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Strategy. Implementation.
Value Creation.

AI as a Margin and Growth Driver.

We help CFOs, CEOs, and Boards turn AI investment into measurable enterprise value — improving margin, accelerating growth, increasing productivity, and reducing risk. We connect strategy to implementation and financial outcomes, so AI is managed as an investment portfolio rather than a collection of experiments.

ServingGrowth-stage & mid-market
Value leversMargin · Growth · Productivity · Risk
Start withAI Value BluePrint
Based inNorth Carolina · U.S.
Book a 30-min call ↗How We Help
/ How We Help

Four ways we turn AI into measurable enterprise value.

Start by proving what current AI investments are returning. Then identify where to invest, build the trusted context AI needs, and deploy production solutions that improve margin, growth, productivity, and risk.

01 · Measure Value

AI Value BluePrint

Know what your AI investments are worth — and what to Scale, Reset, or Stop.

A CFO-focused 4-week assessment that answers: Where is AI spend going? What financial value is actually being realized? Which initiatives deserve more capital, which need intervention, and which should stop? What must change to improve ROI and value realization?

Tangible product delivered

Your CFO AI Value BluePrint: AI Investment & TCO Portfolio, Enterprise Value Map, Scale / Reset / Stop Portfolio, CFO AI Value Scorecard, and 90-Day Value Realization Roadmap.

Typical starting point · 4 weeks
02 · Assess

AI Strategy & Readiness Assessment

Know where AI can create value — and what to do first.

We assess workflows, data, technology, security, governance, and organizational readiness to identify the highest-value AI opportunities — and the ones that do not justify investment.

Tangible product delivered

A prioritized AI roadmap, quantified business cases, governance foundation, and 90-day action plan.

Typical starting point · 4 weeks
03 · Build Context

Enterprise Intelligence & Context

Make AI understand your company.

We turn fragmented knowledge across documents, email, meetings, systems, decisions, and experienced people into secure, trusted context that employees and AI agents can actually use.

Tangible product delivered

An AI-ready institutional knowledge foundation that turns what your company knows into a governed enterprise asset.

Typical starting point · 90-day accelerator
04 · Deploy

AI Agents & Workflow Implementation

Put AI to work inside the business.

We build production AI agents and automation into high-value workflows, integrate them with your systems, and design security, governance, monitoring, and human oversight in from the start.

Tangible product delivered

Working production AI systems with agreed value measures that improve productivity, speed, cost, revenue, or risk.

Typical starting point · first production use case
Measure the value → Set the agenda → Build the context → Deploy the AI
ROI, governance, cybersecurity, adoption, and benefits realization run across all four.
/ Who We Serve

We advise growth-stage and mid-market companies where AI investment, value creation, data, and technology decisions have turned strategic.

Often the difference isn't ambition — it's that leadership lacks a clear financial view of AI value, the internal capacity to execute, or the operating model to scale responsibly. That's the gap we fill. We're particularly well suited for:

Boards
Boards & board committees

Seeking a clear AI agenda, value story, risk view, and governance model.

Executive
CEOs, CFOs & executive teams

Turning AI spending and experimentation into measurable business and financial outcomes.

Investors
PE firms & portfolio companies

Focused on margin expansion, growth, productivity, and scalable operating discipline.

Biopharma
Pre-revenue & growth-stage biopharma

Preparing for scale, commercialization, data maturity, or investor scrutiny.

No CIO yet
Founder-led & mid-market companies

That don't yet have a CIO, CDO, CAIO, or mature IT/data function.

Sectors
Data-driven businesses

Life sciences, pharma services, healthcare services, diagnostics, technology-enabled services, and other data-driven businesses.

/ 01   The Approach

AI should be managed as a business investment — measured by the value it creates, not the activity it generates.

Principle 01

Start with value.

Define the margin, growth, productivity, cash-flow, or risk outcome before choosing the technology. The business case leads; AI follows.

Principle 02

Strategy + Execution = Results.

Most consultancies leave after the roadmap. We stay, build, and ship — because value is only created when redesigned workflows are adopted and operating.

Principle 03

Governance protects the value.

Gains that cannot be governed do not last. We build security, data, human oversight, and financial accountability into the operating model from the start.

Working with leaders at
CFOBiotechCEOPharma ServicesCTOLife SciencesCOOHealthcare ServicesBoardFamily OfficePartnerPrivate EquityCIODiagnosticsFounderMed DevicesCFOBiotechCEOPharma ServicesCTOLife SciencesCOOHealthcare ServicesBoardFamily OfficePartnerPrivate EquityCIODiagnosticsFounderMed Devices
02
The Problems We Solve

Sound familiar?

