The pilot works on selected examples
The team has not yet tested incomplete information, conflicting records, ambiguous requests or the exceptions that take experienced people time to resolve.
05 / AI Readiness
Choose AI work you can justify, supervise and measure.
Assess the operational case for AI before expanding access or committing budget. Connect use-case value with data quality, permissions, human judgment and the cost of successful work.
Independent advice. A clear scope. Decisions your team can act on.
01
AuthorityWhat is it allowed to read, recommend and change?
02
ApprovalWhich actions require a person to decide?
03
EconomicsWhat does a completed, correct task cost?
04
RecoveryWho can stop, trace and correct an action?
Pilot within explicit limits. Expand with evidence.
Illustrative decision framework
Retail & DTC focusIndependent of platform vendorsAdvisory shaped around your decision
What would make this safe and valuable enough to use?
A convincing demonstration leaves important questions unanswered about production access, accountability and the effort required to correct mistakes.
Authority is unclear
An agent can reach a system, but there is no agreed boundary for what it may change, when approval is required or who owns recovery.
The business case counts only model costs
The estimate overlooks retries, tool calls, human review and support. It is difficult to compare a completed outcome with the current way of working.
Get close to the work.
Make the decision clearer.
We work with the people who own the outcome and the teams who will deliver it. Your constraints shape the recommendation.
- 01
Establish the operating baseline
Choose one workflow and document how it works today, including time, effort, failure patterns and decisions that require judgment.
- 02
Test the consequential assumptions
Review data and authority boundaries. Use realistic exceptions to assess likely failure modes, oversight needs and economic assumptions.
- 03
Define the next commitment
Recommend a bounded pilot, prerequisite work or a pause. Set evidence thresholds for continuing and identify who can approve a broader scope.
A recommendation you can put to work.
Define a bounded use case and the evidence required to decide whether it should move forward.
A use-case decision brief
Describe the workflow, expected benefit and baseline performance. Compare AI with existing automation or process changes where those could achieve the same outcome.
A readiness and authority assessment
Examine data access, permissions, ownership and operational dependencies. Define allowed actions, approval thresholds and the conditions that should stop execution.
A cost and routing assessment
Compare relevant platform and orchestration options. Make model routing, tool charges, review effort and vendor dependencies visible in the cost per successful outcome.
An evaluation and recovery plan
Specify representative tests, evidence to retain and human escalation paths. Identify the decision record required to investigate an action and support recovery.
Put it to the test
An assistant proposes a customer refund
Illustrative scenario: a service agent reads an order and recommends a refund. Moving from a recommendation to execution introduces questions about promotion rules, payment state and the agent’s authority.
The questions worth answering
- What evidence must be present before the refund can proceed?
- Which exceptions require a person’s approval?
- What does a completed, correct refund cost after review and retries?
The pilot has explicit action limits and a measurable business baseline, so leadership can judge operational value alongside model performance.
Related case study
Read the case study What separates an AI workflow from a production service
A related case study on evidence, ownership and controls for retail AI readiness.
A few practical questions.
Scope, ownership and the next step should be clear before an engagement begins.
Do we need to choose an AI platform first?
No. Starting with the workflow and its constraints makes platform choices more useful. Existing contracts and technical investments are considered where relevant.
Will you build an agent for us?
This service provides readiness assessment, architecture advice and evaluation design. Agent implementation and production operations remain with your internal team or selected delivery partner.
Is this a security or legal certification?
No. The assessment identifies questions and controls that need specialist review. Your security, privacy and legal owners retain responsibility for their respective approvals.
Let's talkBring the decision
Bring the decision
you need to make.
Tell us what is changing, what is at stake and where you need an independent perspective. We will discuss the right starting point and agree the scope before work begins.
Still framing the problem?
The free Retail Architecture Risk Score can help surface where systems, ownership or delivery capacity need a closer look.
Start with the Risk ScoreThe work rarely stops at one boundary.
Where we work
Independent advice for your regional team.
AI readiness depends on the work an agent will do, the evidence it can use and who owns its actions. We assess a bounded workflow before recommending a wider investment.
Remote collaboration, with workshop and meeting arrangements agreed during scoping.