Enterprise AI Consulting: Your First 90 Days Roadmap
Starting an enterprise AI consulting engagement can feel overwhelming. This comprehensive roadmap breaks down the first 90 days into actionable phases, helping you understand what to expect and how to prepare.
Why 90 Days?
The 90-day timeframe allows for:
- Thorough assessment and planning
- Initial implementation and validation
- Measurable results and ROI
- Foundation for long-term success
- Quick wins to build momentum
Days 1-7: Discovery & Assessment
The first week sets the foundation for everything that follows.
Day 1-2: Kickoff & Orientation
Key Activities:
- Stakeholder introductions
- Vision and goals alignment
- Historical context review
- Pain point identification
- Success criteria definition
- Project charter
- Communication plan
- Meeting schedule
- Access requirements list
Day 3-5: Process Deep Dive
Key Activities:
- Current state documentation
- Workflow mapping
- Bottleneck identification
- System architecture review
- Data landscape assessment
- Process documentation (if available)
- System access for observation
- Key personnel availability
- Historical performance data
Day 6-7: Initial Assessment Report
Deliverables:
- Opportunity assessment
- High-level approach
- Preliminary timeline
- Risk identification
- Quick win opportunities
Days 8-21: Strategy Development (Week 2-3)
With understanding established, we develop the strategic approach.
Week 2: Solution Design
Key Activities:
- AI technology selection
- Architecture design
- Integration planning
- Data strategy development
- Change management approach
- Technical architecture review
- Use case prioritization workshop
- Data governance discussion
- Security and compliance review
Week 3: Detailed Planning
Key Activities:
- Project plan development
- Resource allocation
- Budget finalization
- Risk mitigation planning
- Success metrics definition
- Detailed project plan
- Technical specifications
- Implementation roadmap
- Success measurement framework
- Change management plan
Days 22-45: Foundation Building (Week 4-6)
The core implementation work begins.
Week 4: Infrastructure & Data
Key Activities:
- Environment setup
- Data source integration
- Security implementation
- Quality assessment
- Sample data extraction
- Provide system access
- Approve security configs
- Review data samples
- Validate quality metrics
Week 5-6: Initial Development
Key Activities:
- Model development
- Algorithm training
- Integration coding
- UI/UX design
- Testing framework setup
- Regular demos (2-3 per week)
- Progress dashboards
- Early prototypes
- Integration previews
Days 46-67: Implementation & Validation (Week 7-9)
Bringing the solution to life and validating effectiveness.
Week 7: Integration & Testing
Key Activities:
- System integration
- End-to-end testing
- Performance validation
- Security testing
- Load testing
- User acceptance testing
- Provide feedback
- Validate outputs
- Test scenarios
Week 8: Training & Refinement
Key Activities:
- User training development
- Documentation creation
- Process refinement
- Performance tuning
- Bug fixing
- Admin training (2 hours)
- Power user training (4 hours)
- End user training (2 hours)
- Support team training (3 hours)
Week 9: Pilot Deployment
Key Activities:
- Pilot group selection
- Controlled rollout
- Close monitoring
- Issue resolution
- Initial metrics collection
- User adoption rate
- Task completion time
- Error rates
- User satisfaction
- Early ROI indicators
Days 68-90: Optimization & Scale (Week 10-12)
Finalizing the solution and planning for growth.
Week 10: Full Deployment
Key Activities:
- Production rollout
- User onboarding
- Performance monitoring
- Support activation
- Metric tracking
- Daily status updates
- Issue escalation path
- User feedback channel
- Success celebration
Week 11: Optimization
Key Activities:
- Performance tuning
- User feedback incorporation
- Process refinement
- Model optimization
- Documentation updates
- Weekly performance reports
- ROI calculations
- User satisfaction surveys
- Goal achievement tracking
Week 12: Handover & Future Planning
Key Activities:
- Knowledge transfer
- Documentation handover
- Support transition
- Future roadmap
- Success review
- Final project report
- Complete documentation
- Maintenance guidelines
- Optimization recommendations
- Phase 2 proposal
What to Expect Each Week
Weekly Rhythms
Every Week Includes:
- Monday: Week planning session (1 hour)
- Wednesday: Progress review (30 minutes)
- Friday: Demo and feedback (1 hour)
- Daily: Async updates via project channel
- Executive sponsor update (1 hour)
- Stakeholder presentations (2 hours)
- Budget and timeline review (30 minutes)
Your Time Commitment
Key Stakeholders
Executive Sponsor: 2-3 hours/week
- Strategic decisions
- Resource allocation
- Stakeholder management
- Daily coordination
- Issue resolution
- Resource management
- Architecture decisions
- Integration support
- Technical validation
- Process guidance
- Requirements clarification
- Testing support
- Training attendance
- Testing participation
- Feedback provision
Success Factors
What Makes 90-Day Projects Successful
1. Clear Scope
- Well-defined boundaries
- Focused objectives
- Realistic expectations
- Agreed priorities
- Quick decision-making
- Regular availability
- Open communication
- Constructive feedback
- Accessible data sources
- Reasonable quality
- Historical examples
- Clear ownership
- Executive sponsorship
- Team buy-in
- Change readiness
- Resource commitment
Common Challenges
Week 2-3: Scope Creep
Challenge: Stakeholders identify additional opportunities. Solution: Document for Phase 2, maintain focus on core objectives.
Week 5-6: Integration Complexity
Challenge: Unexpected technical hurdles. Solution: Agile adaptation, creative solutions, transparent communication.
Week 8-9: Adoption Resistance
Challenge: User hesitation or pushback. Solution: Enhanced training, early wins showcase, peer champions.
Week 11-12: Success Measurement
Challenge: Attributing results to AI vs other factors. Solution: Clear baseline metrics, controlled comparison, comprehensive tracking.
Measuring Success
Key Metrics by Day 90
Efficiency Metrics:
- ✓ Task completion time reduced 40-70%
- ✓ Throughput increased 2-5x
- ✓ Automation rate 60-80%
- ✓ Error rate reduced 50-90%
- ✓ Accuracy improved to 90-98%
- ✓ Customer satisfaction +20-40%
- ✓ ROI positive (typically 2-5x)
- ✓ Payback period 2-4 months
- ✓ Annual savings $200K-$2M
- ✓ User adoption rate 70-90%
- ✓ Daily active usage rate 80%+
- ✓ User satisfaction 4+/5
After Day 90
The 90-day engagement is just the beginning:
Months 4-6: Maturation
- Continuous optimization
- Additional use case exploration
- Model retraining
- Process refinement
Months 7-12: Expansion
- Scale to additional departments
- New feature development
- Integration enhancement
- Advanced capabilities
Year 2+: Evolution
- Ongoing optimization
- Emerging technology adoption
- Strategic AI roadmap
- Competitive advantage building
Preparation Checklist
Before your 90-day engagement begins:
Week Before:
- [ ] Stakeholders notified and committed
- [ ] Calendar holds for key sessions
- [ ] Required access approved
- [ ] Data sources identified
- [ ] Success criteria documented
- [ ] Kick-off attendance confirmed
- [ ] Working space allocated
- [ ] Communication channels set
- [ ] Project tools access provided
Conclusion
The first 90 days of enterprise AI consulting set the trajectory for long-term success. With clear expectations, active engagement, and focus on quick wins, you can achieve measurable results while building the foundation for continuous AI-driven improvement.
The key is treating these 90 days not as the end goal, but as the first chapter in your AI transformation story.
Ready to start your 90-day AI journey? Contact our enterprise consulting team for a customized engagement plan.