AI and Automation
Your business is spending on AI and automation, and the board cannot yet see the return. We find out why and design how the business should run the work. If you want us to, we then lead the programme on your side.
The problem
The pilots have worked and the integrator is on site. A year later the board asks what has changed, and the numbers do not yet show it.
The first use cases chosen were the easiest to build, and the most valuable ones are still waiting. Savings are counted against staff time removed, while licences and integrator fees sit in other budgets.
The work is for the CEO, CFO, COO, board or PE operating partner who answers for that spend: a programme a year in with little to show, or a platform about to be bought with no plan for how the business will run it. It is the wrong fit if you want an AI strategy on its own or a case made for a particular vendor.
What we do
We work on how the business chooses, runs and pays for AI and automation. Your own team, an integrator or a vendor builds the systems. The AI Operating Model Diagnostic looks at four things: how use cases are chosen and in what order; who decides what gets built and answers for the result; whether suppliers work under signed contracts with one party accountable; and what the programme really costs against the value it returns.
At a multinational service business, Stephen helped to structure and operationalise its enterprise automation function, as an affiliate consultant to another consulting firm. Most of the work sat in the function's governance, supplier terms, delivery method and operating cadence.
How an engagement runs
The diagnostic takes two to four weeks. After it, you choose whether to go on to design and then implementation, and we scope each of those stages before it starts.
1Diagnose: the AI Operating Model Diagnostic
We read the business case, use-case list, supplier contracts and costs, and interview the people who own the spend and run the work. It ends with a confidential report that ranks what has to change before the spend pays back, and a full cost baseline.
2Design
We set out the use cases in order of net value, the decision rights and steering forum, supplier accountability and the run model for each automation, as a plan your own team can carry out.
3Implement
We lead the programme on your side, as a continuation of the engagement or in an interim leadership role. We run the steering forum, hold the integrator and vendors to the plan and to their contracts, and make sure each use case has an owner and support before it goes live. Your own people take over the governance and the reporting when we finish.