Proving Ground
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The AI Readiness Scorecard

Ten questions built from the reasons AI projects actually fail — not from how advanced your technology is. You'll get a score out of 100 and the biggest risk in your way. No email needed to see it.

What's driving your interest in AI right now?

The honest answer is more useful than the flattering one.

Could you name the number that would move if this worked?

Hours saved per week, response time, quotes sent, error rate — anything concrete.

Where does the most time leak in a normal week?

This one is not scored — it decides which quick win we match you to.

How is that work documented today?
Could you export the last 12 months of that work as a file?

Emails, tickets, quotes, job records — whatever the work produces.

Who would own this inside the business?
What's the plan for the staff whose work changes?
If the AI got something wrong, who would catch it?
How soon would you expect this to pay for itself?
What's the appetite for a first project?
Why these questions

The things that decide it are rarely technical

It weights problem definition and people most heavily, because that's where the research puts the failure. A low score usually means a fortnight of definition work, not a project.

Cause #1

of AI project failure is miscommunication about the problem to solve — the business misstates the problem, so the system optimises the wrong thing. RAND interviewed 65 experienced data scientists and ML engineers, and reports that more than 80% of AI projects fail.

RAND Corporation, The Root Causes of Failure for Artificial Intelligence Projects and How They Can Succeed (2024)

70%

of what determines an AI transformation is people and process. Algorithms account for 10%, technology and data for 20%.

Boston Consulting Group, The 10-20-70 framework, drawn from roughly 1,500 organisations implementing AI (2024)

more likely to meet their objectives: initiatives with excellent change management, versus those with poor change management.

Prosci, Best Practices in Change Management, 12th edition (2024)