Strategy
Most AI portfolios are lists of ideas, not ranked economic bets.
Workshops produce sticky notes. Leadership then asks which idea to fund. Without volume, cost, judgment, systems, and an owner, the list is a catalog, not an assessment.
How I see it
Find the workflows that are worth a closer look
An opportunity assessment is a filter. It looks at the work the company already does and asks which processes are frequent enough, expensive enough, and judgment-heavy enough for AI to matter.
The assessment should be short enough to use. Each candidate gets a baseline sketch, a likely path, the main risk, and a recommendation: proceed, wait, or drop. The output is not a hundred-page report.
Readiness matters as much as value. A high-value workflow with no system of record, no owner, and no data access is not a first bet. A smaller workflow with a clean baseline and a willing operator can prove the method.
The point is to leave with a decision, not with more options. If the honest result is that none of the current ideas clear the bar, that is a successful assessment.
How the engagement runs
What you actually buy.
A service is a sequence with an artifact at each step. It is not a transformation program you purchase as a bundle.
Name three bets
Each bet has a workflow, an owner, a baseline, and a reason the economics could matter.
A ranked list a COO can fund this quarter.
A capability map or a vendor landscape.
Write the no-list
Record which ideas are real problems that are not AI problems, too rare, or political.
Popular ideas can be stopped in writing.
A roadmap where everything is still a yes.
Sequence one workflow that can ship
The first bet must reach production without a platform program.
A contained path with an owner and a kill criterion.
A transformation sequence that needs a new operating model first.
Do not buy this for
These engagements fail for predictable reasons.
Scoring ideas on excitement
Executive interest is not volume. Customer-facing demos are not the same as an expensive back-office process that runs every day.
Treating every function equally
Some functions have the data, the volume, and the owner. Start there. Do not run a tour of the org chart for fairness.
Stopping at a heat map
A colored matrix is not a decision. Name the first workflow, the path, and what would kill the bet.
Before we start
Questions that decide whether to engage.
How often does the work run, and what does a completed case cost today?
If nobody can answer, you are not ready to rank the idea.Does a person interpret documents, exceptions, or intent before acting?
Judgment-heavy work is where AI beats a simple rule.Does the outcome require action across more than one system?
Single-screen work may only need a copilot or a better form.Is there an owner who can change the process this quarter?
If the owner is a committee, the opportunity will wait.What would make you drop this idea after two weeks of looking?
If nothing would, you are attached to the idea, not the economics.
How we size it
Opportunity scoreannual cost of the workflow × AI-addressable share × readiness (owner, data, systems, risk)
High value with low readiness is a later bet. Medium value with high readiness is often the first win.
This is the wrong engagement if
Do not start this engagement yet.
- The company wants a tour of every department more than a ranked shortlist.
- No one will share process times, volumes, or cost.
- A vendor list has already been chosen and the assessment is expected to confirm it.
- The only acceptable output is a large portfolio, not a first workflow.
A useful next step
Bring one expensive workflow. Get guided into production.
We guide the implementation, go deep on the technical path, and stay hands-on through operations — or tell you when a simpler answer is better.
Discuss an AI opportunity