Our work

Seven integrated service lines.

Available individually or as end-to-end programmes. Every offering is fixed-scope and packaged for predictable outcomes — so you can buy with confidence and predict value.

01 Service One

AI Strategy & Executive Advisory

Most organisations are good at talking about AI; far fewer are good at deciding where to deploy it, how to fund it, who should own it, and when to scale it. We bring boardroom-quality clarity to those decisions.

Who it's for

  • Boards and Audit/Risk Committees
  • CEOs and Executive Committees
  • CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, Chief AI Officers
  • Heads of Strategy and Transformation
  • PE and VC firms assessing portfolio AI maturity

Indicative outcomes

  • Defensible, board-approved AI strategy
  • Prioritised use case portfolio with ownership and risk profile
  • Confidence that investment is directed at the highest-return opportunities
  • Reduced risk of "pilot purgatory"
PackageKey deliverables
AI Opportunity DiagnosticStakeholder interviews, prioritised long-list of 15–20 use cases, executive readout.
AI Strategy SprintFull AI strategy with vision, value pools, target operating model, governance, 3-year roadmap, and investment case.
AI Investment CaseQuantified value model, TCO and benefits realisation, scenario analysis, board-ready narrative.
Board & C-Suite AI BriefingBespoke executive briefing covering frontier models, agentic AI, regulatory outlook, peer benchmarks.
Chief AI Officer Coaching1:1 coaching for CAIO; sounding-board on strategy, governance, vendor decisions, talent, stakeholder management.
Case study UK regional building society · £2.1B AUM Read case
SectorFinancial services
Size£2.1B AUM · 340 staff
EngagementAI Strategy Sprint · 4 weeks
The challenge
  • Board asked the CEO “what is our AI strategy?” — no real answer
  • 18 months of vendor pitches, lots of small pilots without traction
  • Falling behind Fintech banks; no shared view across the group of why
  • No clarity on which AI investments would actually pay back
Our approach
  • 4-week AI Strategy Sprint with the executive committee
  • Structured interviews with 22 stakeholders across functions
  • Market scan of building societies and challenger-bank peers
  • Quantified value model and 3-year roadmap with milestones
£4m
Three-year investment unlocked at first board reading
14→5
Use cases identified → prioritised for delivery
16wks
From sprint kick-off to first live use case
6
Staff redeployed from manual drafting to advisory work
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02 Service Two

Generative AI Workforce Enablement

Tools alone do not deliver productivity gains — people do. Vendor-neutral, role-based training across Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini, designed to satisfy Article 4 of the EU AI Act and to deliver measurable productivity uplift.

Who it's for

  • Whole-of-workforce literacy mandates
  • Function teams: Legal, Marketing, HR, Finance, Operations
  • Risk, compliance, audit, and internal control teams
  • Boards and ExCos requiring strategic literacy
  • Train-the-trainer and Centre-of-Excellence builders

Indicative outcomes

  • 20–40% productivity uplift in knowledge work
  • Documented training records satisfying EU AI Act Article 4
  • Reduced shadow AI usage
  • Higher engagement and lower attrition
PackageKey deliverables
AI Literacy FoundationsWhole-workforce baseline; documented attendance for EU AI Act Article 4 compliance evidence.
Claude Power User MasterclassDeep-dive on Claude: Projects, Artifacts, Computer Use, prompt engineering for complex reasoning.
ChatGPT Power User MasterclassCustom GPTs, GPT Store, Advanced Voice, Canvas, agents, code interpreter. Practical exercises.
Prompt Engineering BootcampSystematic prompt design, chain-of-thought, role-based prompting, evaluation. Take-home prompt library.
Risk & Compliance Team AI TrackSpecialist curriculum: AI risk taxonomy, model risk, prompt injection, EU AI Act, ISO 42001, audit techniques.
Train-the-Trainer ProgrammeBuild your internal AI champion network. Curriculum licensing and ongoing support.
Case study Mid-tier professional services firm · 1,200 staff Read case
SectorProfessional services — consulting
Size1,200 staff · 5 offices
EngagementLiteracy + Masterclass · 8 weeks
The challenge
  • 67% of staff already using ChatGPT — none of it sanctioned
  • Compliance flagged a data-exposure risk to clients
  • Partner committee paralysed: ban vs. allow vs. ignore
  • No firm-wide standard for what safe AI use looks like
Our approach
  • Half-day AI Literacy Foundations across all 1,200 staff
  • 2-day Claude Power User masterclass for partners and seniors
  • 18 internal champions trained in a train-the-trainer model
  • Acceptable-use policy plus audit logging for sanctioned tools
91%
Workforce participation in foundational training
78%
Active monthly use of sanctioned tools (vs. shadow)
30%
Reduction in time-on-task for legal-team document review
Art. 4
Documented EU AI Act literacy compliance
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03 Service Three

