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Strategy that ends in shipped
systems, not shelfware decks.
Most AI initiatives don't fail for lack of ideas — they fail because no one senior enough owns the plan, sequences it, or can say no to the wrong pilot. This practice gives you that owner: fractional AI leadership, a roadmap with a business case attached, and training that de-risks the transition — priced as projects, not open-ended hourly consulting.
Fractional AI Officer services also available
A named senior owner for your AI strategy — not a committee, not a consultant who disappears after the deck.
An 18-month roadmap with an actual order of operations — what to build first, what to buy, what to skip.
Vendor evaluation, build-vs-buy calls and monthly steering from someone who's shipped this before.
Fixed scope and a written quote — not an open-ended hourly retainer with no end date.
What this practice actually is
Boards approve AI budgets constantly; they rarely approve an accountable owner for spending it well. Without one, initiatives sprawl into disconnected pilots, vendors sell whatever they're selling, and the "AI strategy" lives in a deck nobody revisits after the kickoff meeting. A fractional AI officer fixes the ownership gap without the cost, ramp time and hiring risk of a full-time executive — and a real roadmap turns scattered ideas into a sequenced, costed plan your leadership can actually approve and your team can actually execute.
The one-sentence case: a full-time Chief AI Officer at your company's size probably doesn't make sense yet — but "no one owns this" is already costing you more than the retainer would.
The consulting engagement
Four services, each with a documented scope and deliverable. Bundled into a program or scoped individually after a free audit.
| Service | What you get | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Transformation Roadmap | Current-state audit, opportunity-sized use-case list, 18-month sequenced plan, costed business case | 3–4 wks |
| AI Consulting Retainer (Fractional AI Officer) | Strategy, vendor evaluation, build-vs-buy calls, monthly steering and governance | ongoing, monthly |
| Innovation Workshops & Training | Executive AI-literacy workshop, role-based training tracks, use-case ideation sessions, adoption playbooks | 1–2 wks per workshop |
| Market & Competitive Intelligence | Competitor AI-adoption and pipeline monitoring, monthly briefing, opportunity alerts | monthly |
How the engagement runs
A current-state assessment across process documentation, tooling, data readiness and team AI literacy — scored against a checklist, not guessed at in a workshop.
An 18-month sequenced plan tied to a costed business case: what to build first, what to buy off the shelf, what to skip entirely, and why each call was made.
Fractional AI leadership steers execution — vendor evaluation, monthly reviews, course-correction when a pilot isn't working — until your team can run it alone.
Common questions
What's a fractional AI officer?
Senior AI leadership on a retainer — strategy, vendor evaluation, build-vs-buy calls and governance — without a full-time executive salary. You get monthly steering and an accountable owner, scoped to what your company actually needs right now. More in our fractional AI officer guide.
Do you just deliver a deck?
No — every engagement ends in shipped systems or a costed, sequenced roadmap your team can execute, not a slide deck of buzzwords nobody actions.
How much does this cost compared to hiring a full-time Chief AI Officer?
A full-time Chief AI Officer at a mid-market company runs well into seven figures annually before ramp time and hiring risk. The fractional retainer delivers the same strategic oversight at a fraction of that, scoped to your company's actual stage rather than a generic executive job description.
What's actually in the roadmap deliverable?
A current-state audit across process documentation, tooling and data readiness; an opportunity-sized list of use cases ranked by impact and effort; an 18-month sequenced plan; and a costed business case leadership can actually approve.
How long does a typical engagement run?
The roadmap itself is scoped at 3–4 weeks. The fractional retainer and workshops run monthly for as long as you need the oversight, with the same 90-day minimum as every Reckona engagement. See how pricing works.
Related reading
Not sure how ready you are?
Take the free 5-minute AI Readiness Assessment — an instant report scoring your team, process documentation and tooling, with what to automate first.
Not sure where this fits?
Start with a free audit — we'll tell you whether this practice is your fastest win, with a number attached and no pitch unless you ask.
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