Latest posts

  • Introducing the AI control surface: mapping models, data, risk, and ownership

    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.

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  • AI oversight at board level: five questions directors should be asking in 2026

    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.

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  • When your law firm’s technology holds back growth

    When your law firm’s technology holds back growth

    Growth in a modern legal practice is no longer constrained by legal capability alone. It is constrained by infrastructure. Partners may be driving new service lines, exploring AI assisted delivery, or responding to client demands for transparency and speed. Yet behind the scenes, many firms are operating on technology estates that have evolved rather than

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  • 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

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  • The CPTO as AI translator: turning model capability into business decision-making

    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

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  • From awareness to control: governing AI in practice in 2026

    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

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  • AI Risk in Due Diligence: Data, Ethics, and the Black Box Problem

    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

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  • Fractional CPTOs and AI strategy: Guiding innovation without overreach

    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

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  • From Buzzword to Business Impact: Helping Boards Understand AI Through a Strategic Lens

    From Buzzword to Business Impact: Helping Boards Understand AI Through a Strategic Lens

    We can all agree that artificial intelligence has moved from the pages of research papers to the agendas of boardrooms. What was once an abstract concept has now become a practical tool that shapes how organisations operate, compete and grow. Yet for many directors, AI remains clouded in jargon and hype. The challenge for boards

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  • You Can’t Govern What You Don’t Understand: AI and the Need for Modern Tech Governance

    You Can’t Govern What You Don’t Understand: AI and the Need for Modern Tech Governance

    In boardrooms across the world there is a growing realisation that artificial intelligence is no longer a peripheral technology. It is embedded in strategy, operations and even customer interactions. The speed at which AI capabilities are evolving is breathtaking, yet many governance structures remain rooted in a pre-AI world. This gap between technological reality and

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