https://renezander.com/tags/decision-guide/Recent content in Decision-Guide on René Zander | AI Automation ConsultantHugoenFri, 17 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0200https://renezander.com/guides/how-to-choose-llm-for-production/Fri, 17 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0200https://renezander.com/guides/how-to-choose-llm-for-production/<p>Most teams pick an LLM for production the wrong way. They read a leaderboard, pick the top model, and wire it into an endpoint. Six weeks later they hit a rate limit during a traffic spike, or a compliance reviewer asks where EU data is processed, or the p99 latency kills a user-facing flow. Then the real selection work starts, under pressure, in production.</p> <p>This guide is how to choose an LLM for production the right way, before any of that happens. I run AI agents and LLM-backed automations for DACH clients, and every production deployment I&rsquo;ve shipped went through the same seven-criteria filter. The order matters. Skip one and you will find out later, usually on a weekend.</p>https://renezander.com/guides/mcp-vs-custom-api-integration/Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0200https://renezander.com/guides/mcp-vs-custom-api-integration/<p>Every team I talk to that has shipped one Claude integration asks the same question within a month: should this tool be an MCP server, or should it stay as a tool definition inside our app? The answer gets framed as a technology debate, but it&rsquo;s really a question about how many places you plan to use the same capability.</p> <p>Here is the short version. For about 90% of teams, a custom API integration written directly into your Claude code is the right call. The Model Context Protocol is the right call when you need the same tool surface across multiple LLM clients, when you are building a reusable internal platform, or when you are shipping tools for other people to hit from their own assistants. The rest of this guide walks through why, with the cost model and a decision tree at the end.</p>