The starting point
A non-profit. The director runs innovation work in back office, reporting and marketing. Some of that goes through external suppliers. Without a map of options it is hard to brief the work so the supplier does not deliver what is easier to sell, rather than what the organisation needs.
The problem
- The supplier arrives with a solution. The director has nothing to compare it with, so they cannot tell if it is proportionate.
- Back office and reporting are quiet. Office management is not a campaign. A bad brief sits there for months.
- Marketing without a picture of AI. Campaigns can be built differently. Until leadership sees that, they order last year’s version.
The solution: a series of shorter workshops
We did not ship a system. We ran a series of shorter sessions with the director. We covered two things.
- What can be built internally. Office management, reporting. Where a smaller tool is enough, and where it is a supplier project.
- What is possible in marketing. How to use AI on new campaigns, not on another generic piece of copy.
The aim was AI without hype: concrete options, not a promise that the organisation will “go into AI”.
What changed
- The brief to the supplier is sharp. The director can say what they want and what they do not. It is harder to sell them a needless stack.
- Back office has a language. Reporting and office management stopped being “later”. They are on the table as projects with a shape.
- Marketing has a direction. Campaigns can be built with AI. Leadership saw that on examples, not on a slide of tool logos.
What transfers to your company
- The deliverable does not have to be a system. Sometimes it is enough that the owner can brief a supplier. That is still a delivery.
- Shorter sessions, specific areas. An all-day workshop on everything will not decide what to order in reporting.
- Map first, buy second. Until you can see the options, you buy whatever someone brings you.
How to bring this into your company
If you want to know what sessions like this would look like for you, let us start with a 15-minute call. We go through whether it makes sense in your company and which of our workshops is the best starting point. More stories from firms are in case studies.