Executive insight
Choosing an AI consulting partner
The market for AI consulting has grown rapidly. Selecting the wrong partner, with shallow experience or incentives built around volume, is an expensive mistake.
Questions to ask in the selection process
- Have they been accountable for outcomes? Ask for examples where they stayed through implementation and their client measured them on results.
- Do they have a point of view? Advisers who agree with everything you say are poor advisers. Look for evidence that they challenge assumptions when the evidence warrants it.
- How do they handle uncertainty? AI programmes encounter unexpected problems. Ask how they have handled those problems in practice.
- What happens at the end of the engagement? The client should be able to operate independently. Assess whether the partner's model supports that outcome.
Red flags to watch for
- Proposals that lead with technology instead of the business problem.
- Case studies that describe project delivery without measurable business outcomes.
- Pricing models that reward hours or deliverable volume instead of results.
- An inability to explain the approach in terms a non-technical executive can evaluate.
The right fit
The best consulting relationships feel collaborative. The partner should be willing to disagree with you, and you should be willing to hear it. That dynamic usually determines whether a programme succeeds. Before selecting a partner, test them on the hard questions: what would they tell you if the programme looked like it was failing, and what would they do about it?
How to structure the selection process
Start with the open decisions, not the deliverables. Ask each candidate to explain their approach to the specific problem you face, not their general methodology. Compare them on how they handle the parts of the problem that are not yet resolved. A strong partner will be more interested in the constraints than in closing the engagement.