What matters most in adopting AI is not “what AI can do”, but identifying “where in your own organization AI works best”.
GotoAI’s AI Initiatives Assessment is a service that clarifies your current state and gaps in 4–8 weeks and sets out the priority order and expected impact of your AI initiatives. We begin with business interviews and a review of your data, evaluate each initiative structurally using SCAN that is our own analytical method, and let you try the most promising ones hands-on in an isolated demo and simulation environment. At the end, we hand over an “Initial Assessment Report” you can take into a management decision.
Do any of these sound familiar?
- You have tried generative AI, but it stalls at PoC and never reaches business results
- Candidate initiatives keep coming up, but internally you cannot settle on which to start with
- You cannot explain the return on investment to management, so the internal approval process stalls
- Information leakage worries you, and you are unsure how to hold AI in-house so that data never leaves the company
- Expectations differ between the front line and management, so you cannot reach agreement on priorities
Three things the assessment gives you
1. Visibility into your current state and gaps
Through interviews we establish the current state of your operations, your needs, and the condition of your data, then map the difference against where you want to be. The result is a fact-based, shareable answer to the question “what is missing before we bring AI in”.
2. Prioritization of initiatives
Rather than relying on intuition, we evaluate the initiatives on the table structurally, along the SCAN axes. We look beyond “will this create value” to “can we keep that value in-house” and “does it mesh with corporate strategy”.
3. An initial estimate of expected impact
Based on the analysis and simulation results, we present the impact you can expect from adoption as an initial estimate — material you can put straight into an internal approval or investment decision.
How the assessment proceeds
The assessment runs in four steps. Duration is 4–8 weeks depending on scope.
STEP 1 | Current-state analysis
Through interviews, we establish the current state of your operations, your needs, and the condition of your data.
Key outputs
- Current-state and gap analysis report
- Data assessment
STEP 2 | Cataloguing and visualizing AI initiatives
Using SCAN, our own method, we analyze AI initiatives structurally and evaluate them on the axes of potential value, capturability, allocation, and alignment with corporate strategy.
Key outputs
- AI initiative inventory
- SCAN analysis results
STEP 3 | Demo and desk-based trial
We narrow to the most promising AI initiatives and let your own people operate them hands-on, in an isolated AI demo environment and desk-based simulation, so you can see for yourself how the AI behaves.
Key outputs
- A working demonstration using the demo and simulation environment
* The AI demo and simulation environment built and used during the assessment is shut down and disposed of when the project ends.
STEP 4 | Prioritizing initiatives and presenting expected impact
We evaluate the AI initiatives as a whole, set the order in which to implement them, and present the expected impact of adoption based on the analysis and simulation results.
Key outputs
- Initial assessment report
SCAN — our own analytical method
Maximizing the business impact of AI adoption depends on evaluating AI initiatives properly. SCAN is an analytical framework proposed by GotoAI, focused on capturing AI value and connecting it to corporate strategy.
Most evaluations of AI initiatives stop at “how much efficiency can we gain”. SCAN goes further, assessing as one continuous chain whether the surplus created can be kept in-house, where that surplus is directed, and whether it aligns with management strategy.
Table 1: What SCAN analyzes
| Axis | Perspective | What is analyzed |
|---|---|---|
| S – Surplus (creation) | Generating surplus | Analyzes the kind, type and scale of surplus, based on the relationship between AI and labor. Kind: substitution / augmentation Type: cost / time / capability / output Scale: monetary value, person-hours |
| C – Capture | Can the surplus be retained | Analyzes whether the surplus created can be kept in-house. Internal leakage: lost because person-hours cannot be harvested continuously, among other causes External leakage: passed on to the market or to customers |
| A – Allocation | Deciding between consumption and compounding | Analyzes where in the company the captured surplus is directed. Consume: not used for reinvestment Compound: put to work through reinvestment |
| N – Navigation | Alignment with corporate strategy | Evaluates alignment with management strategy neutrally and objectively, and feeds back to leadership where warranted. |
The results of a SCAN evaluation feed directly into the prioritization of initiatives.
For the details of the method, see our AI Insights article.
SCAN: Linking Captured Value to Strategy — A Framework for Analyzing AI Initiatives
Deliverables
At the end of the assessment we hand over the following.
- Current-state and gap analysis report
- Data assessment
- AI initiative inventory
- SCAN analysis results
- Initial assessment report (including initiative priorities and expected impact)
You are welcome to engage us for the assessment alone. Review the findings, then decide whether to proceed to the next phase.
Frequently asked questions
Q. We do not have any candidate AI initiatives internally yet. Can we still engage you?
A. Yes. Drawing candidate initiatives out of the STEP 1 business interviews and current-state analysis is a central part of what the assessment does.
Q. Do we have to hand over real data?
A. We review the condition of your data for the data assessment, but the scope and the handling method are agreed with you in advance. Even without real data, we can create dummy data that matches your business specifications. Demos and simulations run in an isolated environment and are disposed of afterwards.
Q. We cannot spare people from the front line. How much of our time does this take?
A. The main demands on you are interviews with the staff who own the work, and the time to review the STEP 3 demo. Analysis and report writing are handled by GotoAI.
Q. Is it acceptable to stop after the assessment?
A. Yes. The initial assessment report is intended precisely as material for deciding whether or not to move to the next phase.
Q. Can the assessment conclude that now is not the time to adopt AI?
A. It can. The N axis of SCAN (Navigation) evaluates alignment with management strategy neutrally and objectively. Where an initiative does not align, we say so.