THOUGHTFOXRECEIPT 000 · YOUR BUSINESS
- Value driver
- to agree
- Number
- to agree
- Date
- to agree
- Owner
- to agree
** A FIGURE YOUR BOARD SIGNS OFF **
000 04 0000AI Strategy: If we can’t put a number on it, we don’t recommend it.
For boards, owners and leadership teams who need to decide where AI goes first, and want that decision to stand up. We start with what’s costing your business most, not with what AI can do. You come out with a short list of ideas worth backing, each with a business case built from your own numbers.
Not ready to talk? Take the 5-minute AI readiness check
Sound familiar?
“We’ve got twenty ideas and no way to choose between them.”
“Every AI business case I see is a guess with a spreadsheet attached.”
“The board wants to see a number before it backs anything.”
What you get
A plan your board will back.
The few places AI will pay most, ranked.
Each with a named owner and a timeframe: 90 days, 12 months or longer.
A business case for each idea your board backs.
Built from your own numbers and signed off by a named owner in your business, not by us. Tested at today’s tool prices and at about 30% higher, so it still holds if costs rise.
Ground rules your leaders agree.
What AI is for in your business, what it isn’t, and who owns the risk.
A sponsor and a plan for your people.
Who each idea affects, and what your leaders will do, by when.
A starting point, written down.
Where things stand today, so the return can be proven later.
Proof
With a division of the Kepak Group, the output of that leadership day went straight into its three-year plan.
Where AI pays
Time saved is only the first step.
There are two kinds of AI work. Efficiency comes from people and teams doing their own work better: hours saved, faster turnaround. It’s worth having, but the time is already paid for. A strategic AI programme goes further and changes how the business runs, grows and competes. Most plans stop at efficiency. AI Strategy plans both, then puts the effort into the few ideas worth the most.
- Step 1 · One person · Efficiency
Hours back in each job.
Drafts, summaries, analysis. Real gains, but the time is already paid for, so they only pay when it goes somewhere.
AI Adoption → - Step 2 · One team · Efficiency
Key work runs a new way.
A process like month-end or tenders runs faster, with fewer errors and a person checking what matters.
AI in Your Core Work → - Step 3 · Across teams · Strategic
The whole flow speeds up.
Work across several teams joins up, from first enquiry to delivery. Every team draws on one company brain, so the whole flow moves faster.
AI in Your Core Work →Company Brain →Custom AI Software → - Step 4 · New value · Strategic
Income you couldn’t earn before.
New services, new products or new ways to reach customers, built on what your business already knows.
Custom AI Software →
Along the way, the return shows up as capacity added, speed, risk managed and new value. Every business case names which, and by how much.
Try it
Twenty ideas. Five worth backing.
Most leadership teams start with a long list and no way to choose. Score each idea on what it’s worth and how ready you are for it, and the few worth backing stand out.
- 1Quote turnaround Quick winSales director · 90 days
- 2Invoice matching Quick winFinance director · 90 days
- 3Tender first drafts Quick winBids manager · 90 days
- 4Email triage Quick winCustomer service lead · 90 days
- 5Demand forecast Bigger bet: worth it, needs the data firstSupply chain lead · 12 months
Example ideas and scores for a sample distribution business. Yours come from your own numbers, in the leadership day.
Two ways to startMost clients start here Includes steps 1 to 3
Start with your leaders. Finish with a plan.
Six steps, and nothing starts before them. Most clients start with the first three.
Leadership Activation
A readiness check and a hands-on day with your leadership team.
Our read first.
Before we propose anything, we write down the problem as we heard it: who it affects, the goal it supports, why now and what we don’t know yet. Then we ask where we’ve got it wrong.
Check readiness.
A short check across our seven dimensions of AI readiness, from leadership to data, shows where you stand and what will hold AI back.
Leaders hands-on, then find the value.
Your leaders use AI on their own work, then follow work through the business to find where time, money and customers are lost. They agree who sponsors the work, who owns AI risk, and what success is worth.
- Time
- One day
- You leave with
- where you stand, the problems worth solving first, and which step comes next.
Board-Ready AI Plan
For boards, CEOs and leadership teams. Everything in Leadership Activation, then:
Rank the ideas.
On value, readiness and risk. Ideas sort into quick wins, bigger bets and later. Most of the effort goes to the few at the top.
Plan the people side and the rules.
Who each idea affects, what your sponsor will do and by when, and the ground rules AI works within.
Agree the starting point and the roadmap.
We record where things stand, agree a cautious figure your board signs off, and set out the first 90 days and 12 months.
- Time
- Two weeks
- You leave with
- a board report and a roadmap your board can sign off.
Then: a full business case, with a named owner, for each idea your board backs. We track each one from start to finish and report what it returned.
The readiness check covers our seven dimensions, from leadership to data. See the seven, and how elevAIte moves you through them →
Who leads this
Led by people who’ve run businesses.
Ben Churchill
Co-founder & CEO. Twice a CEO, including taking a software company through its listing on the Australian stock exchange. Now Chief AI Officer at Ocuco.
Niki Hettema
Co-founder, Operations & Automation Lead. Spent nearly fifteen years at Google, where he led EMEA sales analytics and rebuilt its data infrastructure. Builds the AI tooling ThoughtFox runs on, and led our first full platform deployment into a client’s own cloud.
Marie Toft
Co-founder, AI Governance & Literacy Lead. Founded Emotionise AI, one of Ireland’s first start-ups to work with OpenAI. Leads how we keep AI safe and within the rules.
JV Fennelly
Co-founder, Value & Product Lead. A serial entrepreneur since 2008, who founded and runs a digital commerce business. Leads how we measure and prove the return. Holds an Executive MBA from Trinity College Dublin, with a thesis on AI transformation at Jaguar Land Rover.
Questions people ask
Before you book the call.
We don’t have an AI strategy yet. Is that a problem?
No. Most clients don’t when they call us. We start from what your business is trying to achieve, written down or not.
We already have licences and a few pilots.
Good. We start where you are: what’s working, what isn’t, and where the next euro is best spent.
Do you sell AI tools?
No. Our advice on which tool to use isn’t tied to a sale.
How long does it take?
Leadership Activation takes one day. A Board-Ready AI Plan takes two weeks. Business cases for the ideas your board backs follow after that, and we’ll scope them with you.
Who owns the plan?
You do, along with everything we make for you.
Find out where AI will pay first in your business.
Whether you have licences, pilots or nothing yet, we’ll help you pick a sensible first step.
Our approach to finding value draws on UCD Professional Academy’s Advanced AI for Business programme.