FAQ
Questions we get often
Straight answers to what people actually want to know before they get in touch: what we build, how a project runs, who we are, what it costs, and what happens when something does not go to plan. If your question is not here, just ask, we answer email the same day.
What we do
The work we actually deliver, and where the line runs.
What does Breathe IT do?
We build AI solutions and agents inside the Microsoft ecosystem, and we deliver projects on Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. In practice that is four kinds of work:
- AI development and agents. Software that carries out work on its own, in your environment, against your own data.
- Business systems. Dynamics 365 and Power Platform set up around how you actually work, not how a standard template assumes you work.
- Data and integration. Power BI and Fabric, plus the connections between systems that do not talk to each other today.
- Managed services. We keep running what we built once it is in production.
The full list is under services.
Do you build AI agents that actually run in production?
Yes. An agent we built runs today at a maritime customer, inside the customer's own Microsoft environment. It reads the market, matches signals against the customer list, and puts qualified leads in front of the sales team before the working day starts. It does real work every day, it is not a pilot, and it is not a demo.
We wrote the whole thing up: An AI agent that finds maritime leads while you sleep.
What kind of AI work do you actually do?
Three kinds, and they solve different problems:
- Agents that carry out tasks. Finding leads, reading and processing documents, answering questions, keeping data current. They run to a schedule, not because someone pressed a button.
- Copilot and Copilot Studio. AI inside the Microsoft tools you already use, so the help sits where the work happens rather than in a separate window.
- AI-assisted development. We use AI coding agents to build software faster, through our Breathe AI Launchpad service.
What is Breathe AI Launchpad?
A service where we build software with AI coding agents instead of writing every line by hand. You describe the need, we build a working prototype quickly, and you look at it before anyone decides whether it goes further. What gets approved goes into production in your own environment, with operations in place.
The point is not speed for its own sake. The point is that you see something real before you commit budget, and that saying no to a prototype is easier than saying no to a half-finished project. More about Launchpad.
Do you only work with Microsoft technology?
Mostly, yes. We specialise in Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric and Azure. We think depth on one platform is worth more to a customer than a thin layer across ten, and we would rather decline something outside that than learn it on your budget.
Integrations, of course, run against everything else, ERP, line-of-business systems, web shops, public registries. That is usually where half the work sits.
Can you build something bespoke, outside the standard platforms?
Yes. Where standard does not reach, we build custom apps, PCF controls, Power Pages portals, Azure services and document generation. We build it to be maintained, not just delivered, documented, with the source code held by you, and set up so somebody else could take it over.
We still start by asking whether standard can solve it. Custom code is something you own for years, and that bill arrives later than the quote does.
How we work
From the first conversation to a solution in operation, and who owns what along the way.
How does a project start?
With a short scoping conversation. Half an hour on the phone or in Teams to understand the situation, and for larger pieces of work half a day to pin down scope, integrations and who will actually use the thing. Only then do we give an estimate.
We do not price what we have not understood. Handing over a quick number that has to be revised upward three weeks later does nobody a favour, by then you have already made a decision on the wrong basis.
Can we start small?
That is usually what we recommend. Put one app into production for one department first. It delivers value sooner, and it produces a better understanding of the requirements for the next phase than any workshop can, people know what they need once they have seen something they can touch.
It also gives you a cheap way to evaluate us. One bounded delivery tells you more about how we work than a reference call does.
Where do the solutions run, with you or with us?
With you. Everything we build runs in your own Azure or Microsoft tenant, on your data, within rules you control. You own the environment, the subscriptions and the source code.
That is deliberate. It means you can change supplier without moving anything, and it means a partnership that ends does not turn into an operational problem.
How do you handle data and security in AI solutions?
Data stays in your environment, and it is not used to train models. Access follows the roles you already have in Entra ID, so an agent sees exactly what the user it acts for is allowed to see, no more.
We log what the agents do, so it is possible to see after the fact why something happened. Where an agent makes decisions with consequences, we build in a human approval step rather than letting the model decide on its own.
Where personal data is processed we sign a data processing agreement before work begins. Our own processing is described in the privacy notice.
What happens after go-live?
We operate what we build: monitoring, security updates, backup and support with an agreed response time. The goal is that the solution still works in two years, including when Microsoft changes something underneath it.
It is a separate service with its own agreement, not something that quietly comes along with the project. We say so plainly because plenty of organisations only discover after go-live that nobody owns it.
How long does a project take?
It depends mostly on how many systems have to talk to each other:
- 2-3 months, a standard setup with one app.
- 3-6 months, with ERP integration and data migration.
- 6-9 months, several apps, with history to bring across.
- 9 months or more, group projects spanning several companies or countries.
The most common reason a project slips is not the development, it is that the data in the old system is in worse shape than anyone thought.
