AI Strategy

A documented AI plan your leadership team can actually act on.

Four to twelve weeks, ending in a written strategy that covers what to do, when to do it, what it will cost, and what to leave alone. Built from stakeholder interviews across leadership, operations, and engineering, not from a template.

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Overview

A six- to eighteen-month plan, written for the people who will execute it.

AI Strategy is the heaviest shape in the Advise family. It is for organisations that have decided AI is going to be a meaningful line item over the next year or two and want a documented plan rather than a series of ad-hoc decisions. The output is a written strategy document that the leadership team, the operating team, and the board can all read and act on without further translation.

The plan covers what to invest in, what order to do it in, what the realistic costs and risks look like, and what to leave alone for now. A decision-log appendix captures the options we considered and the reasons against the ones we did not recommend, so the strategy holds up to scrutiny months later when memories of the discussion have faded.

What you get

Three deliverables that travel together.

The strategy document is the centrepiece, but two supporting artefacts make it usable inside the organisation after we leave.

Written strategy document

Typically thirty to sixty pages, structured for executive reading first and technical reading second. Covers investment, sequencing, risk, and the operating model needed to run the work.

Decision-log appendix

The options we considered, the recommendations against them, and the conditions under which we would revisit. The section that holds up six months later when someone asks why a path was not taken.

Hand-off session

A live walk-through with the leadership team and a written follow-up that captures the questions raised and the clarifications we made. The engagement closes there; no transition into retained advisory.

When this fits

Four signs Strategy is the right shape.

The board has asked for a plan

Your board or shareholders have asked what the organisation is doing about AI and you do not have a documented answer. A strategy engagement produces the document, the supporting reasoning, and the executive summary in a form that can be taken into the boardroom without rework.

Multiple AI bets are competing for budget

Several teams inside the organisation are pitching AI work and leadership needs a single framework for choosing between them. The strategy ranks the bets, names the sequencing, and gives the executives a defensible reason for the calls they are about to make.

You have completed an assessment

You have already run an Assessment, with us or with someone else, and the ranked list of opportunities is sitting on a shelf. Strategy turns that list into a sequenced, costed, resourced plan with the trade-offs spelled out for the executives who will fund it.

An operating-model change is coming

You are weighing whether to hire an internal AI team, sign with a vendor platform, or split the work across both. The strategy is the right shape when the question is not just what to build but how the organisation will be structured to run the work over the next year or two.

Why us

What you get from Applied North on this offer.

A document, not a deck

The deliverable is a written document with chapters, footnotes, and an executive summary, not a slide deck that needs a presenter. It works in the room and it works after the room empties.

Interviews, not templates

The strategy is built from stakeholder interviews specific to your organisation. No template strategies, no copy-and-paste from a previous client's plan. The recommendations reflect what we actually heard.

No auto-tail

The engagement ends when the document is handed over. We do not auto-roll you into a monthly retainer. If a follow-on retainer makes sense for your situation, we discuss it on its own merits, not as the default next step.

How it runs

Four steps across four to twelve weeks.

Length depends on organisation size and the number of stakeholders. The shape is the same either way.

Free first call

A no-cost conversation to understand the organisation, the leadership team, and what triggered the strategy work. We confirm whether Strategy is the right shape, name the length, and quote a single fixed price before any work starts.

Stakeholder interviews

Structured conversations with leadership, operations, and engineering, typically eight to twenty interviews depending on organisation size. Each conversation is held in confidence; the strategy reflects what we heard, not who said what.

Drafting and review

We draft the strategy document iteratively, with a check-in halfway through to test the shape with you. Trade-offs we recommend against go into the decision log appendix so the leadership team can see what we considered and why.

Hand-off and follow-up

A final hand-off session with the leadership team walks through the document live. A short written follow-up captures the questions raised in the session and any clarifications. The engagement ends there, no retained advisory tail.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions about AI Strategy.

Why six to eighteen months and not three years?

Because three-year AI strategies stop being accurate in month four. The technology, the vendor landscape, and the relative costs all shift faster than that horizon allows. We size the plan to a window where the recommendations remain defensible, and we expect organisations to refresh it when the window closes.

Do you turn into our retained advisor after delivery?

Not by default. The engagement ends when the document is handed over; a refresh six months later is a separate engagement on a fresh quote. A retainer is available when there is a real ongoing strategic need we can name together, but it is never the default next step and we will say so on the hand-off call.

What is the decision-log appendix for?

It captures the options we considered and the reasons against the ones we did not recommend. Six months from now, when someone on your board asks “why did we not just buy the off-the-shelf tool?” the answer is written down. It is also the section your future selves will thank present-us for.

Can the strategy include vendor selections?

Yes, when the evidence supports it. We name specific vendors in writing when the case is clear and we say “run a competitive process” when it is not. We take no referral fees from any vendor we name, so the recommendation is not load-bearing on commercial relationships we have not disclosed.

Who needs to be available during the engagement?

The leadership team for the kickoff, the halfway check-in, and the final hand-off. Stakeholder interviews are one-off, scheduled at the interviewees' convenience. Total time commitment for any single executive is usually under five hours across the engagement.

Ready to put your AI plan in writing?

Tell us what the leadership team is weighing on the free first call. We will confirm whether Strategy 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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