AI strategy

When this engagement applies

Most mid-market businesses do not need an AI strategy in the consulting-deck sense. They need a position: a written view of where AI matters for the business, where it does not, and what the next twelve months call for. Written for governance rather than for the IT roadmap.

The trigger is usually a vendor proposal where the returns were not clear, a competitor announcement that has unsettled the executive team, or a Chair who has asked a question the management team cannot yet answer with confidence.

What I assess

A short discovery across the business, typically three or four interviews with department heads, and a desk review of the systems and platforms the business runs on, supplier roadmaps, and current AI activity. The output is a board paper, not a strategy deck. Ten to fifteen pages. The kind of document senior management can read in an hour and act on the following week.

This is not vendor selection. It is not an implementation plan. It is the document that sits between "we should do something about AI" and the first piece of work that actually gets commissioned.

What you get

• A written position on AI for the business, structured for the board and executive team
• A short capability map: what is being used now, what is being trialled, what is being avoided
• A view on three to five candidate use cases with a recommendation on which to take forward
• A call to walk the leadership team through the position

Delivery

Week one: interviews and a review of the current systems and platforms. Approximately six to eight hours of internal time across the leadership team.

Weeks two and three: drafting. One mid-point check-in with the executive sponsor.

Week four: final draft, walk-through, board paper handover.

Fees and duration

Fixed fee, scoped at the start. Two to four weeks elapsed.