Can you work alongside the supplier we already have?
Yes, and we often do. Plenty of customers already have an ERP partner, a hosting supplier or an internal IT team. We take the part we are best at and stay out of the rest.
It does require the division of responsibility to be written down before we start. Unclear boundaries between two suppliers are one of the surest ways to make a project expensive.
Who we are
The company, the team and the customers, without the polish.
Who is Breathe IT?
Breathe IT AS is a Norwegian Microsoft technology company, founded in 2021, with an office at Sjøparken in Stavern. Company number 927 470 721. We work for customers in Norway and the Nordics.
How many of you are there?
You talk to the people who actually build the thing, not to a sales function that passes the work on to someone you never meet.
That makes for short paths. There is no project manager relaying a question to a developer you never meet, and decisions get made in the same conversation the question is asked.
Is the team certified?
Yes. The team holds 16 Microsoft certifications between us, including PL-600 Solution Architect, DP-600 Fabric Analytics Engineer, PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst and PL-200 Functional Consultant. One of us is a Microsoft Certified Trainer.
Certifications say something about the breadth of the knowledge, not about judgement. Do ask to speak to a reference as well.
Where do you work, and in what languages?
We are based in Stavern and work for customers across Norway and the Nordics. Most of it happens over Teams, with in-person meetings where they earn their place, typically kickoff, workshops and go-live.
We work in Norwegian, Swedish and English. Documentation and solutions are delivered in whichever language you prefer.
Who do you work with?
Customers and partners include Asplan Viak, ZEM, Norway Consulting, Nordic Dynamics, CaptureMap, Cosmosis, Nevi Apps, Skywlkr and Dyve, among others. The full list is on the customers page.
We work both directly for end customers and as a subcontractor to other Microsoft partners who need specialist depth inside a delivery.
What it costs
The numbers we can state publicly, and what moves them.
What does a Dynamics 365 implementation cost?
It depends on scope. Typical ranges for the project work:
- NOK 180,000-320,000, one app with a standard setup.
- NOK 350,000-600,000, with ERP integration and migration.
- NOK 600,000-1,200,000, several apps with history.
- From NOK 1,200,000, group projects.
We wrote a whole article on what drives those numbers: What does Dynamics 365 really cost?
What drives the cost most?
Integrations and data migration. The difference between a project at the bottom and the top of the same range almost always sits there, not in the number of users, and rarely in the number of screens.
If you want to bring the price down, the quickest lever is usually to migrate less history from the old system, or to move one integration into phase two.
Are licences and the project the same cost?
No, and they should be budgeted separately. The licence is a recurring per-user, per-month cost to Microsoft. The project is a one-off cost to us to get the solution in place.
We are happy to help work through the licence mix. There is often meaningful money in giving different user groups different licence types rather than giving everyone the most expensive one.
What does Breathe AI Launchpad cost?
Launchpad is priced in three parts: a platform component, a component per approved prototype that goes into production, and ongoing operations. Keeping the solutions running is included in the operations component; new work is billed by the hour.
We give specific rates in a quote, since they depend on scope and how many solutions you expect to run. Ask for the price list.
Fixed price or time and materials?
Both, depending on how well bounded the work is. If scope is clear after the scoping phase, we are happy to quote fixed price, then we carry the risk of having estimated wrong.
Where the work is exploratory, and we do not know what we will find until we are inside the systems, time and materials is the more honest form. A fixed price on something nobody has understood yet just means the risk premium is hidden inside the number.
Why customers choose us
What we think sets us apart, and what happens when something goes wrong.
What sets you apart from other Microsoft partners?
That our AI work is in production, not in a slide deck. Most people can show a demo. We have an agent doing work at a customer every day, in the customer's own environment, with the constraints that real operation actually imposes.
The other is size. You get the same people through the whole delivery, and whoever sat in the first meeting is also the one who answers when something creaks six months later.
Will we get honest estimates?
We give the number we actually believe, and we say so if we think the scope should be smaller than you had in mind. Sometimes the best advice is to postpone, to split it up, or to solve it with something you already hold a licence for.
A project that should not have started is more expensive for both sides than an honest conversation beforehand.
Will we be locked in to you?
No. Everything runs in your own tenant, on Microsoft's standard platform, and the code and configuration are yours. We document as we go, not as a final deliverable nobody ever reads.
We want to keep customers because the work holds up, not because leaving is hard.
What happens if the project turns out bigger than the estimate?
You hear about it when we see it, not when the invoice arrives. If it becomes clear something is larger than assumed, we stop and put the choice in front of you: extend the budget, cut scope, or move something to a later phase.
On a fixed price we absorb the miss ourselves when we have estimated wrong. That is the entire point of a fixed price, and we stand by it.
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