Aedon Strategy Advisory consists of three complementary services:

Constraints 360 Assessment – This is always the recommended starting point to gain shared view on What matters now. Assessment service creates holistic end-to-end view on constraints that prevent doing AI at Scale, including strategy and operating model. Good awareness and understanding of constraints is the foundation and starting point for systematic constraints elimination and hence for AI Organization build-up.

Digital Strategy – Service to create new or update existing digital strategy and integrate it tightly with business strategy. Service builds on two decades of business strategy consultancy and strategy work experience combined with hands-on take on digital technologies and capabilities as sources of value and productivity.

Operating Model – Advisory service on operating model design to enable AI at Scale. Based on Digital Distribution operating model concept with decentralization as the main design principle while augmenting that with centralized capabilities. The optimum balance is achieved thru simultaneously catering for decentralization and centralization driving forces alike.

Constraints 360 Assessment

Digital capabilities needed to do AI at Scale consists of technical and non-technical capabilities alike. All companies and all situations are different. Constraints 360 Assessment does two things: It pinpoints situational constraints and assesses their nature.

Constaints assessment is about identifying and understanding bottlenecks or downright roadblocks that prevent achieving AI at Scale. Some of the bottlenecks are technical by nature, say lacking digitalization of products, services and processes. However, often the most severe constraint is non-technical by nature. For example, operating model that does not scale due to organizational bottlenecks.

Clarity on constraints is essential enabler for systematic AI Organization build-up. Clarity gives strategic priorities and instructs marching order. All constraint areas need to be worked on but most severe constraints need to be addressed first.

Digital Strategy

To stay competitive in digital age is to embed analytics and AI in all aspects of value creation. For that, analytics and AI are to be integrated in products, services and processes. When done right, that leads to higher customer value, better customer experience and enhanced operational efficiency.

Digital strategy external aspect is about finding optimum position and profile in competitive landscape being shaped by rapid advances in AI. Strategy is to clarify how to capitalize on new market opportunities and serve customers by deploying digital assets and capabilities in best possible way.

Digital strategy internal aspect is equally important. Embedding analytics and AI in all aspects of value creation calls for strong digital capabilities across the whole company. How those capabilities are built, acquired, organized and managed makes all the difference in terms of future competitiveness.

Operating Model

Digital Distribution operating model strikes balance between decentralization and centralization.

First, allocate ownership of data products, AI use cases and models, and enterprise applications to Business Domains. Make their operating contexts bounded with ability to focus on their own business logic and needs, combined with shared semantic understanding, concepts and language within tight-knit cross-functional teams. Decentralization is the scalability imperative to compete succesfully in the Age of AI. It is the only game in town for companies aiming at AI at Scale.

But there’s a caveat: Ownership allocation leads to significant cognitive load on business domains. This is the fundamental dilemma of decentralization.

To reduce business domain strain, eliminate all engineering and IT related cognitive load in business domains. Do this with systematic Plug-and-Play Framework based on Platform Engineering principles. Plug-and-Play Framework is to serve all AI integration needs from decentralized data management to AI model development and to software development. Combine Platform Team in-house capabilities with outsourced capabilities from digital ecosystem players of all types: Platform, Tool and Service Providers.

Service delivery alternatives

Strategy advisory services can be provided in many alternative ways:

• strategy project – traditional service delivery alternative with defined scope, duration and expected results and deliverables
• interim management contract – strategy creation or update combined with interim management assignment for the overall AI at Scale build-up, see Interim Management
• board membership – strategy advisory thru board of directors or advisory board membership
• subcontracting – complementary service as part of bigger business consulting company service delivery

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact.