For CEOs, founders and boards.Decide where AI is worth the money. Then hold someone to it.
You need to know which few changes would move the business, what they would cost, who would own them, and how you would know if they were not working.
If you lead the business or sit on its board, this may be you.
- “The board keeps asking for our AI strategy. I'm not sure what one looks like.”
- “We're spending on AI in six places and I can't tell you what we've got for it.”
- “I sense the economics of our market are shifting. I can't yet say where.”
- “Everyone advising me is also selling me something.”
What a board means by an AI strategy
When a board asks for an AI strategy it is rarely asking about AI. It wants to know whether the business is about to be outrun, whether money is being wasted, and whether anyone is in control.
Those are investment and governance questions. A useful answer names a small number of changes, says what each is worth and how sure anyone can be, and puts a person’s name beside each. Every Neurally engagement starts from a version of the same question: what could this business do now that it couldn’t two years ago?
The decisions only you can make.
- 01
Where to invest, and where not to
The few opportunities that could change revenue, cost, capacity or customer value, in order, with a value case behind each and a clear list of what you are choosing not to do.
- 02
What has to change in the organisation
Value from AI comes when products, workflows, roles and decision rights change with it. That needs sponsorship from the top.
- 03
Who owns the result
A named executive for each outcome, with measures agreed in advance and decision gates where you can proceed, adapt or stop.
- 04
How much risk is acceptable
Assumptions, risks and dependencies set out as plainly as the opportunity, so the board can govern the investment as well as approve it.
What tends to go wrong.
Activity reported as progress
Pilots and tool purchases multiply. None is tied to the profit and loss account, so nobody can say what to continue.
A strategy with no owner
The document is approved, the organisation carries on as before, and the result belongs to no one.
Advice with a product behind it
Recommendations shaped by what the adviser sells. We sell no software and take no payment by results.
How the four stages look from the top.
Stage 01
Decide
An investment decision. The few opportunities worth funding, their value cases and the measures they will be judged by.
Stage 02
Design
The organisational change those opportunities require, including decision rights and what stays with people.
Stage 03
Deliver
Evidence before scale. Small pilots, clear gates, and build with your teams and chosen partners.
Stage 04
Embed
Named owners, tracked value and a team that runs it without outside help.
Start with one day and a decision.
The AI Opportunity Workshop brings your leadership team to a shared view in a day. You leave with an agreed top three priorities, owners and next steps, a written summary within three working days, and a recommendation on whether a Diagnostic or Deep Dive is worthwhile. The £2,500 fee is credited in full against either if booked within 60 days.
Engagement 01
AI Opportunity Workshop
£2,5001 day
Credited in full against a Diagnostic or Deep Dive booked within 60 days.
- A shared leadership view of the opportunity
- An agreed top three priorities, with next steps and owners
- A written summary within three working days
- A recommendation on whether a Diagnostic or Deep Dive is worthwhile
Also worth a look: CEO, Board & Investor Advisory (quoted after scoping).
Questions we hear.From this seat.
What does a board-ready AI plan contain?
The Deep Dive produces a 90-day mobilisation plan with owners and decision gates, an operating-model outline, an AI governance and risk view, and a board recommendation pack. Each estimate records its evidence gaps and confidence, so the board can tell a hypothesis from a validated case.
Do you advise boards and non-executives directly?
Yes. CEO, Board and Investor Advisory gives continuing access to independent senior judgement on opportunity, investment, governance, readiness and execution risk, on a retainer.
Do you work with private equity and growth investors?
Yes. For investors the work is AI and product value-creation assessment, due diligence and portfolio-company mobilisation.
How are you independent?
We do not sell software, resell tools or take payment by results. Fees are fixed or quoted before work starts, so a recommendation to stop costs us nothing.
What do you need from me?
Sponsorship, access to evidence and people, a budget, and a willingness to change how the business operates. All of that is confirmed in scoping, before any fee.
Related reading
Use caseAI strategy for the board
From "we need an AI strategy" to an investment case with owners and decision gates.
Use caseAI transformation rescue
Independent diagnosis of a stalled programme, a recovery route and fixed-term leadership.
IndustryFinancial services & insurance
Consumer Duty, conduct risk and board scrutiny, designed in before anything is built.
Start with a conversation.Thirty minutes, free.
Tell us what you are trying to decide. If we can help, we will say how and what it would cost. If we can't, we will say that too.