AI Strategy Readiness — Capability Gap
A partner-led diagnostic that scores six capability dimensions on evidence, not opinion — with a sector benchmark, an A–E synthesis grade, and a 12-month roadmap. The honest AI maturity assessment your team can't perform on itself.
PRICE
€2,900
DELIVERY
10 days
FORMAT
Partner-led
§ 01 · The problem
"Our internal AI assessment came back optimistic. We don't believe it."
Internal assessments are political. People who built the systems judge the systems. Project owners minimize risks. Sponsors overstate readiness. Boards end up with a picture that's smoother than the reality.
The Capability Gap diagnostic brings external rigor and multi-stakeholder triangulation. Built for executive teams who want the unfiltered version of where they stand on AI — and what it will actually take to close the gap.
§ 02 · What you get
An 20-page report, three sessions, ten days.
Up to six executives answer a structured questionnaire independently; the partner probes the fault lines in two targeted interviews. Five deliverables, plus a partner-led restitution your team will actually act on.
DELIVERABLE 01
6-dimension capability diagnostic
20-page report covering Strategy, People, Data, Technology, Governance, and Operating Model. Each dimension scored 0–5, evidenced with named artefacts, and topped by an A–E synthesis grade verifiable against a published grid.
DELIVERABLE 02
Sector benchmark
Position across all six dimensions on two levels: sourced market reference points (McKinsey, Stanford AI Index) and the Odyssey maturity grid. Where you lead, where you lag, by how much — with sources cited.
DELIVERABLE 03
Capability roadmap
12-month capability buildout sequenced by impact and dependency, with an investment order of magnitude per action. What to build, what to partner on, what to delay — and what it will cost.
DELIVERABLE 04
Ambition-vs-capability gap
The distance between what the company claims and what it can evidence. The gap that decides whether the AI ambition is executable — and a read on the transformation depth the current capability can actually support.
DELIVERABLE 05
Three working sessions
Framing session (60 min), fault-line interviews (2 × 45 min), partner-led restitution (90 min) with the executive team..
§ 03 · The method
Six dimensions, triangulated across up to six independent respondents.
The Capability Gap diagnostic extends the Essentials method with a sixth dimension (Operating Model) and adds independent multi-respondent triangulation. Each dimension is scored against evidence, not opinion: twelve questions require a named artefact — without one, the score is capped.
DIMENSION 01
Strategy
AI integration in the strategic plan. Tie to business outcomes. Investor narrative. Coherence between stated ambition and resource allocation.
DIMENSION 02
People
Talent depth and mix. Ownership clarity. Upskilling structure. Cultural readiness for AI-augmented work. Vendor vs in-house balance.
DIMENSION 03
Data
Data architecture maturity. Documentation. Access patterns. Quality controls. Lineage. AI-readiness of your most critical data domains.
DIMENSION 04
Technology
AI stack architecture. Build-vs-buy clarity. Vendor concentration risk. Integration patterns. Production-readiness of current systems.
DIMENSION 05
Governance
Risk framework. Ethical guidelines. EU AI Act compliance trajectory. Board-level AI oversight. Audit readiness.
DIMENSION 06 · OPERATING MODEL
Operating Model
Decision rights for AI. RACI between business, IT, and data teams. Pace of experimentation. Capital allocation discipline. The dimension Essentials doesn't cover — and where most enterprises trip.
§ 04 · Process & timeline
Ten days. Three sessions. Partner-led throughout.
A structured ten-day cycle. The same Odyssey partner who runs your kickoff runs your restitution. No junior handover, no team rotation.
DAY 01
Framing session
60-min partner-led session. Stakeholder map definition, interview list, scoping of the six dimensions to your context. NDA executed.
DAYS 02–06
Stakeholder interviews
Up to six executives complete a structured questionnaire independently (40 min each). Triangulation across executive, operational, and technical voices — answered without consultation.
DAY 06
Fault-line interviews
Fault-line interviews — Two targeted 45-min interviews, conducted by the partner where the six responses diverge most. The analysis goes where the disagreement is.
DAYS 07–09
Consolidation
Diagnostic write-up, sector benchmarking, capability roadmap drafting, stakeholder narrative mapping. All deliverables finalized.
DAY 10
Restitution
90-min partner-led restitution with the executive team. Walkthrough of the diagnostic, the benchmark, the roadmap. Q&A. Next steps.
§ 05 · Who it's for
For executive teams that need the unfiltered version.
Built for leaders who suspect their internal AI picture is too smooth — and want a partner-led, external, evidence-based assessment before committing the next round of budget.
CEO / EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
You need a defensible AI maturity baseline before the next budget cycle. Internal assessments came back contradictory. You want one honest picture.
PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNER
You're 6–12 months into a participation and want a structured AI capability assessment to anchor the value creation conversation with the management team.
CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER
You're leading enterprise transformation and AI is a core lever. You need a defensible capability roadmap before committing the next 12 months of effort.
HEAD OF AI / CDO
You want external validation of your capability gaps to strengthen your case to the executive committee. The benchmark gives you the language they listen to.
§ 06 · Frequently asked
Six honest answers to common questions.
Why €2,900 vs €490 for Essentials?
Capability Gap is partner-led and multi-respondent — six independent questionnaires, two targeted interviews, six dimensions, sector benchmark, A–E grade, capability roadmap. Essentials is self-administered and individual. The price reflects the partner's analysis and review, not a marked-up version of Essentials.
How are the 5–8 interviewees selected?
Joint definition during the framing session. We target three perspectives: executive sponsorship (1–2 voices), operational ownership (2–3 voices), and technical execution (2–3 voices). Triangulation is the point — single-source diagnostics produce flat answers.
Will the interviews surface political tensions?
Often, yes. That's why interviews are confidential — individual responses are never attributed in the final report. We only surface patterns. The stakeholder narrative map shows where viewpoints converge and diverge, without naming names.
What's the difference vs a Big Four diagnostic?
Partner-led, 10 days instead of 8–12 weeks, ~€3K instead of €80–150K. The trade-off: we go deep on six dimensions, not 25. We surface the gaps that matter most, not all gaps. For most executive teams, that's enough.
Can we do this if we've already done Essentials?
Yes — the €490 from Essentials is credited against the €2,900 Capability Gap price if upgraded within 60 days. Your Essentials scorecard becomes useful pre-reading for the partner.
What happens after delivery?
You own the diagnostic, the benchmark, and the roadmap — they're yours to act on. If you'd like Odyssey to support execution (governance, business cases, value creation plan), the diagnostic feeds naturally into our other Skills or custom engagements.
§ Ready when you are
The honest AI diagnostic your team can't run on itself.
€2,900, ten days, partner-led. A defensible capability picture before the next budget conversation.