An AI Roadmap
Your Business Can Use
Several teams want to use AI, but they need the same data, budget and IT time. We turn that into a costed plan that operations, finance and IT can support, then help prove the first use case.
Find repeated work
Compare value and risk
Choose what to test
You get a short, costed list of projects.
Ranked
USE CASES WITH A VALUE ESTIMATE
Scoped
A FIRST RELEASE YOUR TEAM CAN TEST
Costed
WITH OWNERS AND MEASURES
An AI roadmap needs to lead to a first build
A list of ideas doesn't tell finance what to approve or give a team enough detail to start. Each proposed project needs an owner, a cost and a testable result.
We look for a workflow with an owner, usable data and a result worth measuring. Your team can then decide whether the expected benefit justifies the build and running costs.
The roadmap includes a first use case, owner, baseline and approval path so the plan can be tested through delivery.
A TYPICAL "AI STRATEGY"
- A workshop with twenty post-it ideas
- A maturity score nobody contests
- Use cases nobody owns or sizes
- "Build a data lake first" homework
- No mention of the ICO or the AI Act
- No one building it on Monday
WHAT YOU NEED INSTEAD
- Two or three named use cases
- Each one ranked by payback in £
- An owner, a cost, a date
- A first phase with an owner, baseline and approval route
- ICO, NCSC and AI Act requirements accounted for
- A written plan for the next twelve months
What the roadmap needs to cover
Leadership needs named projects, accountable owners, costs, dependencies and dates. The plan also has to give finance and IT enough evidence to approve the first one.
Where you are
Who uses what, on which accounts and with which data. Larger teams often find unapproved AI use before leadership has agreed a policy.
Where it pays
We estimate the hours or costs each use case could save, record the assumptions and shortlist the strongest candidates.
What you build first
A defined first release, tested by the people who will use it. We compare the result with the baseline and the cost.
How you keep it safe
ICO data protection, NCSC secure AI guidelines, EU AI Act dates if you sell into the EU, ISO/IEC 42001 if a buyer asks. Written into the plan, not bolted on after.
How it compounds
Each use case feeds the next: shared data, shared evals, shared playbook. You stop running every AI project from scratch.
What the leadership team gets
An audit, a ranked plan, the first build. Then you decide whether you carry on with us, with your own team, or with no one.
Each phase has a written scope, decision owner, price and output. You can use the roadmap with us or hand it to your own team, and any build phase ends with the code, records and operating notes agreed in the scope.
BOOK A ROADMAP CALLAudit
We talk to your leadership, sit with two or three teams, read the tools they use, and look at the data behind them. You get a written report: what's running today (sanctioned and not), where the risk is, and where the hours are hiding.
Ranked plan in plain English
Two or three named use cases. For each: who it helps, how much it saves, what it costs to build, who owns it, and how it changes the job for the team doing it now. The ones that don't pay back get killed on the page, not in a steering committee a year later.
Build the first one
We build the agreed use case with logging, tests and approval steps. Your team checks it on representative work before launch, then measures the result. You own the code.
Hand over a roadmap that keeps going
A twelve-month plan with dated milestones, a written AI usage policy your team can follow, and a short list of what's safe to do in ChatGPT and what isn't. Optional retainer if you'd like us building the next use case alongside you.
Costs, tax and governance
The ICO covers data protection, the NCSC publishes security guidance, and the EU AI Act can apply to UK businesses operating in or serving the EU. ISO/IEC 42001 also gives buyers a recognised AI management-system standard.
Data protection on AI
The Information Commissioner's Office has guidance on AI and data protection, plus the AI and Biometrics Strategy published on 5 June 2025. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 updated the rules around automated decisions. If your AI touches customer data, this is what applies.
Secure AI development
The National Cyber Security Centre's Guidelines for Secure AI System Development, developed with the US CISA and international partners, covers secure design, development, deployment, operation and maintenance. A practical checklist for "is this thing safe to put in front of customers".
If you sell into Europe
The AI Act became generally applicable on 2 August 2026. Following Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, Annex III high-risk rules apply from 2 December 2027 and product-related high-risk rules from 2 August 2028. A UK company may still be in scope when an AI system is placed on the EU market or its output is used in the EU.
The new AI standard
Published in December 2023, ISO calls it the world's first AI management system standard. It covers how an organisation manages AI. We record responsibilities and risks so your team can work towards it if needed.
We use this approach inside our own company
Raq.com is the operating system behind our own AI work. It gives people and agents shared tools, knowledge, permissions and records, which means our advice comes from running these systems rather than presenting an AI maturity model.
When this is worth discussing
We work best when there is a real operating problem, enough volume to measure and people from the affected teams who can make decisions.
Usually a good fit
- An established UK business, usually with annual revenue above £10m
- A repeated process with a known cost, delay, error rate or capacity problem
- A senior sponsor and a day-to-day owner who understand the work
- Access to the relevant staff, systems, sample records and security requirements
We may point you elsewhere
- A standard product already covers the process well
- The requirement is a one-off small build with no wider operating case
- There is no owner or access to the people and data needed to test the result
- The plan relies on AI making high-impact decisions with nobody responsible for review
Questions before committing
We already have several AI pilots. Why do we need a roadmap?
Separate pilots compete for data, budget and technology time. A roadmap gives the business one set of criteria for value, risk and readiness, and makes ownership clear before more pilots are approved.
Should we wait until it's settled down?
No. Models and rules will keep changing. We favour use cases with a short payback period and keep the model behind an interface, so replacing it doesn't discard the whole investment.
Isn't ChatGPT enough?
It may be. We review the product and account controls against the job you need done. The roadmap identifies where an existing tool is sufficient and where permissions, integrations or accuracy requirements justify custom work.
Don't we need to "get our data right" first?
We assess the data needed for the first use case and include any necessary cleaning in its scope. Some projects need substantial data work. Others can start with a small, well-understood source.
What about the EU AI Act and the ICO?
Written into the roadmap from day one, not bolted on at the end. The ICO's AI and Data Protection Risk Toolkit gives the playbook for the data side. The NCSC's secure AI guidelines cover the engineering side. If you sell into the EU, we map your use cases against the AI Act and tell you which ones are prohibited, which are high-risk, and which sit outside the parts that matter to you.
How much does it cost?
The audit and ranked plan is fixed-fee. The first build is priced against the chosen use case, scoped per phase. We tell you the number before we touch a line of code, and you can stop after the audit without doing the build.
What do you need from us?
A sponsor who can agree priorities, time with the people doing the work and approved access to relevant samples or systems. We agree the time commitment and involve IT or data owners where needed.
Is there UK government funding for this?
Some manufacturers may qualify for Made Smarter support through a regional programme. Availability, eligibility and grant terms vary, so we check the current programme rather than including funding in the business case until it is confirmed.
Build an AI roadmap for your business
Tell us what the business has tried, which teams are asking for AI and where leadership expects a return. We'll explain what a useful roadmap would need to settle before anyone approves the first project.