What Happens in an AI Strategy Workshop? A Behind-the-Scenes Look

This is the front end of our SOS framework and AI audit methodology.

There is a lot of mystery around consulting workshops. You get an email about an upcoming "AI Strategy Workshop." You show up in a meeting room. Some consultant asks questions. You discuss. Then what?

I run these workshops regularly. Motor claims teams, insurance brokers, credit hire operators, customer service leaders. Let me pull back the curtain.

Before you show up

The real work starts before the workshop happens. We do discovery calls with three to five people across your organisation: operations leaders, team managers, and the people doing the actual work. We listen for the repetitive, annoying, resource-draining tasks that make your team sigh.

Then I map your current processes on paper. Not from assumptions, but from talking to people doing the work: claims intake, renewal processing, email triage, customer enquiries. By the time we walk into the room, I already understand your operation.

Day one: the workshop room

Your team is usually sceptical. They have done workshops before and nothing came of them. So I start with something practical: the 3-Step AI Audit.

Step 1: Identify repetitive tasks

We list your biggest operational workflows. For a claims handler, intake, triage, and initial assessment. For a broker, renewals, policy changes, and quotes. For a credit hire operator, enquiries, vehicle matching, and quote follow-up.

Step 2: Map the workflow

Now we go deep. Real steps. Real decisions. Real information flow. We walk through a recent example. Usually this is when people start saying "actually, we also do this," or "there is a weird step nobody talks about." The real process emerges.

Step 3: Introduce automation

Only now, with the real process mapped, do we ask "where could AI help?" The answer is usually obvious. The repetitive, rules-based, time-draining step is your opportunity.

Identifying your best opportunities

We score each workflow against the 3Rs (Repetitive, Rules-based, Resource-intensive). Once you map the actual work, the bottleneck is obvious. For claims teams, often intake. For brokers, renewals. For customer service, triage and escalation. For credit hire, enquiry handling.

Building the roadmap

Phase 1: Quick wins (weeks 1 to 4)

The clearest, most repetitive process to automate first. Auto-categorising incoming emails, or auto-drafting renewal letters. Something the team can see working quickly, with success metrics agreed upfront.

Phase 2: Core improvement (weeks 5 to 12)

Once the team sees the quick win work, we tackle the bigger opportunity, the main workflow consuming the most time. The team is now confident AI works in your business and will help you find the edge cases.

Phase 3: Integration and scaling (weeks 13+)

How does this AI fit into your claims system, CRM, or document management? Where are the hand-off points? We design for reality, not theory.

What you walk away with

A clear roadmap (a specific 16-week plan with milestones), an identified quick win, an internal ownership structure, a measurement framework with named metrics, and confidence from your team. They helped build it. That is your foundation for success.

Common questions we hear

Do I need to be technical? No. How long does it take? One to two days for the workshop, 12 to 16 weeks for phase 1 and 2 implementation. What if we do not have a specific problem in mind? Common, and fine. The workshop helps you identify where your biggest opportunities are. What if it fails? The roadmap is built to avoid that, with quick wins, measurement, and incremental rollout.