work in short cycles with weekly demos so you see progress instead of waiting for a big-bang reveal.

Yes. We are headquartered in Lafayette and serve the surrounding Louisiana region (Broussard, Youngsville, Carencro, Scott, New Iberia, Opelousas, Breaux Bridge, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles), and we engage with clients across the United States remotely. Our delivery model is built for distributed teams.

We have shipped products across healthcare education, e-commerce and consumer marketplaces, professional services, and small business operations. Our methodology — discovery, prototype, production — applies anywhere a custom application or AI capability can replace manual work or unlock new revenue.

Yes. We frequently inherit existing codebases, prompt stacks, or stalled AI pilots. We start with a technical audit covering architecture, model usage, costs, observability, and risk, then propose the smallest set of changes that gets the project unstuck and back on a healthy delivery track.

Yes. Accolades IT Consulting is a Veteran-Owned Small Business based in Lafayette, Louisiana, eligible for VOSB set-aside contracting where applicable.

Reach out through our contact page or call (337) 366-1248. We will schedule a free discovery call to understand the problem, walk you through how we would approach it, and share an estimate. There is no obligation to continue — even the conversation alone usually clarifies the right next step.