AI Value Creation
From the deal model to the P&L.
You bought a company, or you’ve owned one for a while, and the plan assumes AI will help it run leaner. We help you see where its AI spend goes today, find the work where AI will actually pay back, and change that work with the people who do it. For corporate acquirers and private equity owners.
Sound familiar?
7%
of private equity portfolio companies run AI at enterprise scale. 36% use it across several use cases, and talent is the biggest constraint on scaling it.
Source: FTI Consulting, 2026 Private Equity AI Radar (May 2026) (opens in a new tab)
“The deal model assumes AI efficiency. Nobody has said where it comes from.”
We go workflow by workflow, find where AI can take out time or cost, and measure how that work runs today. Each efficiency in the plan gets a named workflow, a baseline, and an owner.
value creation plan · workflow baselines · use-case scoring
“We don’t know what they spend on AI, or what it’s getting them.”
We list the AI the company already pays for: licenses, model and cloud bills, vendor contracts, and the tools teams bought on their own. Then we tie each cost to the work it’s meant to improve, so you can see what’s earning its keep.
AI spend inventory · cost attribution · FinOps
“We gave everyone AI tools. The numbers didn’t move.”
Tools alone rarely move the numbers, and that includes engineering. We redesign the work around them: who does what, what gets reviewed, where the saved time goes. Then we measure the result against the baseline.
process redesign · developer workflow · adoption metrics
“Management is stretched running the business. Who’s going to do this?”
We work alongside the management team, not around it. We join operating reviews and working sessions as needed, and hand over the routines so the company keeps improving after we step back.
operating cadence · capability transfer
How it works
- 01
See where the AI money goes
You getAn inventory of AI spend, tools, and contracts, with what each one is meant to improve.
- 02
Find the efficiency the plan assumes
You getA ranked list of workflows where AI can cut time or cost, each with today’s baseline.
- 03
Change the work, not just the tools
You getRedesigned workflows in the first areas, built with the people who do them and tracked against the baseline.
- 04
Report it and hand over
You getA value scorecard your board or deal team can check, and owners inside the company who keep it running.
What you walk away with
- A full picture of what the company spends on AI and what it gets back.
- An AI plan tied to the numbers in your deal model or value creation plan.
- A shortlist of AI spend to cut or redirect.
- Workflows that run faster or cheaper, measured against a baseline.
- Owners inside the company who keep improving them.
Questions
How do you use AI to create value in a portfolio company?
Start with the work, not the tools. Map where the company’s time and cost go, measure those workflows as they run today, and pick the few where AI can make a measurable difference. Then redesign that work with the people who do it and track the result against the baseline, so the gain shows up in the operating numbers rather than in a license count.
Won’t giving everyone AI tools make the company more efficient?
Not by itself, and you can’t judge it by how it feels. In a 2025 randomized trial, experienced open-source developers took 19% longer on tasks when allowed to use early-2025 AI tools, yet believed they had been about 20% faster. The researchers have since said newer tools likely help more. The lesson holds: gains come from changing the work around the tool and measuring the result.
Is this for a company we just bought, or one we’ve owned for years?
Both. Right after close, we start with an AI spend inventory and the efficiency the deal model assumes. For a company you’ve held for a while, we start from where its time and cost go today and what has already been tried.
How do you work with the management team and our operating partners?
The management team runs the company and makes the calls. We work alongside them and report progress against the numbers you’ve agreed with them, so owners and operators look at the same view of what AI costs and what it returns.
Tell us where it's stuck.
A few lines about what’s blocking it is enough to start. We’ll reply to set up a conversation.