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AI Assessment

A ranked, written view of where AI realistically fits in your organisation.

One to four weeks. Workshops with the teams doing the actual work, scoring against feasibility and impact, and a written assessment document with build-now, build-later, and leave-alone recommendations. Honest about which candidates do not survive scrutiny.

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One to four weeks
Overview

A structured look at where AI applies in your organisation today.

AI Assessment is the entry point in the Advise family. It is for organisations that suspect AI applies somewhere in the business but do not yet have a defensible list of where, in what order, or at what realistic cost. The engagement produces that list, with the reasoning attached.

The work is done in workshops with the operating teams closest to the actual workflows, not in executive interviews alone. Candidate use cases are scored against a consistent rubric covering feasibility, data readiness, and likely impact. The output is a ranked list with three buckets, build now, build later, leave alone, each with the reasoning written alongside.

What you get

Three deliverables that hold up under scrutiny.

The ranked list is the centrepiece. The two supporting outputs make sure the ranking is defensible six months later.

01

Ranked candidate list

Every candidate use case surfaced in the workshops, scored and bucketed into build now, build later, or leave alone. Each entry carries the score breakdown and the reasoning, not just the verdict.

02

Written assessment document

Executive summary at the front for leadership, technical annex at the back for the team that would build. Structured so it can be forwarded to your board or your investors without further translation.

03

Reproducible scoring rubric

The rubric we used, shared with you in writing. So six months from now, when a new candidate surfaces, your team can score it consistently against the same criteria without needing us back.

When this fits

Four signs Assessment is the right shape.

You suspect AI fits, but you cannot list where

Leadership has decided that AI should be looked at seriously, but no one has a defensible list of candidate use cases. The organisation needs a structured surface-and-score exercise before it can decide what to fund. That is exactly the work an Assessment is built for.

A long pitch list needs filtering

Internal teams or vendors have pitched a long list of AI possibilities and leadership wants a single, consistent filter applied across them. The Assessment runs every candidate through the same rubric so the ranking reflects merit rather than the loudest internal advocate.

You are about to commission a Strategy

You are planning a Strategy engagement and want a defensible input to feed it. An Assessment first, Strategy second, is a common sequence, it means the Strategy is sequencing real candidates rather than reasoning about hypothetical ones. We deliver the two as separate engagements, not a package.

You need an honest “not yet”

You suspect the right answer in your organisation may be “not yet” for most candidates, and you want that conclusion documented rather than assumed. An Assessment is often worth its price tag for that reason alone: a defensible, written “no” is one of the most valuable outputs in this category.

Why us

What you get from Applied North on this offer.

A

Workshops with the doers

The candidate list is built from conversations with the people closest to the work, not from executive imagination. The teams that run the workflows tend to know where AI helps long before leadership does.

B

A rubric you keep

The scoring rubric is handed over in writing so the assessment is reproducible. Your team can score new candidates against the same criteria months later without needing us back for every conversation.

C

Honest “leave alone”

A meaningful share of the candidates we score end up in the leave-alone bucket. That is the rubric working as intended. We are not optimising for a long build-now list; we are optimising for an accurate one.

How it runs

Four steps from first call to written assessment.

One to four weeks, depending on the number of operating teams in scope and the volume of candidates surfaced.

Free first call

A no-cost conversation to understand the organisation, the operating teams in scope, and the questions leadership wants answered. We confirm whether an Assessment is the right shape and quote a single fixed price before any work begins.

Workshops with operating teams

Structured workshops with the teams that actually do the work, operations, customer service, finance, engineering, to surface the candidate use cases. The teams closest to the work usually have the best instincts about where AI helps.

Scoring and ranking

Each candidate is scored against feasibility, data readiness, and likely impact using a consistent rubric. The rubric is shared with you so the ranking is reproducible rather than a black box that walks out the door with us.

Written assessment document

The deliverable lands as a written document, executive summary up front, technical annex at the back, ranked list in the middle. Each candidate gets a “build now,” “build later,” or “leave alone” recommendation with the reasoning beside it.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions about AI Assessment.

How is an Assessment different from a Strategy?

An Assessment surfaces and ranks candidate AI use cases. It answers “where could AI apply here, and in what order should we look at it?” A Strategy turns that ranking into a sequenced, costed, resourced plan. The two pair well sequentially, Assessment first, Strategy second, but we deliver them as separate engagements, not as a bundle.

What if the answer is “nothing fits right now”?

We say so, in writing. That happens. Sometimes the data is not in shape, sometimes the operating model is not ready, sometimes the workflows are too unstructured for current models. “Leave alone for now” is a real and frequent output of this engagement, and it is worth the price tag of the assessment to know that with confidence.

Do you need access to our data to run the assessment?

Not for the assessment itself. The data-readiness scoring is based on conversations with the people who own the data, plus a review of structure and access patterns where useful. Deep data work happens later, in a Create engagement, if and when one of the candidates is greenlit.

Who needs to be in the workshops?

The people who do the actual operating work, supervisors, senior individual contributors, team leads. Executives are interviewed separately so the workshops stay candid. A workshop full of executives produces a different list than a workshop full of the people who run the workflows, and we want the latter.

Can you run the Assessment and then build the top candidate?

Yes, but as separate engagements with a deliberate gap between them. The Assessment ends, you sit with the recommendation, you decide. If you want to act, the Create engagement is scoped and priced fresh, not pre-committed during the Assessment. We will not use the Assessment as a sales funnel into a build.

Want a defensible list of where AI fits in your organisation?

Tell us about the operating teams on the free first call. We will confirm whether an Assessment is the right shape, quote a fixed price, and name a delivery date before any work begins.

Schedule a free first call

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