AI and automation for UK marine, offshore and industrial operations
Your engineers should be fixing things, not writing about them.
Service reports written up at night. The same job typed into three systems. A week of chasing figures every month-end. We build the systems that take that work off your people: data entered once and used everywhere, reports drafted from what you already record, and numbers ready when you need them. Fixed scope, a named delivery date, working software in 2 to 6 weeks.
Marine and offshore
We know how marine engineering work really gets done
Our founder served eight years in the Royal Navy, then worked as a contracted engineer on commercial and naval vessels around the world: installation, commissioning and sign-off, at sea and in dockyards. So if you run a marine engineering or service business, or operate vessels, you won't have to explain the basics.
Sound familiar?
- Commissioning and service reports written up in a hotel room after a long shift
- Test results, photos and sign-off sheets spread across phones, laptops and paper, gathered up at the end of the job
- Engineers on board phoning the office to find the right manual, drawing or wiring diagram
- Timesheets and expenses from engineers in different countries chased and re-typed before anyone can invoice
- Superintendents chasing contractors for reports and evidence before a class survey
From our own engineering work
Our founder's marine engineering business still carries out installation and commissioning work today, and it runs on tools he built:
- Reports drafted on site. Photos, voice notes and readings are captured on a phone during the job, and the report is drafted before leaving the vessel. It draws on the equipment manuals, so it uses the right terminology and references the documents it relies on. The engineer checks it and sends a finished PDF. Used on every job.
- A technical assistant in your pocket. Every equipment manual and technical document sits in one library that can be questioned from a phone. You work through a fault in conversation, and each answer points to the manual it came from. It needs a phone signal, the same as looking anything else up. What it doesn't need is the office to be open.
We build the same tools for engineering and service companies: for engineers on site and the technical support team in the office.
Talk to us about your next projectWhat we fix
Four problems we solve
Each one is a fixed-scope project. We build it, then your team runs it.
Process Automation
Stop typing the same data into three systems
Jobs, timesheets, purchase orders and invoices move between your systems on their own, so nobody spends the afternoon copying and checking.
Typical outcomes
- Data entered once, used everywhere
- Fewer mistakes from re-keying
AI Integration
Get reports and answers without the digging
Service reports, handover notes and technical answers drafted from your own records and manuals, each linked to its source so your team can check it.
Typical outcomes
- Your people review and sign off instead of starting from a blank page
- Every answer points to the document it came from
Intelligent Analytics
See where the business stands without waiting for month-end
Costs, jobs and performance pulled into one live view, instead of a spreadsheet someone rebuilds every month.
Typical outcomes
- One agreed set of numbers
- Decisions made on live data, not last month's spreadsheets
AI Strategy & Transformation
Know where to start, and what to leave alone
We map how work actually moves through your business, then give you a short, costed list of what to fix first, including what doesn't need AI at all.
Typical outcomes
- A prioritised 6 to 12 month plan
- Quick wins scoped before the strategy work ends
What sets us apart
Why operators choose Cognify
Engineering experience behind every project
Our founder is a marine engineer who built his own engineering business before starting Cognify. He leads every engagement, so the person you explain the problem to understands the work and answers for the result.
Working systems in 2 to 6 weeks
Every project is fixed scope, with the deliverables and delivery date agreed in writing before work starts. A single workflow can be live in 2 to 3 weeks; a fully integrated system takes 4 to 6.
We'll tell you when AI isn't the answer
If a problem doesn't need AI, we say so. Often the right answer is a workflow automation, a cleaner data pipeline, or a better-shaped process. We don't sell AI to look modern. We sell measurable outcomes, and only use AI when it's the right tool.
How we work
Five steps from discovery to handover
Clear stages, weekly checkpoints, working software on the date named upfront.
Discovery Call
Free 30-minute call. We understand your challenges, assess fit, and agree the right next step. No pitch deck.
Scoping and Proposal
For straightforward work we go straight to a fixed-price proposal. Where the work needs designing before it can be priced, a short paid scoping piece maps your processes and systems and fixes the scope, price and delivery date. You keep the scoping document either way.
Co-Implementation
We build and deploy the system alongside your team. Weekly checkpoints, working software at the end, and documentation as it ships.
Team Enablement
Training sessions with the team who'll use the system day-to-day. Playbooks, video guides, and runbooks left behind.
Continuous Evolution
An optional Improvement Phase plan for monitoring, maintenance and further improvements. Or take the system fully in-house and bring us back when the next bottleneck appears.
Who you'll work with
Who's behind Cognify
A small, founder-led team. You deal directly with the people who understand your operation.
Philip Conlan
Founder & CEO
Mechanical, electrical and automation engineer. Eight years in the Royal Navy, then contracted marine engineering work on commercial and naval vessels worldwide, before building his own engineering business in the sector. Leads every Cognify engagement, from scoping to handover.
Olivia Conlan
Head of Growth
Leads Cognify's brand and content, and writes about what AI and automation actually change inside an operational business.
Featured client
What we're building now
Case study
Replacing a multi-vendor operations stack with one custom-built platform
Welbeck Manor & Golf · Hotel, golf and events
Welbeck Manor & Golf, a hotel and golf resort near Plymouth, was running operations across a stack of disconnected third-party systems covering golf, point-of-sale, accommodation, events, and finance. Manual reconciliation between systems that didn't talk to each other was consuming the team's hours. Cognify is consolidating the stack into the Welbeck Hub, a custom-built operations platform delivered department by department. The golf course, golf studio and events run on the Hub today, alongside a cross-department finance layer that surfaces COGS and KPIs across the business. The Hub posts daily journals straight into Xero, department by department, so cost and revenue reporting is live rather than reconciled by hand. Restaurant and accommodation are next. The Hub is built on the Resilience Pack: health monitoring, automated recovery and runbooks.
- Golf course, golf studio and events running on the Hub today
- Cross-department finance page: COGS and KPIs visible across the business in one place
- Daily journals posted into Xero per department, so reporting is live rather than reconciled by hand
- Restaurant and accommodation next
- In-house team owns and runs every delivered module
The problem underneath will be familiar to most operators: several systems that don't share data, and people filling the gaps by hand.
Who we work with
Where we do our best work
Our deepest experience is in marine and offshore engineering: Vessel operators, ship owners, fleet operators, and the engineering contractors who service them. We also work with other businesses where the work is process-heavy and the systems don't talk to each other.
Also: Industrial engineering and manufacturing · Field service and technical operations · Energy and infrastructure · Hospitality and multi-department operations
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about working with us.
How do I get started with Cognify Partners?
What does a partnership with you look like?
What types of businesses do you work with?
How do you ensure compliance with UK and EU regulations?
Do you only use AI tools?
Will we need technical skills for the systems you build?
How quickly will I see results?
What kind of return can I expect?
Ready to see if we're the right fit?
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll diagnose the right next step, and if AI isn't the answer for your problem we'll tell you.
Book a free discovery call