AI Strategy & Advisory
Board-ready AI roadmaps that tie every initiative to a P&L line.
Replace the AI slide deck with a costed, sequenced 12-month plan. We sit beside your executive team for eight to twelve weeks and hand over a board-approved roadmap, vendor shortlist, and operating model your CIO can run on Monday.
The problem we solve
Most mid-market boards in Asia have approved an AI budget without an AI plan.
Your finance lead wants payback in nine months. Your CIO wants a stack the engineering team can run after AIMenta leaves. Your CEO wants a single slide that ties AI spend to revenue, margin, or working-capital release. Three different definitions of success, one annual budget, no shared roadmap.
A McKinsey survey of 1,491 executives in 2024 found that 78% of organisations now use AI in at least one function, yet only 26% report measurable EBIT impact from those investments.[^1] The gap is not appetite. It is sequencing.
We sit beside your executive team for eight to twelve weeks. We replace the slide deck with a costed, sequenced, board-defensible plan that ties every AI initiative to a P&L line and a named owner.
Who this is for
- The CEO of a 400-person manufacturer in Taiwan who has heard "AI" in three board meetings this year and needs a plan the chair will sign off on.
- The CIO of a Singapore financial-services firm who is being asked to approve six AI vendor pitches and has no framework for choosing between them.
- The COO of a Malaysian retail group who has seen two competitor AI pilots succeed and needs to move from observation to a costed twelve-month roadmap.
Outcomes
Our advisory clients report three consistent shifts in the first six months after the engagement closes.
Faster decisions. Boston Consulting Group's 2024 Build for the Future study tracked 1,000 firms and found that AI leaders make capital-allocation decisions on AI initiatives 2.6 times faster than laggards.[^2] Our clients report a similar shift after the operating model lands: vendor decisions that took 14 weeks now take 4.
Less wasted spend. IDC estimates that 40% of enterprise AI pilot budgets are spent on initiatives that never reach production.[^3] A sequenced roadmap with kill-criteria at each gate cuts that waste materially. One Hong Kong logistics client retired US$420,000 of in-flight pilot spend in the first month and redirected it to a single payback-positive use case.
EBIT-tied accountability. Every initiative on the roadmap maps to a P&L line owned by a named executive. The CFO no longer asks "what does AI cost us this year." She asks "what did AI deliver against the four targets we set in March."
Engagement formats
| Tier | Duration | US$ price band | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter — AI Diagnostic Sprint | 4 weeks | US$18,000 - US$28,000 | Boards that need a current-state assessment and a shortlist of 5 opportunities, before committing to a full roadmap. |
| Scale — Strategy & Roadmap | 8-10 weeks | US$45,000 - US$85,000 | Companies ready to commit to a 12-month plan with sequenced initiatives, vendor shortlists, and an operating model. |
| Strategic — Board Advisor Retainer | 12 months | US$90,000 - US$180,000 | CEOs or CIOs who want a senior advisor on call for monthly board prep, vendor reviews, and quarterly strategy refreshes. |
All tiers include the AIMenta AI Maturity Index reassessment at month six.
Our approach
A six-step engagement that ends with a board-approved plan, not a deck.
1. Diagnostic (week 1-2)
We interview eight to fifteen people across the executive team, IT, finance, and one operational function. We audit your current data estate, vendor contracts, and any pilot work already in flight. Output: a written current-state assessment scored against the AIMenta AI Maturity Index across five dimensions — strategy, data, talent, tooling, governance.
2. Opportunity mapping (week 3-4)
We sit with each function head and identify the three workflows where AI would change a number on next quarter's P&L. We size each opportunity in US dollars, rank by feasibility, and discard anything that depends on data you do not own. Typical output: 18-30 opportunities, narrowed to a shortlist of 6-8 candidates.
3. Build-vs-buy decisions (week 5-6)
For each shortlisted initiative, we apply Wardley Mapping to decide whether you build, buy, or rent. The rule we follow: only build components that are not commodities and that differentiate you from competitors. Hosting, authentication, foundation models — buy. Your industry-specific scoring logic, your proprietary data pipeline — build.
4. Roadmap and sequencing (week 7-8)
We sequence initiatives across a 12-month plan. The first three months prioritise quick wins under US$30,000 each that prove the operating model. Months four through nine carry the two or three larger plays that move the EBIT needle. Months ten through twelve consolidate and hand over.
5. Operating model design (week 9-10)
We design how AI gets governed inside your company. Who approves model deployments. Who owns data quality. Who reviews vendor security. We adapt the McKinsey 7S model and the Cynefin framework (Snowden, 1999) to your team size and culture, not a generic enterprise template.
6. Board pack and handover (week 11-12)
We deliver a 30-page board pack: strategy, roadmap, costs, risks, and a measurement dashboard. We sit beside your CEO during the board meeting if useful. Then we hand the operating model to your in-house lead.
What you get
- AI maturity diagnostic scored against 47 indicators
- Opportunity register with US dollar sizing per initiative
- Build-vs-buy decision matrix for shortlisted workflows
- 12-month sequenced roadmap with quarterly checkpoints
- Operating model design with RACI and escalation paths
- Vendor evaluation rubric and shortlist for first two builds
- Board-ready strategy pack (30 pages, source files included)
- Two follow-up coaching calls with the CEO or CIO
Where this service shows up
Industries and APAC markets where AIMenta delivers this pillar most often.
Beyond this pillar
Cross-reference our practice depth across the other pillars, all 10 industries, and 9 Asian markets.
Other service pillars
By industry
By Asian market
Proof in market
Common questions
How long does an AI strategy engagement typically take?
Most engagements run 6–10 weeks. Discovery and stakeholder mapping take 2 weeks, the maturity assessment another 2, and the prioritized 12-month roadmap with budget and capability plan takes 2–4 weeks. We deliver a usable artifact every fortnight, not a single big-bang deck at the end.
How is your approach different from a Big-4 or McKinsey engagement?
Three things. First, our roadmaps include the implementation team — we ship the first workflow inside the engagement, not after. Second, we price as a product (US$60K–$120K typical), not a daily-rate burn. Third, your team owns the artifacts and runs the program — we are mentors, not embedded consultants.
Do you work with companies outside Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore?
Yes. We have delivered engagements across all nine APAC markets we cover: HK, CN, TW, JP, KR, SG, MY, VN, ID. We are deliberately APAC-only because the regulatory, language, and vendor landscape differs enough from US/EU that generalist firms underprice the risk.
What does your AI maturity assessment actually measure?
Six dimensions: data readiness, talent depth, governance posture, infrastructure, executive alignment, and existing tech debt. Each scores 0–4 with a published rubric. The output is a heat map, three highest-leverage moves, and an honest "do not start here yet" list — not a vendor pitch.
Ready to mentor your AI?
Tell us where you are. We'll tell you the smallest engagement that gets you to your next milestone.