AI Governance, Risk & Compliance

AI without governance is a liability waiting to crystallise. Our work is grounded in the EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and emerging UK and Australian guidance.

Who it's for

  • Boards and Audit/Risk Committees
  • CROs, CCOs, GCs, DPOs
  • Chief AI Officers and AI Programme owners
  • Internal Audit and Second Line teams
  • Procurement teams assessing AI suppliers

Indicative outcomes

  • Defensible, audit-ready EU AI Act position
  • Faster, safer AI delivery through clear governance
  • Early identification of prohibited or high-risk uses
  • Demonstrable responsible AI posture
PackageKey deliverables
EU AI Act Readiness AssessmentFull assessment: scope, role identification, AI inventory, risk classification, gap analysis, remediation roadmap.
AI System Inventory & ClassificationEnterprise-wide discovery; structured inventory; classification per Article 6 and Annex III.
AI Governance Framework DesignOperating model, policies, decision rights and committees, controls catalogue, KPIs.
ISO/IEC 42001 ImplementationFull AI Management System; risk and impact assessments, controls, audit programme, certification readiness.
High-Risk Conformity ProgrammeEnd-to-end: risk system, technical documentation, logging, transparency, human oversight, conformity assessment, CE marking.
Outsourced AI Compliance OfficerFractional AI Compliance lead; monitors regulation, runs governance committee, prepares board reporting.
Case study UK–Luxembourg asset manager · €4B AUM Read case
SectorFinancial services — private credit
Size€4B AUM · UK and Lux regulated
EngagementEU AI Act Readiness · 5 weeks
The challenge
  • No inventory of AI systems in use anywhere in the firm
  • 14 AI-enabled SaaS tools signed without governance review
  • EU AI Act readiness stuck on “we don’t know what’s in scope”
  • Executive committee guessing about their high-risk exposure
Our approach
  • 3-week EU AI Act Readiness Assessment with the CRO
  • 2-week AI System Inventory across every function
  • Article 6 + Annex III classification with documented rationale
  • Provider / deployer role mapping per material system
37
AI systems discovered (firm had estimated 12)
3
High-risk systems identified — credit, hiring, fraud
Aug’26
Remediation roadmap with named owners
SMCR
Audit-ready evidence pack for the SM regime
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04 Service Four

Rapid Prototyping & Innovation Lab

Strategy without proof is hard to fund. We compress the journey from idea to demonstrable value — delivering functional AI prototypes within two to six weeks.

Who it's for

  • Innovation teams and Centres of Excellence
  • Function leaders looking for fast wins
  • Product teams exploring AI-enabled features
  • Sponsors needing tangible proof to unlock budget
  • Executives demystifying what AI can do

