Stop Treating AI Like a Side Project
Every tech company feels the pressure to “do something with AI.”
But here’s the hard truth: without having executed a holistic, structured assessment, most AI initiatives end up as siloed pilots, duplicated efforts, or features that don’t move the needle.
What separates companies that win with AI from those that waste time and budget? A clear AI strategy and plan based upon a structured assessment process that ties every AI decision back to the company’s mission, strengths, and goals.
Why an Assessment is a Game-Changer
A maturity-based assessment forces leadership to ask:
What role should AI play for us—internal enabler, product differentiator, or investor signal?
Where are we genuinely ready to scale, and where are we still experimenting?
How do we avoid the trap of chasing “cool tools” that don’t serve our strategy?
Instead of scattered bets, an assessment creates a roadmap. It identifies quick wins, medium-term programs, and longer-term bets, identifies needed data platform investment, and most importantly, keeps teams aligned while using new AI tools and processes.
The Nine Dimensions That Matter
When we run these assessments, we don’t just ask about “AI use.” We map readiness across nine dimensions
AI Structured review Process - …
Leadership & Change Management – Is AI championed at the top, with accountability and governance in place?
Associate Skills – Do employees have the literacy and role-specific training to apply AI responsibly?
Product – Are product capabilities being reenvisioned or expanded into new use cases enabled by AI?
Engineering – Is AI leveraged for coding, testing, and other functions to increase team velocity?
Sales & Marketing – Is AI driving real revenue lift through personalization, scoring, and forecasting?
Post-Sales – Are we using AI to improve retention, success, and support?
Operations – Is back-office efficiency powered by automation, forecasting, and risk detection?
General Productivity – Is AI part of daily work for all staff, not just the tech team?
Data & Infrastructure – Do we have the foundation (governance, pipelines, quality) to scale AI responsibly?
This breadth matters because AI doesn’t live in one department—it touches all of them.
The Power of an Integrated Approach
The magic happens when you look across dimensions. A company might be strong in product AI features, but weak in data governance. Or leadership may be excited, but employees lack the skills to execute.
By connecting the dots, an integrated assessment ensures recommendations aren’t just “more AI,” but the right AI—investments that reinforce your competitive edge rather than distract from it.
For example:
A SaaS firm with a strong services culture may get more ROI from AI-assisted onboarding and support than from flashy generative features.
A company with proprietary data may be better served by building predictive models than chasing generic copilots.
Why This Matters Now
Markets move fast. Investors and customers are asking harder questions about AI: What’s the ROI? How does this align with your vision? Are you ready to scale responsibly?
The companies that win won’t be the ones with the most pilots. They’ll be the ones with the clearest answers.
A structured assessment is how you get there. It turns hype into a plan. It makes AI an amplifier of your strategy, not a distraction from it.
If you’re a tech leader wrestling with where to start—or how to bring order to AI chaos—this kind of assessment process is worth your time. It’s not just about technology readiness. It’s about strategic clarity, cultural alignment, and sustainable growth.
By Duane Kotsen, Partner