CFOs, CEOs, and Boards are being asked to increase AI investment while proving that it creates economic value. Most problems trace to the same gap: AI activity is growing faster than financial visibility, operating discipline, and execution.

/ 01
"We're spending more on AI, but I can't prove the return."

Licenses, pilots, vendors, cloud usage, and internal labor are growing. Finance lacks a complete view of TCO, realized benefits, and which initiatives are actually moving the P&L.

AI Value BluePrint
/ 02
"The board keeps asking what we're doing about AI."

No coherent answer, no roadmap, and the competitive landscape is moving. The executive team needs a strategy tied to business value — not a generic deck.

Strategy & AI Opportunity Assessment
/ 03
"We've spent six months on pilots that never ship."

The slides look great. Nothing's in production. Vendors are circling. The team is exhausted and finance is asking pointed questions about ROI.

Implementation & Deployment
/ 04
"We don't have an AI policy and we just got asked for one."

A customer, regulator, or insurer wants documentation. The legal team is improvising. Use is already widespread inside the company — without rules.

Governance, Policy & Risk Framework
/ 05
"Three vendors are pitching us. We can't tell them apart."

Each promises transformation; each has a different price tag and procurement path. You need an independent voice in the room — not another sales pitch.

Vendor Selection & Diligence
/ 06
"We're doing AI diligence on an acquisition target."

PE deal or strategic acquisition. The target claims an AI moat. You have two weeks to assess what's real, what's marketing, and what becomes a Day-1 liability.

M&A & Investment Diligence
/ 07
"Our team doesn't know what they don't know."

Strong leaders, but no one has lived through an AI transformation. Hiring an in-house AI executive is slow. You need someone embedded now.

Fractional AI Leadership & Coaching
/ 08
"Our AI doesn't know our company."

Decades of knowledge are scattered across documents, email, meetings, business systems, and experienced employees. AI cannot create its full potential value if it does not understand the business.

Enterprise Intelligence
03
What We Do

Three pillars. One value agenda.

Strategy, implementation, and value creation stay connected from the first investment decision through production and benefits realization. Nothing gets lost in handoff because the people who set the agenda are the people who help prove the return.

Pillar 01

Strategy

Where AI belongs in your business — and where it doesn't.

When to engageYou're being asked for an AI strategy, executive briefing, board memo, or roadmap that the CFO and CEO can both support.

A working AI strategy is not a list of use cases. It's an honest map of where AI will create durable value, where it won't, and what to do first — board-ready, CFO-defensible, and rooted in your economics.

  • AI Opportunity AssessmentWorkflow-by-workflow scan of where AI creates leverage, where it creates risk, and where it's a distraction. Scored by impact, feasibility, and time-to-value.
  • Executive & Board AdvisoryBriefings, board memos, and quarterly check-ins with the value and risk narrative executives need.
  • AI Roadmap & Investment Plan12 to 36 months, sequenced by value, investment requirements, dependencies, and capability build.
  • Vendor & Tool SelectionIndependent diligence on platforms, models, integrators, and build-vs-buy decisions. We don't take referral fees.
  • M&A & Investment DiligenceRapid assessment of AI claims in a deal: what's real, what's marketing, and what becomes a post-close opportunity or liability.
Outcome

A value-led AI strategy and investment roadmap the CEO, CFO, and board can act on and measure.

Pillar 02

Implementation

Working systems in production. Not slides. Not pilots that die.

When to engageYou have a strategy and need a team that will actually build and deploy — or you have pilots that aren't reaching production.

Implementation is where projected value becomes real or disappears. We embed alongside your team, redesign the workflow, ship working systems, instrument the value measures, and transfer capability as we go.

  • Enterprise Intelligence & ContextTurn fragmented company knowledge into trusted context employees and AI agents can securely use.
  • Production AI AgentsInternal agents for sales ops, finance, customer ops, knowledge retrieval, and document workflows — built on your data and in your environment.
  • System Integration & Data PipelinesConnect AI to CRM, ERP, ticketing, document stores, and warehouses with retrieval that works on real enterprise data.
  • Workflow AutomationTarget high-leverage workflows such as RFP responses, contract review, invoice processing, onboarding, and executive reporting.
  • Embedded Build TeamsSenior engineers and PMs working alongside your team to ship production capabilities.
  • Capability Transfer & TrainingHands-on training so the work outlives the engagement.
Outcome

A working system in production, with value measures, monitoring, controls, and an internal team that knows how to operate it.