Indicative outcomes

  • Speed to value: working proof in days, not quarters
  • Funding unlocked through tangible artefacts
  • De-risked scale-up with real-world performance data
  • Reusable assets handed over with full documentation
PackageKey deliverables
2-Week Prototype SprintDiscovery, design, build, demo. Working prototype on a single use case. Evaluation report and value case.
4-Week Proof of ValueDeeper build with enterprise integration; quantified value case; productionisation plan.
Custom GPT / Claude Project BuildTailored Custom GPT or Claude Project with curated knowledge base, instructions, guardrails.
AI Agent PilotWorking agentic pilot using Claude Computer Use, OpenAI agents, or open frameworks.
Conversational AI AssistantInternal or customer-facing assistant grounded in client knowledge with guardrails and evaluation harness.
Innovation Lab as a ServiceStanding capacity to ideate, prototype, and evaluate 2–3 use cases per quarter.
Case study Australian regional clinic group · 230 clinicians Read case
SectorPrivate healthcare
Size18 clinics · 230 clinicians
EngagementProof of Value · 4 weeks
The challenge
  • Clinicians spending 35–45 min per patient on GP follow-up letters
  • Major source of clinician burnout and retention risk
  • IT asked to “do something with AI” — no direction
  • Compliance nervous about any patient data leaving the firm
Our approach
  • 4-week Proof of Value inside the firm’s secure cloud tenancy
  • Claude-based letter drafting from structured consultation notes
  • Human-in-the-loop by design — clinician reviews every draft
  • 12 pilot clinicians, 4 weeks of parallel-running vs. manual
38→9min
Average drafting time per letter
$640k
Annualised time saving across 230 clinicians
+41%
Clinician satisfaction with admin workload
6mo
Pilot to all 18 clinics, fully rolled out
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05 Service Five

Digital Transformation Advisory

AI is the headline; digital transformation is the wider story. We help organisations modernise the way they operate end-to-end — integrating AI as one capability within a coherent target operating model.

Who it's for

  • CEOs and Chief Transformation Officers
  • CIOs and CTOs modernising the technology estate
  • Operating model and programme owners
  • Mid-market companies scaling rapidly
  • Public sector facing modernisation mandates

Indicative outcomes

  • Sequenced transformation roadmap aligned to strategy
  • Investment directed at the right capabilities, in the right order
  • Reduced failed-programme risk through robust governance
  • AI integrated coherently within the wider operating model
PackageKey deliverables
Digital Maturity DiagnosticBenchmarked maturity scoring across strategy, customer, ops, technology, data, people, governance.
Target Operating Model DesignFuture-state TOM: customer journeys, value streams, capabilities, organisation design, technology blueprint.
Transformation Roadmap & Investment CaseMulti-year roadmap with workstreams, dependencies, costs, benefits, governance structure, board paper.
Programme & PMO Set-upProgramme governance, PMO charter, reporting, RAID register, value tracking.
Independent Programme AssuranceExternal health-checks: delivery confidence, risk, value, governance.
Case study Australian family-owned specialist manufacturer · $25M revenue Read case
SectorManufacturing — specialist engineering
Size$25M revenue · 80 staff · two sites
EngagementDiagnostic + TOM Design · 14 weeks
The challenge
  • Board knew they needed to modernise — didn’t know where to start
  • 18 months of circular boardroom conversations
  • Mixed signals: “more digital” vs. “more AI” with no shared definition
  • Family CEO felt the firm was losing ground but couldn’t say why
Our approach
  • 4-week Digital Maturity Diagnostic against 5 European peers
  • 10-week Target Operating Model with quarterly milestones
  • Capability map: where AI fits, where it doesn’t (mostly back-office)
  • Three quick-wins launched in parallel with the strategic plan
$4m
Three-year roadmap, board-approved first reading
3
Quick-wins live within 12 weeks of project start
18mo
Delivery plan with monthly governance cadence
Family
“First time we have a plan to point at” — chair
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06 Service Six

Technology Modernisation & Architecture

Generative AI demands a modern technology foundation. We help build the cloud, data, integration, and AI platform architecture that lets AI scale safely and economically — without locking you into a single vendor.

