AI Strategy Workshop
Two days onsite that turn competing AI ideas into an owned 90-day plan.
$2.3B
in EBITDA benefits
150+
private equity firms served
4,500+
problems solved
8K+
workshop participants
EMPOWERMENT
Turn Competing AI Ideas Into Shared Priorities
AI ideas reach the leadership table from every direction at once. Maintenance wants failure prediction on the press line, finance wants invoice matching automated, sales wants faster quote turnaround, and plant managers are fielding software demos on their own. Each request lands in the same IT backlog, competes for the same data engineer, and arrives without an owner or a payback case ahead of the annual operating plan.
The VDS AI Strategy Workshop brings those leaders into the same room for two days onsite. Opportunities get weighed against real workflows and operating KPIs, the strongest get ranked, and the team leaves with a 90-day action plan it owns.
WHY CHOOSE VDS
A Different Approach to AI Workshops
VDS facilitators work on site with your business, operations, and technology leaders, drawing on decades of hands-on operating leadership to keep every discussion tied to real workflows. Opportunities are weighed with the customer-value logic of the Value Driven Approach®, and each commitment feeds the VDS Business System® review rhythm that keeps the plan moving.
Operators Running the Room
Facilitators with 15 to 30 years leading plants, supply chains, and finance teams steer each session, testing every idea against how shifts, orders, and month-end close actually run.
Evidence Behind Every Ranking
Pre-work applies the logic of the Diagnostic® and Value Driven Approach, so each opportunity is ranked on what the current workflow costs, its data condition, and the effort to launch.
Support Past Day Two
Through 360° Client Alignment®, data, process, and change specialists can join your owners after the workshop to start the first 90-day actions and keep them on schedule.
WORKSHOP FLOW
From Scattered Ideas to Committed Priorities
Each step turns leadership debate into decisions the business can fund, and the chosen work then moves into delivery through the Value Driven Approach®.
Prepare the Agenda
Before arrival, VDS reviews business priorities, AI pilots already running, core systems, and data sources, then interviews key leaders. Session time goes to the decisions leadership most needs to make.
Trace the Costly Workflows
On the first day, leaders walk through the workflows that consume the most hours or margin, such as quoting, order entry, maintenance planning, and invoice matching, and attach an operating KPI to each.
Weigh Each Opportunity
Every candidate is rated on value at stake, data condition, system access, risk to quality or safety, and effort to launch, giving the room a shared basis for comparison.
Commit to the Shortlist
The second day turns ratings into choices. Leaders select the opportunities worth pursuing first, name an accountable owner for each, and agree on how a first pilot will be scoped and judged.
Build the 90-Day Plan
The session closes with 90-day action plan listing owners, success measures, decision dates, and first actions, plus the groundwork any chosen opportunity needs before a pilot can begin.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
AI Direction That Keeps Paying Off
AI options change quickly, and priorities set once a year go stale. The workshop leaves a ranked list, an owned plan, and a review rhythm the leadership team can revisit each quarter, so new ideas get judged on the same criteria and progress stays visible.
A Shared Leadership Agenda
Operations, finance, IT, and commercial leaders leave agreeing on where AI goes first and why, which ends competing side projects and gives the IT backlog a single, ranked order to follow.
Budget Requests With Backing
Each funded opportunity comes with the workflow it improves, the KPI it should move, and the groundwork it needs, giving finance a clear basis for capital and operating budget decisions.
Momentum in the First Quarter
The 90-day plan puts first actions on the calendar within days of the session, with owners and decision dates that leadership reviews in its regular operating meetings until each item closes.
Guardrails Agreed Early
Leaders agree early on which data classes are cleared for which tools and which approvals stay with people, giving every plant and office the same ground rules before experiments multiply.
Execution Lined Up
Opportunities that need evidence first move into an AI Readiness Assessment, and those ready to build move into AI Implementation, so workshop decisions become scheduled work with owners and start dates already named.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
An AI strategy workshop is a two-day, onsite working session where business, operations, and technology leaders decide where AI should go first. VDS facilitates the discussion, ranks opportunities against real workflows and operating KPIs, and closes with a 90-day action plan that names owners, success measures, and first actions.
The strongest workshops include the executives who own budgets and the managers closest to the workflows under review. That usually means the CEO or COO, finance and IT leaders, plant and supply chain heads, and commercial leads, plus a few supervisors or planners who know where daily work slows down.
The 90-day action plan lists the ranked AI opportunities, an accountable owner for each, the KPI each should move, decision dates, and the first actions due. It also records the data or system groundwork each opportunity needs, so leaders can see which items start immediately and which need preparation.
Yes, the workshop works for companies with no AI activity and for those running scattered pilots. Existing efforts are reviewed in pre-work and ranked alongside new ideas. Afterward, each opportunity gets a next step within VDS AI consulting, with an AI Readiness Assessment where evidence is still needed and AI Implementation where building can begin.
Sponsors often run the workshop early in ownership to agree where AI belongs in the value creation plan and to set a shared approach that later portfolio companies can reuse. The method stays the same whether or not a sponsor is involved, and the Private Equity page explains the investor perspective further.
DECISION EXCELLENCE
Clear Priorities. Named Owners. Measured Starts.
Workshops apply the facilitation and measurement discipline behind published VDS work, including the training-led lean transformation at a global prosthetic manufacturer and the process and KPI overhaul at an aerospace electronics manufacturer. Every ranked opportunity begins with a measured baseline, so results after the 90 days can be verified.
LET'S CONNECT
Ready to Set Your AI Priorities?
Bring the AI ideas competing for attention and leave with a plan your leaders own.
An initial call settles the workshop dates, the leaders to invite, and the pre-work materials to gather.