Pillar 03

Value Creation

Turning AI from cost and experimentation into measurable margin, growth, productivity, and risk reduction.

When to engageYou've invested in AI and need to show the return — or you want financial discipline in place before the next wave of spending.

Value Creation is where the work pays off. We establish the financial fact base, size the opportunity, build value cases, track ROI and adoption, and put governance and accountability around benefits realization so the gains are real, durable, and defensible.

  • AI Value BluePrintA CFO-focused portfolio assessment of AI spend, TCO, realized value, and the initiatives to Scale, Reset, or Stop.
  • Opportunity Sizing & Value CasesWhere AI moves the P&L — growth, productivity, cost, cash flow, and risk. Quantified value pools and business cases finance can defend.
  • ROI & Adoption TrackingBaselines, benefit owners, value measures, and adoption metrics so benefits are realized — not just promised.
  • Governance, Security & Risk FrameworkPragmatic policy, controls, human oversight, cybersecurity, and data protection.
  • Operating Model & OversightWho owns AI, how capital decisions get made, and how executives and the board oversee value and risk.
  • Benefits RealizationClosing the loop from investment case to actual financial and operational results.
Outcome

A CFO-grade value management system: quantified benefits, portfolio decisions, adoption metrics, risk controls, and executive reporting that shows whether AI is paying off.

/ Featured Service · Enterprise Intelligence

Make AI understand your company.

Your company has spent decades accumulating valuable knowledge — in documents, email, meetings, systems, decisions, and the experience of your people. Most AI doesn't know any of it.

Company Knowledge
Documents · Email · Meetings · Systems · People
The intellectual property and institutional memory already inside the business.
Enterprise Intelligence
Trusted, governed context
Authoritative knowledge, historical decisions, expertise, permissions, and source attribution.
Put It To Work
Employees + AI Agents
Faster answers, better decisions, less rework, and AI grounded in your business.
Find what the company already knowsConnect authoritative knowledge across enterprise systems.
Preserve institutional memoryCapture decisions, rationale, expertise, and lessons learned.
Create AI-ready contextGive authorized AI systems trusted, permission-aware company knowledge.
Prove business valueReduce searching, rework, and onboarding time while improving AI accuracy and productivity.
90-Day Enterprise Intelligence Accelerator

Start with one high-value area. Build the Minimum Viable Enterprise Context. Demonstrate measurable value before scaling.

Discuss the opportunity ↗
04
What's at Stake

Make AI earn the next dollar.

Executives don't need more AI activity. They need a disciplined view of where capital is going, what value is being created, what should scale, and what should stop.

Value Lens
4 levers
Margin, growth, productivity, and risk — the economic outcomes every AI initiative should connect to.
First Value Fact Base
4 weeks
From kickoff to a CFO-ready portfolio view, value scorecard, investment decisions, and 90-day roadmap.
Portfolio Discipline
3 calls
Scale the winners. Reset initiatives with recoverable value. Stop spending where economics no longer support the case.
Engagement Posture
One firm
Strategy, implementation, and value realization from the same senior team. No handoffs between the business case and execution.
CFO AI Value BluePrint Deliverables
  • AI Investment & Total Cost of Ownership Portfolio
  • Enterprise Value Map across margin, growth, productivity, cash flow, and risk
  • Scale / Reset / Stop portfolio decisions with rationale
  • CFO AI Value Scorecard with baselines, owners, benefits, and adoption measures
  • 90-Day Value Realization Roadmap with actions, owners, and stage gates
Questions We Help Answer
  • How much are we really spending on AI — including licenses, cloud, vendors, and internal labor?
  • What measurable financial and operational value has actually been realized?
  • Which initiatives should receive more capital, be reset, or be stopped?
  • Where can AI create the next wave of margin or growth?
  • Who owns each benefit, and how will Finance verify it?
  • What governance and stage gates should apply before additional AI capital is committed?
  • How do we report AI ROI credibly to the CEO and Board?
05
Engagement Model

Four weeks to a CFO-grade value agenda.

For the AI Value BluePrint, we build the financial fact base first, quantify value second, make portfolio decisions third, and leave management with a specific value-realization plan in week four.

Week 01 · Fact BaseInventory

Map the Portfolio

Establish where AI activity and money are going today, including visible and hidden costs, current business cases, ownership, adoption, and benefit commitments.