Who it's for

  • CIOs, CTOs, Chief Architects, Heads of Platform
  • Engineering and platform leadership teams
  • Procurement teams running vendor selections
  • CFOs and FinOps leaders managing cloud and AI costs

Indicative outcomes

  • Modern, scalable, vendor-resilient AI foundation
  • Lower total cost of ownership through rationalisation
  • Reduced vendor lock-in via portable architecture
  • Faster, safer delivery of AI use cases
PackageKey deliverables
Cloud & AI Platform StrategyStrategy across hyperscalers and AI platforms; reference architecture; multi-cloud posture; FinOps model.
Enterprise AI Reference ArchitectureModular: model gateway, prompt and policy layer, RAG, agent orchestration, observability, security, FinOps.
Data Foundation for AIData readiness assessment, target data platform, governance, quality, lineage, AI-readiness uplift plan.
Vendor Selection & NegotiationRequirements, market scan, RFI/RFP design, structured evaluation, commercial negotiation support.
Tech-Debt & Application RationalisationApplication portfolio assessment, modernisation/sunset/migrate decisions, AI-assisted refactor opportunities.
Case study UK specialist insurance broker · £85M GWP Read case
SectorInsurance — specialty broking
Size£85M GWP · 110 staff · 11 systems
EngagementPlatform + Data Foundation · 16 weeks
The challenge
  • Wanted to deploy AI but data siloed across 11 legacy systems
  • Customer records inconsistent — no clean enterprise data feed
  • Each AI pilot cost 4–6 months of integration plumbing first
  • No reusable path from prototype to production
Our approach
  • 6-week Cloud & AI Platform Strategy with a model gateway
  • 10-week Data Foundation programme; unified customer-data model
  • Reference architecture: gateway, retrieval, policy, observability
  • Vendor-portable design — model layer separated from apps
6mo→4wk
Idea-to-prototype time for new AI use cases
3
Pilots launched in the quarter after platform delivery
−23%
Forecast cloud spend through gateway and FinOps
0
Vendor lock-in: any frontier model swappable
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07 Service Seven

Change Management & AI Adoption

The hardest part of AI is not the technology — it is adoption. Most enterprise AI failures are people-and-process failures, not model failures. We ensure investments translate into real behaviour change and lasting value capture.

Who it's for

  • Programme sponsors and Chief Transformation Officers
  • Chief People Officers, Heads of L&D, internal communications
  • AI programme managers responsible for adoption metrics
  • Function leaders sponsoring AI rollouts within their teams

Indicative outcomes

  • Higher tool adoption (target 70%+ active monthly use within 6 months)
  • Measurable productivity uplift backed by instrumentation
  • Sustained behavioural change, not training-day spikes
  • Culture of safe experimentation and AI-augmented work
PackageKey deliverables
AI Adoption StrategyAudience segmentation, behavioural objectives, communications plan, training plan, adoption metrics.
Cultural Readiness AssessmentQuantitative and qualitative readiness assessment; tailored interventions.
Communications & Storytelling ProgrammeNarrative architecture, executive talking points, town halls, success stories, FAQ on jobs and AI.
AI Champions NetworkRecruit, train, and support an internal champion network with operating rhythm and recognition.
Adoption Measurement & Value RealisationAdoption metrics dashboard, productivity instrumentation, value tracking, executive reporting.
Case study Central government department · 5,200 staff Read case
SectorPublic sector
Size5,200 staff · multi-site
EngagementAdoption + Champions · 20 weeks
The challenge
  • Copilot bought for 5,000+ seats; 24% monthly active use
  • Fear of job loss and scepticism about output quality
  • Communications heavy on tool promotion, light on practice
  • Investment at risk of being written off as a failed initiative
Our approach
  • 4-week AI Adoption Strategy with 8-persona segmentation
  • 16-week AI Champions Network — 40 champions trained
  • Comms rebuilt around real “what this changed for me” stories
  • Quarterly value-realisation instrumentation by workflow
24→78%
Monthly active use within six months
11.5hrs
Per knowledge worker per month, saved (measured)
47
Documented frontline transformation stories captured
Model
Programme cited as the model for other departments
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Ready to talk?

Most engagements begin with a 60-minute conversation.

No deck, no pitch — just a structured discussion about where you are and what useful next steps would look like.

Book a scoping call engage@ascent2digital.com