Choosing the next move in a changing advice group
A group-wide technology programme was already moving. Leadership needed a clear view of where AI could help it, and where a pilot would get ahead of the foundations.
- Start with the programme
Operating model, architecture and advice journey.
- Assess the opportunities
Value, feasibility and the foundations each idea needs.
- Set the sequence
Act now, prepare next or leave for later.
What the business was trying to change
An Australian advice group was bringing businesses onto shared systems and a more consistent advice process. Its leadership already had work in motion across its operating model, enterprise architecture and CRM roadmap.
Each of those decisions affected the next one. An AI workflow built around a process still being redesigned, or data still moving between systems, could be useful in a demo and difficult to run across the group.
What needed doing
The brief was to examine the direction already set, test the technology and AI assumptions behind it, and help leadership decide where to act first.
How the work was framed
Start with the work already underway
The review scope included the existing business strategy, operating-model work, architecture, CRM plan and advice-process redesign. Those were inputs to examine rather than work to commission again.
Follow the advice journey
The brief included looking for friction in file notes, advice preparation and the movement of information between systems. An opportunity needed to make sense for advisers and operations as well as for the technology programme.
Make the sequence explicit
The assessment criteria covered potential value, feasibility, data readiness and fit with the existing roadmap. That puts the likely cost and ownership of a workflow beside the appeal of its prototype.
A decision frame for the next investment.
The intended output was a prioritised view of AI opportunities: what could be tested soon, which foundations needed attention, and who would own the next decision. This account describes the engagement scope; it does not claim a measured commercial result.
- Bring existing architecture and transformation plans into the AI assessment.
- Consider candidate proofs of concept in a practical sequence.
- Put feasibility, cost and operating ownership alongside possible use cases.
An AI pilot is easier to judge when it is considered alongside the process and platform changes already underway.