Diagnostic

The AI Readiness Assessment

A structured, five-dimension scorecard that tells you exactly where you stand — before you commit to a seat, a platform, or a strategy. Board-ready output, not a generic checklist.

88%of organisations use AI in at least one function — Deloitte / PwC / McKinsey 2026
97%struggle to demonstrate clear business value from it
71%of UK businesses haven't identified a concrete AI use case — DSIT
80% vs 37%project success rate with a formal AI strategy versus without one

What actually gets scored

Most "AI readiness" checklists measure enthusiasm. This measures the five things that actually determine whether an AI investment survives past pilot.

1. Strategy & Use Case Clarity

Is there a prioritised, funded use case roadmap — or a collection of enthusiasm-driven pilots with no common thread?

2. Data Foundation & Infrastructure

Can your data actually support the use cases you want to run, or does every initiative start with a data-cleanup project nobody budgeted for?

3. Governance & Regulatory Risk

EU AI Act risk-tier exposure, board oversight structure, and whether anyone could actually answer an auditor's question today.

4. Talent & Culture

Is AI literacy built into the organisation at every level it needs to be, or concentrated in a handful of enthusiasts fighting institutional inertia?

5. Vendor & Technology Portfolio

Is your tool and vendor estate coherent and governed, or an accumulation of individually-justified point solutions?

Scored 0–100 per dimension

Each dimension gets a defensible score, not a traffic-light guess — with the evidence behind it shown, not just asserted.

Three steps, one board-ready output

1. Structured Workshop

A half-day, facilitated session across operations, data, talent and governance stakeholders — not a survey link nobody reads properly.

2. Scoring & Evidence

Each dimension is scored against a documented rubric, with the evidence behind every score captured, not just the number.

3. Board-Ready Report

A scorecard, an opportunity map prioritised by real ROI potential, and an EU AI Act applicability view — built to be presented, not decoded.

Where most organisations actually sit

The assessment places you on a five-stage maturity ladder — most organisations discover they're a stage or two behind where their AI spend suggests they should be.

StageWhat It Looks Like
1 · Ad HocIndividual tools adopted by enthusiasts. No strategy, no governance, no shared view of what's even in use.
2 · AwareLeadership knows AI matters and has funded some pilots. No board-level owner, no way to compare initiatives against each other.
3 · DefinedA strategy and roadmap exist. Governance is documented but not consistently followed. Most organisations plateau here.
4 · ManagedA named accountable owner, active governance committee, and use cases tracked against real ROI — not just activity.
5 · OptimisedAI investment is continuously reviewed and reprioritised against outcomes, with failed initiatives shut down as readily as successful ones are scaled.
What Happens Next

The assessment is a diagnosis, not a sales pitch

If the honest answer is "you're not ready for a seat yet, fix these three things first" — that's what you'll hear. If the roadmap points to a Fractional CAIO, that's a conversation for after you've seen your own scorecard, not before.

See where you actually stand

Structured, evidence-based, and yours to keep — whatever it shows.