Free assessment · quick to answer
AI Readiness Assessment for Enterprise
You're deciding whether the organization can carry its first serious AI initiative, and this AI readiness assessment gives you a reading. Answer for how things stand today, not for how they're planned to be.
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In brief
This free AI readiness assessment shows whether your organization is ready to run its first serious AI initiative. You answer questions on data, ownership, process, sponsorship, operations and governance. You get a readiness band, the weakest areas with the steps to take in order, and a report to download. It runs in your browser and isn't an audit.
Step 1 of 6: Data
0 of 18 answered
- Data (current step)
- Ownership (not yet reached)
- Process (not yet reached)
- Sponsorship (not yet reached)
- Operations (not yet reached)
- Governance (not yet reached)
Data
Data is what an AI system learns from and works on, so how you reach it, how far you can trust it and whether you may use it set a ceiling on everything built on top. These questions ask about all of that for the first initiative.
Ownership
Ownership is about who answers for the system once it's live and the team that built it has moved on. A system without a named owner has nobody who can change it, stop it or defend it.
Process
An AI system slots into work people already do, so that work has to be understood as it really runs, with its checks and its people. These questions ask whether that understanding exists before anything is built.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is whether someone with authority will carry an initiative past the pilot, fund it and stand behind it when it falls short. It also covers whether the people whose work changes have been brought along.
Operations
Operations is what happens after launch: who watches the system, who hears about changes underneath it, and whether you could go back to the manual route. A system nobody watches drifts quietly.
Governance
Governance is the written rules, the test evidence and the checks on what people actually use. It decides whether an approval means anything and whether staff know where the lines are.
Answer the 3 questions left on this step to go on.
Your result
Where your points are
Your two weakest areas
Your strongest area
Want to talk through what this means for your organization?
Go through your result with usOn this page
What does an AI readiness assessment ask, and what does it leave alone?
It asks whether the ground is ready for a first serious AI initiative: data you can reach and are allowed to use, an owner for the live system, a process drawn the way it really runs, a sponsor who will fund production, someone watching after launch, and written rules. In our delivery work the technology usually does what it was built to do. What stalls an initiative is everything around it.
It won't rank use cases, compare vendors or size a return. It also can't tell you whether one particular pilot is ready to go live, and there's a separate assessment for that. What it does is take your account of the organization and hand it back in order, with the weakest places named.
Who should answer, and what does the sitting involve?
The executive sponsor, or the head of the team that would use the first initiative, is the natural person to answer. Alone, a first pass is quick. It's better with a colleague from technology and one who runs the process involved, each answering on their own before you compare.
You see one area at a time, and each answer is a card with a level and a note on what it means in practice. If you can't tell which card applies, take the lower one, because not knowing is an answer. Describe the organization as it is today. An owner agreed in a meeting but never written down counts as the lower card.
Is this the right tool for your decision?
It fits when
- No AI initiative is funded yet and you want to know whether you could carry one
- A board or an investor has asked whether you're ready
Look elsewhere when
- One pilot is built and close to launch, and needs its own assessment
- You're deciding on a use case, a vendor or an expected return
You get speed and give up independence. Nobody checks your answers, so what you gain is the conversation it starts.
What does each readiness band ask of you?
A band is a stance, not a grade, and each one points at a different next decision.
| Band | Where the footing stands | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Groundwork first | Work would lean on individuals and favors | Build the groundwork for one use case first |
| One contained use case | Some areas can carry weight and others can't | Pick a use case that sits on your strongest areas |
| Ready for a first serious initiative | The gaps, more than the groundwork, are where a project would fail | Fund it, with the weakest areas as conditions |
| Ready to run several | The arrangements that carry AI into daily use exist | Run more than one, and keep watching what's live |
Why do the weakest areas matter more than the total?
Each area is scored as a share of its own points, and the areas with the smallest share come first. Picture an organization with every area at a middling level beside one with a couple of areas near nothing and the rest strong. Their totals can match. The first can go ahead. The second will stall at its weak areas however well the rest is built, because an initiative needs data, an owner and a process at the same time.
What should you do in the days after you get the result?
- 01
Ask the sponsor which answers they'd change
Send the report with that one question. Answers that shift depending on who you ask are the first to settle.
- 02
Have colleagues answer on their own
Choose people who run data, process or risk, and compare area by area.
- 03
Give the first written step to a named person
Put a name and a date beside it, so it becomes work for the week instead of advice.
- 04
Answer again once it's done
A second sitting shows whether your weakest area has moved.
What do leaders ask before they start?
Is this worth doing before we fund our first AI initiative?
Yes, if nothing is funded yet and you want to know whether you could carry an initiative. It looks at data, ownership, process, sponsorship, operations and governance. If a pilot is already built and close to launch, use the assessment made for a single pilot instead.
What does a low band mean for our AI plans?
Spend on the groundwork first, but don't sit and wait. The lowest band describes an initiative that would lean on individuals and favors, so funding one now would likely give you a demonstration that never reaches daily use. Pick one use case, name its owner and map its process.
Why does the result name weak areas when I already have a total?
Because a total can hide them. One organization can sit at a middling level everywhere while another has weak areas near nothing and strong ones elsewhere, with the same total. The second will stall at those weak areas, since an initiative needs data, an owner and a process together. So areas are ranked by their share.
Can I show the result to our board as proof that we're ready?
Use it to start the conversation, not as proof. It's one person's account of the organization on the day, and nothing in it inspects a system, a data set or a contract. Ask colleagues in other functions to answer separately and compare before anyone relies on it.
Related
Want a second opinion on your weakest area?
Bring the area you scored lowest on and the answer you were least sure of. A senior person reads it first and suggests where to begin.