Latest posts
-
AI governance is not about technology. It is about leadership.
Over the last few years, AI has moved from a future consideration to a boardroom discussion. Partners are asking how it can improve productivity. Clients are beginning to expect it. Vendors are adding it to almost every product roadmap. Employees are already experimenting with it, whether formally approved or not. For many organisations, the question
-
When you realise your firm is behind on technology
There is a moment that many Managing Partners and COOs are now experiencing. It often starts with an AI conversation. A client asks about it. A competitor announces something. A vendor demonstrates a tool that looks compelling. Internally, someone asks, “Should we be doing this?” And the honest answer, just beneath the surface, is uncomfortable.
-
Introducing the AI control surface: mapping models, data, risk, and ownership
Most organisations are no longer asking whether they should use AI. They are already using it, often in more places than they realise. Individually, none of these decisions look particularly dangerous. Collectively, they can create a situation where AI is spread across the organisation with no clear ownership, unclear data usage, and inconsistent risk management.
-
AI oversight at board level: five questions directors should be asking in 2026
Walk into almost any boardroom today and you will see three very different perspectives on artificial intelligence. One director may not use AI at all and is still trying to understand where it fits into the business landscape. Another may have read about it extensively but has little practical exposure beyond headlines and vendor promises.
-
What Technical Due Diligence now expects to see around AI usage
Artificial intelligence is no longer experimental in UK SMEs. It is embedded in sales workflows, underwriting models, forecasting tools, customer communications and product features. In many cases it has become operationally critical without ever becoming formally governed. That shift matters in due diligence. Traditional technical due diligence has focused on platform scalability, cyber posture, code
-
The CPTO as AI translator: turning model capability into business decision-making
By the end of 2025, most mid sized organisations are already using AI in some form. Customer support teams are trialling copilots, finance teams are extracting data from documents, and product teams are embedding classification or recommendation into workflows. What has changed is not the presence of AI, but the number of business decisions it
-
From awareness to control: governing AI in practice in 2026
In our previous article, 2026: Technology and AI – what’s next for UK SME boards?, we argued that AI has now crossed a threshold. It is no longer an emerging technology that boards can safely delegate downward, nor is it a future concern that can be deferred until “things settle down”. AI is already influencing
-
AI Risk in Due Diligence: Data, Ethics, and the Black Box Problem
Iincreasingly, we start a Technical Due Diligence to be told that the target company’s edge lies in its “AI-driven technology”. This is almost always said with confidence and with a slide or two showing impressive-looking performance metrics. But the moment we begin to examine that claim in detail, the tone changes. The conversation becomes more
-
Fractional CPTOs and AI strategy: Guiding innovation without overreach
AI is now a permanent topic in the boardroom, but not every board has the right expertise to turn that conversation into a coherent plan. Your company may already be experimenting with AI models or exploring automation, but without a clear strategy and governance framework these activities can quickly pull you away from your intended
-
The AI Mirage: Spotting Overstated Claims During Tech Due Diligence
Artificial intelligence is today’s talisman. It appears in every pitch deck, investor briefing and product brochure, promising a transformation that will outpace competitors and create outsized returns. Yet in the course of Technical Due Diligence, claims of being “AI-powered” often dissolve under scrutiny, revealing little more than experimentation or, in some cases, nothing beyond the