AI Readiness Assessment & Advisory
Five engagements built for SMBs navigating AI — AI readiness assessments, governance, implementation, and ongoing advisory. Each engagement meets you on the AI maturity curve — from a first AI readiness checklist and a data-readiness review to AI strategy, risk management, and governance. Practical AI consulting for small businesses that want to get this right.
The problem these engagements solve
Most AI adoption decisions happen top-down and fast. Leadership identifies the pressure — competitive, operational, from the board — picks a tool, and announces the rollout. What rarely happens first: establishing a deliberate policy so employees know what's allowed, assessing whether the infrastructure underneath can actually support AI tools safely, or putting an ongoing advisory relationship in place to keep both current as the landscape shifts.
The result is organizations that are adopting AI faster than they're governing it. Employees making individual tool decisions without a policy to reference. IT leads inheriting implementation work without a readiness assessment in hand. Governance documents that were current when they were written and stale six months later.
These five engagements are built to address each of those gaps — in sequence or individually, starting wherever your organization actually is.
The engagements
Each engagement stands alone. Four are diagnostic or advisory — they assess, document, and advise. One is an implementation engagement — it sets Claude for Small Business up in your environment. The right entry point is the one that matches where your organization is today.
Targeted Project
Establish the policy, the risk tier framework, and the shadow AI inventory before informal tool use becomes a formal problem.
3 weeks · interview-based, no system access required
Best fit: First move for organizations that don't yet have a deliberate AI policy — or where employees are already using tools informally and leadership wants to get ahead of it.
Deliverables: AI Use Policy · AI Risk Tier List · Shadow AI Inventory · Manager Rollout Pack
Diagnostic Engagement
Assess whether your infrastructure — identity, data, network, cloud, security, cost — can support AI tool adoption safely before the rollout, not after.
2–3 weeks · six domains, read-only access, no agent deployment
Best fit: Organizations actively rolling out AI tools (or about to) whose IT lead hasn't done a structured infrastructure assessment against AI-specific risks.
Six domains: Identity & Access Foundation · Data Foundation & Governance · Network & Endpoint Controls · Cloud Connectivity & Integration · AI-Specific Security Posture · Cost Visibility & Observability
Diagnostic Engagement
License gap analysis, data governance audit, and a phased rollout plan for organizations on M365 considering or deploying Copilot.
2–3 weeks · Microsoft 365-specific
Best fit: Organizations on Microsoft 365 Standard or Business Premium evaluating Copilot licensing, concerned about data governance before rollout, or already mid-rollout and needing a course-correction assessment.
Three deliverables: Scored readiness report · Remediation roadmap · Phased rollout plan
Strategic Partnership
Monthly advisory and quarterly deliverables to keep your AI governance and risk framework current as the landscape shifts.
3-month minimum · monthly session + quarterly deliverables
Best fit: Organizations that completed a governance or infrastructure engagement and want to keep that work current — or that want a designated AI advisor without the full scope of a vCIO retainer.
Monthly: 60-min advisory session · Email access (fair-use) · Quarterly: AI Tool Risk Tier refresh · AI Landscape Brief
AI Implementation
Anthropic's Claude for Small Business gives your team 15 built-in AI workflows connected to QuickBooks, M365, DocuSign, and more. Stratum handles connector setup, approval gate design, and staff orientation — so your team uses it confidently from day one.
3–4 weeks · connector setup, governance design, staff orientation
Best fit: SMBs on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan with QuickBooks, M365, or other supported tools in active use who want AI embedded in their workflow — and someone to make sure it's configured safely before rollout.
Deliverables: Connector configuration · Workflow approval gate map · Acceptable use policy · Staff orientation session · 30-day check-in
How these connect
The four engagements form a natural progression, but each one stands alone.
The Governance & Policy Package is typically the first move — it establishes the policy and risk tier framework that every subsequent AI decision references. Most organizations don't have this yet, even if they think they do.
The Infrastructure Readiness Assessment answers a different question: whether the environment underneath your AI tools can actually support them safely. It's the right next step after governance is in place, or in parallel if a rollout is already in motion and the technical readiness question hasn't been answered.
Copilot Readiness is the Microsoft-specific path — if M365 Copilot is in scope, this assessment goes deep on the tenant, the data governance posture, and the licensing picture in ways the general infrastructure assessment doesn't.
Claude for Small Business is the implementation track. If your organization is on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan and ready to activate Claude's built-in SMB workflows, this engagement handles the connector setup, governance design, and staff orientation — so the rollout starts right, not just fast.
The Advisory Retainer keeps everything current. AI governance work has a shelf life — new tools surface, vendor terms change, employees start using tools the original policy didn't anticipate. The retainer is the ongoing relationship that keeps your posture from going stale after delivery.
You don't have to do all four. Start with the engagement that matches where you are. The discovery call will help identify which one that is.
Schedule a free 30–60 minute discovery call. We'll identify the right first engagement based on where your organization is and what's driving the AI conversation.
Indiana · U.S. remote