Independent AI advisory

Nearly every company is using AI. Almost none are getting a return.

We help Northwest Ohio's mid-market companies close that gap, with governance, measurement, and senior counsel. The advisory function you need but cannot justify hiring full time.

Distribution and manufacturing facility at dusk, loading docks lit
Manufacturing, logistics, and agriculture carry the regional economy.
The state of the market

The adoption problem is solved. The value problem is not.

91%
of mid-market manufacturers now use generative AI in some form.
73%
remain in the testing phase, with none at full deployment.
95%
of enterprise AI pilots deliver no measurable impact to the P&L.

Sources: MarketScale mid-market manufacturing survey, 2026; MIT, The GenAI Divide, 2025.

Point of view

The constraint is not technology. It is ownership.

Most companies we meet have already bought the tools. Someone in accounting drafts letters with them. A manager summarizes reports. A few experiments ran and quietly stopped.

What is missing is not capability. It is a named owner, a written policy, a way to decide what matters, and any measurement of whether it worked. Without those, effort scatters and nothing compounds.

This is why AI initiatives stall at companies that are otherwise well run. The failure is structural, not technical, and it is entirely fixable.

The companies that pull ahead will not be the ones with the best tools. They will be the ones that decided who was accountable.

There is a second pressure arriving quietly. Large customers and regulators are beginning to require AI governance from their suppliers, through contract language and vendor questionnaires. Most mid-market companies could not answer one today.

Grain elevator beside a rail line in open farmland
Interviews conducted in person, across four counties.
Original research

The Northwest Ohio AI Readiness Report

We are conducting the region's first structured study of how mid-market companies actually use artificial intelligence. Not what they intend to do. What is genuinely in production, what stalled, and why.

Findings are published openly. Participating companies receive a confidential scorecard benchmarking them against regional peers before publication.

  • 30 to 50 executive interviews across the region
  • Manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, and professional services
  • Individual responses confidential; only aggregate findings published
  • Published annually

Enquire about participating

Methodology

The AI Maturity Index

Our assessment framework. Five dimensions, scored and weighted, placing a company on a five stage scale and against its regional peers.

I
Strategy & Ownership
A written plan tied to business objectives, and one accountable executive.
II
Governance & Risk
Policy, data handling, approved tools, and readiness for customer and regulatory requirements.
III
Data & Systems
Whether the information AI would need is accessible, clean, and connected.
IV
Capability & Adoption
Whether people use it well, and whether workflows reach production or are abandoned.
V
Value & Measurement
Baselines, tracked outcomes, and demonstrated effect on the P&L.
Stage one
Ad Hoc
Stage two
Aware
Stage three
Governed
Stage four
Integrated
Stage five
Advantaged

Most companies score at stage two and believe they are further along.

Engagements

How we work

We begin with assessment. We do not propose a plan before we understand the business, and we will tell you plainly if you do not need us.

01

AI Maturity Assessment

Three to four weeks

Executive interviews, a review of systems and existing policy, and rigorous scoring against the Index. Delivered as a presented findings session: your score, your peer benchmark, a risk register, and a prioritized twelve month roadmap.

02

Advisory Retainer

Ongoing counsel

We own the roadmap alongside your leadership. Governance and policy, oversight of initiatives, executive counsel between meetings, and quarterly reporting your board can read.

03

Executive Education

Leadership and staff

A structured programme building genuine fluency across your team, grounded in the four practices of delegation, description, discernment, and diligence.

Clients

Mid-market companies across Northwest Ohio

Typically between fifty and five hundred employees, often supplying or regulated by organisations considerably larger than themselves. Owner led or closely held, with real operating complexity and no internal capacity for this work.

We do not serve enterprises with established internal technology functions, and we are not the right firm for a company that simply wants software installed. We are glad to refer those elsewhere.

  • Manufacturing and industrial supply
  • Distribution and logistics
  • Healthcare groups and independent practices
  • Professional services
  • Agribusiness and financial services
Enquiries

Begin with a conversation, not a proposal.

We take on a small number of engagements at a time. If you would like to discuss your situation, or to be considered for the regional study, write or call directly.

Email
Telephone
(419) 000-0000
Office
Findlay, Ohio