AI Strategy Workshop
Turn "we need to do AI" into a prioritised, value-targeted roadmap you can defend to your board — in a single facilitated session, run by two operators who have actually instrumented where AI pays.
A facilitated working session · modular (a core day, with optional pre-work and follow-up) · on-site or remote · run personally by Bernhard & Adrianna — the operators who instrumented AI and delivery value at AB InBev (DORA, ~30% analyst productivity uplift) and ran operational & tech due diligence across the Abris Capital portfolio.
What you walk out with
- A prioritised, value-targeted AI roadmap. The two or three AI bets worth funding now, each tied to a number it should move — not a wish-list of use cases.
- Every initiative sorted: AI that pays vs. AI that just demos. A clear-eyed filter applied to your own ideas and to the ones vendors have been pitching you.
- A board-ready one-pager. The roadmap, the value logic and the sequencing on a single page you can defend to a board or investment committee.
- Named owners and a sequence. Who does what first — so the session ends in commitment, not a wall of sticky notes.
How the session runs
- A facilitated core day. The anchor: your leadership team in one room (or one call), both principals facilitating, walking out with the roadmap.
- Optional pre-work. Short stakeholder interviews and a current-state scan so the day starts from evidence, not a blank flip-chart.
- Optional follow-up. A second session a few weeks later to pressure-test execution and adjust as the first bets land.
- Both principals, personally. Bernhard and Adrianna run it — two senior operators, not a junior facilitation team.
The filter: AI that pays vs. AI that just demos
Most AI roadmaps are a list of things that are technically possible. Ours starts from a harder question: which of these actually moves a number you care about, and can your delivery layer ship it? We score every candidate against value and feasibility, separate the bets that pay from the ones that only demo well, and kill the theatre before it reaches your budget. It's the same discipline behind our AI-measurement work — applied to your roadmap before you spend.
Ideal for
- A CEO or founder under board pressure to "have an AI plan" who wants conviction, not another vendor deck.
- A founder who has been pitched ten AI tools and needs an honest read on which bet is actually real.
- A leadership team about to commit budget that wants to align on the two or three moves that matter — in a day, not a quarter.
- A board or investor who wants the management team's AI thesis stress-tested before funding it.
Where this comes from
This is the prioritisation discipline we've run inside real mandates, productised. We instrumented where value actually lands inside AB InBev's global transformation (DORA, ~30% analyst productivity uplift) and delivered operational & tech due diligence across the Abris Capital portfolio — separating the initiatives that pay from the ones that don't. See four engagements with real numbers →
Workshop or diagnostic?
Two ways in, depending on what you need first. The Delivery & AI-Readiness Diagnostic is a two-week, evidence-based read — it audits whether your current AI and digital spend is paying. This workshop is faster and forward-looking: a facilitated session that sets direction and produces the roadmap. Choose the workshop when you need alignment and a plan; choose the diagnostic when you need an honest audit of what's already running. Many clients do the workshop first, then diagnose execution once the bets are live. And if your real problem is delivery rather than AI direction, its sibling is the Delivery Reset Workshop — the same format, for engineering leaders.
Common questions
What is the AI Strategy Workshop?
A facilitated working session that turns a "we need to do AI" mandate into a prioritised, value-targeted roadmap your leadership team owns and can defend to the board. You leave with the two or three bets worth funding now, each tied to a number, sequenced, with named owners.
What's the format, and how long is it?
Modular. The anchor is a single facilitated core day, on-site or remote, with optional pre-work (stakeholder interviews and a current-state scan) and an optional follow-up session a few weeks later. We scope it to your situation on a short call first.
What do we actually walk out with?
A prioritised AI roadmap, every candidate initiative sorted into "pays" versus "just demos", a board-ready one-pager, and named owners with a sequence. A decision and a plan, not a wall of sticky notes.
How is this different from the diagnostic?
The diagnostic is a two-week, evidence-based audit of whether your current AI spend is paying. The workshop is a faster, forward-looking session that sets direction and produces a roadmap. One reads what's already running; the other decides what to fund next. Many clients use both, workshop first.
Do you recommend specific tools or vendors?
We're deliberately vendor-neutral. We don't resell anyone's platform, so the roadmap is about which bets pay for you — not which licences we're incentivised to sell. Where a build-versus-buy call matters, we'll say so plainly.
What does it cost?
It's scoped to the format you need — a core day, with or without pre-work and a follow-up — so we price it on a short call once we know the shape. Send a line on your situation and we'll come back with a fixed number, not an open-ended day rate.