INSIGHTS

How to actually ship AI.

Articles, patterns, and guides from the teams building governed AI systems in production. No hype, no hot takes — just what's working.

Where should your organization start with AI?

94% of CEOs are increasing AI investment. Only 1.7% see real value. The difference isn't ambition — it's where you start. A data-backed framework for picking the right first use case.

Sabri ben Radhia

12 min read · Updated April 2026

READ ARTICLE

BCG AI RADAR 2026

1.7%

OF CEOS SEE REAL VALUE

FEATURED INSIGHT

TYPE

FEATURED USE CASES

The eight strongest first AI use cases.

Compiled from hundreds of deployments across sectors. These consistently deliver measurable value, speed up decision-making, and free up teams — making them the best starting points for structured AI adoption.

USE CASE

AI ASSISTANT

Code Assistants & SDLC Augmentation

AI copilots that accelerate code review, documentation, and SDLC tasks without replacing engineering judgment.

ENGINEERING· 6 min read

USE CASE

AI WORKFLOW

Customer Support & Virtual Agents

Triage, response drafting, and escalation routing that scales support capacity while preserving CSAT.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT· 5 min read

USE CASE

AUTOMATION

AP/AR Automation

Invoice extraction, reconciliation, and approval workflow automation across finance operations.

OPERATIONS· 5 min read

USE CASE

AI ASSISTANT

Meeting & Knowledge Assistants

Conversational access to policies, SOPs, and decisions — grounded in your company's actual knowledge base.

INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE· 5 min read

USE CASE

AI WORKFLOW

Contract Review & Document Intelligence

Clause-level extraction, risk classification, and governance-ready review of contracts and filings.

COMPLIANCE & LEGAL· 6 min read

USE CASE

AI WORKFLOW

Recruitment & Talent Operations

CV screening, candidate ranking, and structured interview prep with bias controls and audit trails.

HR & PEOPLE· 5 min read

USE CASE

AI AGENT

Procurement & Supply Chain

Agent-driven vendor evaluation, price monitoring, and demand signal analysis for supply chain teams.

OPERATIONS· 6 min read

USE CASE

AI WORKFLOW

Marketing & Communications

Content generation, audience segmentation, and campaign analysis workflows with brand-aligned guardrails.

MARKETING· 5 min read

These 8 patterns represent the strongest starting points — a sample from the hundreds of vetted patterns we work from across every function.

See how we'd approach it Or have us build them

FRAMEWORK

5 traits of a strong first AI use case.

The best first project isn't the most ambitious one — it's the one that delivers visible value early, then compounds. Use this framework to screen candidates.

It solves a real business problem

Not a tech demo. A concrete pain that costs time, money, or quality today.

It maps to a repetitive workflow

High-frequency, rule-guided, or pattern-based work where AI augments speed and accuracy.

It has enough digital data to support a pilot

Inputs exist in reasonable quality and quantity — you don't need to build a data lake first.

It can launch with human oversight

Early deployments benefit from human-in-the-loop checkpoints before full autonomy.

It has measurable quality or business terms

Success can be measured in minutes saved, errors reduced, revenue gained, or customers retained.

Screen every candidate use case through all five traits. The ones that pass all five are your starting lineup.

LATEST

Recent insights.

Strategy

94%

OF CEOS INVESTING

ARTICLE

Strategy

AI is now a CEO-led transformation

72% of AI decisions are CEO-led. Most CEOs don't have an instrument panel. Here's what the highest-performing organizations are doing differently.

SASabri ben Radhia

9 MIN READ

Execution

QUESTIONS TO DIAGNOSE MATURITY

GUIDE

Execution

The 47-question AI maturity diagnostic, explained

A walkthrough of the six-module framework we use to measure execution readiness — and why we separate maturity from compliance posture.

AI ASSISTANT

Code Assistants & SDLC Augmentation

AI copilots that accelerate code review, documentation, and SDLC tasks without replacing engineering judgment.

CASE-FIRST

Why governance shouldn't be a separate workstream

Most transformations bolt governance on at the end. The ones that work embed it into the lifecycle from day one. Here's what case-first governance looks like in practice.

AI WORKFLOW

Customer Support & Virtual Agents

Triage, response drafting, and escalation routing that scales support capacity while preserving CSAT.

4 PHASES

The four phases: Scope, Build, Govern, Scale

The operating model behind House of Ichigo — and how the four phases close the loop from diagnostic to deployment.

12 → 3

From 12 PoCs to 3 governed pilots: a tier-1 bank in 8 weeks

How a major retail bank moved from scattered experiments to a defensible portfolio in two months. Illustrative vignette drawn from engagement patterns.

AUTOMATION