Norloch builds AI agents and automation for businesses in Edinburgh and across Scotland. Inboxes triaged and replies drafted, quotes priced, documents chased, enquiries answered, all inside your own Microsoft 365 or Google tools, with a person approving anything that goes out. Then we keep it working as the tools change.
Book a free call See what it costsAround 100 hours a month back for one Edinburgh accountancy practice. Read how
Not sure where to start? Most clients begin with a half-day session for the team, on their own work. See the training
Updated November 2026
In short
Norloch is an Edinburgh consultancy that builds AI agents and automation for small and growing businesses, and supports them afterwards. Agent builds are £5,000 to £15,000 fixed, simpler automations £1,500 to £5,000, and support plans from £350 a month. Clients own everything we build. Most start with practical AI training for the team on ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft 365 Copilot, and we also provide custom software, data platforms and fractional CTO leadership. Led by Shanoor Hussain, former Head of Managed Services at Datatonic and Cloudreach.
If you've been searching for an AI automation consultancy in Edinburgh, someone to build an AI agent for your business, AI training for your team in Scotland, or a fractional CTO who builds as well as advises, this is what we do.
What we do
Most businesses have the AI tools and none of the savings, because nobody built the thing. We find the job your team does fifty times a week, build the agent or automation that does it, and keep it working as the models and tools change.
Agents that handle a job end to end, not just one step: read the request, look things up, draft the work and hand it to a person to approve. From £5,000, fixed.
Fixed-step automation for the jobs that never vary, from £1,500. Privacy-first, with people in control of what goes out.
AI models and the tools around them change every few months. A monthly plan keeps what we built working, from £350 a month. Optional: you own it either way.
The first step for most clients. Hands-on sessions on your own work, for staff with no technical background, ending with a priced list of what is worth automating. From £2,000 per team, in Edinburgh, across Scotland or remote. Five teams and around thirty people trained in 2026.
When spreadsheets and off-the-shelf tools stop fitting. Software shaped around how the business actually works, with its data in one place.
Senior technical leadership without a full-time hire, for businesses that have grown past a few builds and need someone to own the technology.
What we build with
Signs we're a fit
We work with growing businesses whose people are doing skilled work by hand because nobody has shown them a better way, and with funded startups that need senior technical judgement. If any of these sound familiar, we should talk.
Spreadsheets, no-code apps and off-the-shelf software are holding the business together, just about.
It lives in silos, reporting is manual, and nobody fully trusts the numbers.
Now you need to build product or platform quickly, and get it right first time.
Someone needs to set the architecture, shape the team and lead it.
Everyone has tried ChatGPT. Nobody is sure what's safe to put in it, or where it would actually save a day.
An agency or freelancer built it, moved on, and left something nobody understands.
Why Norloch
The Nor Loch was drained to connect Edinburgh's Old Town to the New. We liked the idea: remove the barriers between things that should be connected. Strategy and delivery. Data and decisions. The business and its technology.
For a decade Shanoor's job was keeping cloud, data and AI systems running for large companies. Norloch does the same for businesses with twenty staff instead of two thousand: build the thing that saves the hours, then make sure it still works in six months.
Results
Client journeys
Two directors, 2,500 clients, systems not linked up. Client requests buried. Evenings and weekends lost to email.
A privacy-first AI system inside their own Microsoft 365 tenant. Classifies every email, drafts in each person's voice, strips sensitive data and escalates what's urgent.
100 hours a month back. 87% of drafts sent with minor edits. Now working with us on document automation and workflow tracking.
Managing customers across Instagram, website, and email separately. No content strategy. Evenings lost to messages.
A unified messaging system plus a data-led content engine. Every channel connected, with weekly plans recalibrated against live performance data.
Responses in minutes. One post hit 33,813 views. Link taps to bookings up 41.8%. Evenings back.
Want to talk through your own setup? Book a free call
How we work
A practical session on your own work so your people use ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot confidently and safely. Sized to the team. See the session
An automation, custom app or data platform, usually something the training surfaced, scoped with a fixed price and delivered to a clear plan.
A set number of days a month. Roadmap, architecture, team and vendor leadership, and a technical voice in the boardroom.
30 minutes. What your team does, which tools you have, and what the session should focus on.
FreeYour team works with the tools on their real tasks. By the end they know what the tools are for, and we've seen where the hours go.
A short list of what to automate, priced. You pick one. We build it, measure it, and hand it over documented. No obligation after the training.
How we think
Every technical decision starts with what the business needs next, explained in plain language.
Code, data and infrastructure live in your own accounts, documented so your team or a future hire can take it on.
The best architecture is usually the one with fewer moving parts. We remove complexity before we add any.
About
Shanoor Hussain
Founder & Fractional CTO · Full profile
I've spent 15 years building and running technology, from writing code myself to leading global teams. Most recently I was Head of Managed Services at Datatonic and, before that, at Cloudreach, where I built and scaled cloud, data and AI service practices and advised boards, founders and private equity investors.
Along the way I saw how much of an advantage good technical leadership gives a company, and how rarely growing businesses get access to it. Norloch exists to change that.
Based in Edinburgh. I lead every engagement personally and stay hands-on with the build, so you work directly with the person accountable for it.
FAQ
No. The session ends with a short, priced list of what we'd automate first, because people ask. You can take it to anyone, do it yourself, or do nothing. Most clients come back for one build; some don't, and that's fine.
Whichever your team uses: ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, or more than one. The fundamentals are the same; the exercises, the data settings and the habits differ.
A senior technology leader who works with your business part-time. You get the strategy, architecture decisions, hiring support and board-level thinking of a CTO without the cost of a full-time executive hire.
Both. We set the technical direction and then design and build the systems, so strategy and delivery never drift apart. If you have an internal team, we lead and support them instead.
An agency builds what you ask for. A fractional CTO helps you decide what to build, in what order, and why, then makes sure it gets built properly. You work directly with the person accountable for the outcome.
You do. Code, data and infrastructure live in your own accounts, documented so your team or a future hire can pick it up.
Training from £2,000 per team. A first automation build £1,500 to £5,000, fixed price. An AI agent build £5,000 to £15,000, fixed, then support from £350 a month if you want it. Custom applications and data platforms typically up to £15,000 for a first phase; full platforms with agents on top run £50,000 to £100,000 over several phases. Fractional CTO from £1,500 a day, usually one day a week. The first conversation is free. Full pricing.
No. That's the point. We translate between the business and the technology, and explain every decision in plain language.
Yes. AI and automation are part of what we build, often alongside a custom app or data platform. We also run practical AI training for teams.
Yes. We're based in Edinburgh and work with businesses across Scotland and the wider UK, on-site or remote.
Free 30-minute call. We'll tell you whether it's worth automating, what it would cost, and what it would save.
Book your free call How agents work