  • // CFO and executive interviews
  • // AI initiative, vendor, license & use-case inventory
  • // Full TCO: technology + vendor + cloud + internal labor
  • // Existing business cases & benefit commitments
  • // Ownership, adoption & governance baseline
Weeks 02–03 · ValueDecisions

Quantify & Decide

Test realized value against the original case, identify value leakage, size additional opportunities, and classify the portfolio based on economics and execution reality.

  • // Baseline and benefit validation
  • // Margin, growth, productivity, cash-flow & risk value map
  • // ROI / payback / TCO analysis
  • // Scale / Reset / Stop decisions
  • // Value leakage & operating-model gaps
Week 04 · RealizeRoadmap

Commit to Value

Put owners, measures, stage gates, and actions around the portfolio so Finance can track benefits and management can make better AI capital decisions going forward.

  • // CFO AI Value Scorecard
  • // Benefit owners & verification methods
  • // 90-Day Value Realization Roadmap
  • // Governance & investment stage gates
  • // Executive / Board readout
06
Why Pickett Strategy Group

Straight talk.

Six things that separate Pickett Strategy Group from consultancies, resellers, and AI vendors.

/ 01 · Value first

AI is a business investment.

We begin with economics — margin, growth, productivity, cash flow, and risk — before recommending technology.

/ 02 · No handoffs

Strategy and execution from the same people.

The senior person shaping the value case remains engaged when it becomes implementation.

/ 03 · No vendor fees

We don't take referral commissions.

Vendor recommendations are based on fit and value, not kickbacks.

/ 04 · No magic words

If we don't know, we say so.

We separate what is known, what is contested, and what is marketing.

/ 05 · No vanity metrics

Success is tangible business value.

Not slide counts or hours billed. Benefits need baselines, owners, measures, and evidence.

/ 06 · No lock-in

We build to leave behind.

Capability transfer and a management system for value realization are deliverables, not marketing lines.

07
About

Founder & principal.

Pickett Strategy Group is founder-led by Larry Pickett. Every engagement runs through him; the team scales around him, not in front of him.

Three decades pairing board-level strategy with hands-on transformation and value creation.

Larry founded Pickett Strategy Group to help CFOs, CEOs, Boards, and investors turn AI from a technology topic into measurable enterprise value. The firm exists because the gap between AI ambition, implementation, and realized financial value is where most returns are lost.

The work is rooted in a simple operating belief: strategy without execution is theater, execution without value is activity, and value without governance is fragile. A useful advisor carries all three.

Engagements span the U.S. and serve companies across life sciences, healthcare, and other data-driven sectors — from growth-stage businesses to established mid-market enterprises. Before founding the firm, Larry served as a Chief Information & Digital Officer and multi-time CIO, and was co-founder and former CEO of a Data Science / AI company serving pharmaceutical clients — a successful exit with strong investor returns.

Value Focus
Margin · Growth · ROI
Business value first
Based
North Carolina
U.S. nationwide
Practice Areas
Strategy · Implement · Value
Under one roof
Frameworks
NIST · ISO 42001
Aligned where it matters
08
FAQ

Common questions.

The questions that come up on the first call, answered plainly.

It is a four-week, CFO-focused assessment of the AI investment portfolio. We establish full TCO, validate realized value, identify value leakage, determine what to Scale, Reset, or Stop, and deliver a CFO AI Value Scorecard plus a 90-Day Value Realization Roadmap.
We combine executive-level strategy and financial value discipline with implementation. The same senior people who shape the business case stay connected to execution and benefits realization.
Engagement pricing depends on scope and outcome. Assessments are fixed fee, implementation is priced by project and team requirements, and ongoing value realization or advisory can be structured as a fractional retainer. We do not sell billable hours as the product.
No. It works both for companies with a growing portfolio of AI initiatives and for companies that want financial discipline before materially increasing AI investment. The scope is adjusted to the maturity of the portfolio.
We are vendor independent and work across the major model and enterprise AI ecosystems. Tool selection is driven by the business case, your stack, risk requirements, and economics — not referral fees.
Yes. Governance, cybersecurity, data protection, and human oversight run alongside value and implementation work rather than being added after the fact.
Thirty minutes. We focus on what AI activity exists today, whether Finance can see total spend and realized value, what the CEO or Board is asking, and whether an AI Value BluePrint, Strategy & Readiness Assessment, or another path is appropriate.

Make AI earn the next dollar.

A 30-minute executive conversation can determine whether the AI Value BluePrint is the right starting point to improve visibility, ROI, and value realization from your AI investments.

larry@pickettstrategy.com(984) 261-6910
Email
larry@pickettstrategy.com
Phone
(984) 261-6910
Based
North Carolina · USA