We’re making another step up in this part - looking at organisational transformation. This is where we take all the knowledge and skills we've built so far and apply them at a higher, more strategic level.

As you collaborate with businesses on AI projects, something exciting happens. The level of engagement naturally deepens. But in a special way unique to AI as a new technology.

It's a two-fold process: the company grows to trust you more, and simultaneously, they begin to trust in AI itself.

This journey isn't instantaneous. Any good leader approaches AI adoption step by step, allowing AI to prove its worth at each stage. As an aside: if anyone hires you to “do AI” for the whole company run for the hills.

Instead it’s a gradual build-up of confidence and capability - in you and AI.

But here's where it gets really exciting: Eventually, the conversation shifts. It's no longer about isolated AI projects. Instead, the topic of a full AI overhaul comes into play.

Let’s get started:

The AI Business Consultant: Organisational Transformation

As an AI Business Consultant, your role extends beyond solving individual problems or building specific tools. You're now helping to shape the overall AI strategy for businesses.

You're not just looking at individual processes anymore and devising automations and apps. You're instead examining whole teams, entire functions, even the core business model itself. The question becomes: "What can AI do here?"

And as you already know the answer to that is…quite a lot!

Sometimes, it's about extending existing capabilities. Other times, it's about complete replacement. But always, it's transformative work. You're guiding the organisation, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the AI age.

Enter the Matrix

I love a good matrix.

No not the boring type with Keanu Reeves. The 2×2 squares for decision making. Much more exciting!

To help businesses prioritise their AI transformation efforts, let’s use an AI Impact Matrix.

This framework helps organisations assess potential AI initiatives across two key dimensions:

1. Ease of Implementation: How quickly and easily can the AI solution be implemented?

2. Business Impact: How significant is the potential impact on the business?

You are going to sit down with their teams and hash this out. Then pull it all together for leadership.

Here's how to use the AI Impact Matrix:

Step 1: Identify Potential AI Initiatives: Brainstorm potential areas where AI could be applied in the organisation. Consider all departments and functions. Let them guide the process as you want to find the task that take up their time and are fit for automation.

Step 2: Score Each Initiative: For each potential AI initiative, assign a score from 1-10 for both Ease of Implementation and Business Impact.

Ease of Implementation factors:

• Availability of required data

• Complexity of the AI solution needed

• Integration with existing systems

• Required organisational changes

• Regulatory or compliance considerations

• etc.

Business Impact factors:

• Potential cost savings

• Revenue growth opportunities

• Customer experience improvement

• Competitive advantage

• Risk reduction

• etc

Do this with management and leadership for a more balanced overview of the business.

Step 3: Plot on the Matrix : Plot each initiative on a 2x2 matrix:

• X-axis: Ease of Implementation (1-10)

• Y-axis: Business Impact (1-10)

Step 4: Analyze and Prioritize :The matrix will now have four quadrants:

1. Quick Wins (High Ease, High Impact): Focus here first for rapid results

2. Strategic Initiatives (Low Ease, High Impact): Plan these for long-term transformation

3. Fill-Ins (High Ease, Low Impact): Implement these as resources allow

4. Reconsider (Low Ease, Low Impact): Deprioritise or dump these initiatives

Then feed them everything into this prompt:

You are an AI strategy consultant tasked with developing a prioritized AI transformation plan. Based on the following AI Impact Matrix results, create a phased implementation strategy:

Company: [Insert company name]
Industry: [Insert industry]
Current AI maturity: [Low/Medium/High]

AI Initiatives (provide for each):
1. Initiative Name: [Name]
   Description: [Brief description]
   Ease of Implementation (1-10): [Score]
   Business Impact (1-10): [Score]

2. [Repeat for all initiatives...]

Based on these inputs, please provide:

1. Prioritised Initiative List:
   - Sort initiatives by their combined score (Ease + Impact)
   - Include only initiatives with a combined score of 12 or higher

2. Phased Implementation Plan:
   - Phase 1 (0-6 months): Top 2-3 "Quick Win" initiatives
   - Phase 2 (6-12 months): Next 2-3 highest scoring initiatives
   - Phase 3 (12-24 months): Remaining high-scoring initiatives

3. For each phase, provide:
   - Key objectives
   - Required resources (personnel, technology, budget estimate)
   - Potential challenges and mitigation strategies
   - Success metrics

4. Long-term Vision:
   - Briefly describe how these initiatives will transform the company in 2-3 years

Present your plan in a clear, structured format suitable for executive presentation.

It’s a long form prompt that will (in brief!):

1. Take in the results of the AI Impact Matrix analysis

2. Automatically prioritize initiatives based on their combined Ease and Impact scores

3. Discard low-priority tasks (those with a combined score below 12)

4. Generate a phased implementation plan focused on the highest-impact, most feasible initiatives

Don't Have Any Transformation Clients Yet?

If you're new to AI Business Consulting, you might be wondering: "How do I get transformation clients if I don't have any case studies to show?" It's the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

I’d recommend creating a hypothetical case study that showcases what's possible with AI transformation. Most leaders can’t imagine it and need examples to spark their imagination.

So we can create a mockup case study to kick us off.

Here's how:

1. Create a Fictional Company: Invent a company in that industry, complete with realistic challenges and goals.

2. Run the AI Impact Matrix: Use the framework we discussed earlier to identify potential AI initiatives for this fictional company.

3. Generate a Transformation Plan: Feed the results into our AI strategy prompt to create a comprehensive transformation plan.

4. Write It Up: Present this as a case study, detailing the process, decisions made, and projected outcomes.

Remember, the goal here isn't to deceive. Be clear that this is a hypothetical case study designed to illustrate the process and potential of AI transformation.

This is all very new to organisations and they just don’t know what’s possible and what’s not. We can use this case study to help them visualise.

In our final Part we'll explore Level 5: AI-Based Business Owner. We'll look at how to transition from consulting to building and running your own AI-powered business.