AI Investment & Budget Development Assessment
Your 2027 AI budget number is a guess.
Budgets lock in January. Most leadership teams are about to commit a number for AI with no inventory of what is already running, no model for token costs, and no ranked list of where AI actually pays off. We fix that in three weeks.
5 of 8
Engagements left before year-end
Limited availability
3 already booked
Last kickoff November 20.
Why the AI line item is the hardest one to write
Every other line in your budget has a history. AI does not. That is why most 2027 AI numbers are a percentage someone picked, not a plan anyone can defend.
Spend you cannot see
AI is already in your SaaS renewals, your team’s expense reports, and tools nobody approved. You cannot budget for what you have not inventoried.
Costs that scale with usage, not headcount
Token consumption grows with adoption. A pilot that costs $400 a month can cost $40,000 once it works. Few finance teams model that curve.
No ranked priorities
You cannot fund AI opportunities you have not identified, sized, and sequenced. So the number becomes a guess, and the guess becomes a fight.
Budget too low and your best initiatives stall by June. Budget too high and you fund shelfware. Either way, you revisit it mid-year with less credibility.
What you walk away with
A 2027 AI budget your CFO can defend and your board can follow.
Seat licenses
Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, and AI add-ons already bundled in your SaaS
API and token consumption
Variable model costs based on your actual and projected usage
Build and implementation
Automations, integrations, and custom applications worth funding
Training and enablement
Role-based training and AI Ambassador programs
Governance and risk
Policy, oversight, and the controls your board will ask about
Contingency
A reasoned buffer, not a padded one
Also included: Low, expected, and high scenarios for every category; a ranked list of AI opportunities by business impact and feasibility; a sequenced 2027 roadmap; a board-ready summary; and a leadership readout session.
Three weeks, kickoff to number
Inventory
Leadership interviews, current AI tool and SaaS review, and read-only billing and usage exports.
Opportunity and cost modeling
We rank opportunities by value and feasibility, then model licenses, token consumption, build, and enablement costs against adoption scenarios.
Budget build and readout
You get the full 2027 AI budget, roadmap, and board summary, delivered live to your leadership team.
We work from read-only billing and usage exports. No admin console access. No production data. Nothing leaves the controls you already have.
One fixed fee. Fully credited toward the work it identifies.
The assessment is $8,500, fixed. When you move into 2027 work with AscendAI, whether a pilot, the AI Office, or the AI Ambassador Program, the full fee is credited toward it. You get a real number either way. If you build with us, the assessment costs you nothing.
Credit applies to engagements signed by March 31, 2027.
Who it is for
CFOs and CEOs at organizations with 100 to 2,000 employees who have to put a number on AI before January, and would rather defend it than guess it.
Proof
160+ AI use cases surfaced by employees across 15 departments, and 22 initiatives funded and implemented, in the first AI Ambassador cohort at a global property management firm.
54 AI workflow opportunities identified and $247,987 in conservatively projected annual operating-cost reduction in the Stein Collection assessment with 15 executives and directors.
An assessment projection, not realized savings.
“The AscendAI team are fantastic. We had started AI internally but had lost momentum. They came in and helped us to reignite the effort.”
Shawn Miele CEO, MyAdvice
“Kevin sees where the disruption is heading and constantly challenges me to look farther afield. He understands what cutting edge technology is doing and helps cut through the hype and noise.”
Steven Low President, KLAS Research
“For teams looking to understand the real-world risks that come with AI adoption, AscendAI offers a smart place to start.”
Romaine Marshall Cybersecurity Expert and Shareholder, Polsinelli
“Their team offers consistent, thoughtful, and collaborative perspectives, effectively bridging emerging AI trends with operational needs to drive ideas into action.”
Penny Atkins Director, Research and Science, University of Utah
Trusted by leadership teams at
A team, not a consultant
Kevin Williams and Craig Heile lead every assessment, backed by AscendAI’s strategy, governance, training, and engineering team. The people who price your 2027 work are the people who can deliver it.
Frequently asked questions
We already have an AI budget. Why do this?
Most existing AI budgets are a license line plus a guess. We test your number against actual usage, uncovered spend, and ranked opportunities, then tell you whether it holds.
How do you estimate token costs if we barely use the API today?
We model consumption from comparable deployments and your planned use cases, then give you low, expected, and high scenarios so finance can plan for the range.
What access do you need?
Leadership time for interviews, plus read-only billing and usage exports. No admin rights, no production data.
What happens after the readout?
You own the budget and roadmap outright. If you want help executing, the full $8,500 is credited toward any 2027 AscendAI engagement signed by March 31, 2027.
Why only 8 engagements?
Every assessment is led by senior people, and budgets close in January. We take on what we can deliver well before your deadline.
Walk into budget review with a number you can defend.
5 of 8
Engagements left before year-end
Last kickoff November 20.
