For consultants asked about AI
AI Readiness Assessment From Your Notes
Paste notes about the client or drop interview notes. Get six readiness scores with evidence, use cases ranked by value and effort, and a 90-day plan.
Free to start. No card needed.
| Area | Proposed score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy and goals | 2 of 5 | “Everyone wants AI, nobody owns it.” COO, interview 1 |
| Data | 2 of 5 | Orders kept in three separate spreadsheets. IT lead, interview 3 |
| People and skills | Not enough evidence | Only managers interviewed so far |
| Governance and risk | 1 of 5 | No AI policy; 23 of 40 use free chat tools |
First use case: typing up delivery notes · value 5, effort 2 · a quick win.
What you'll get
AI readiness scored from your notes, with use cases and a 90-day plan
- Six areas scored 1 to 5, each with the evidence behind it
- Five to eight AI use cases ranked by value against effort
- Risks, a 90-day plan, the moves for months 4 to 12, and next questions
Before and after
Your client notes in. Scores you can defend.
Notes from five interviews at a regional freight company (the COO, the IT lead, two depot managers and the finance manager), a 40-response staff survey exported from Excel, and the client's one-page list of systems.
Readiness scorecard. Data: 2 of 5. “Customer orders live in three spreadsheets.” IT lead, interview 3. Governance and risk: 1 of 5. There is no AI policy, and 23 of 40 staff use free chat tools at work (survey, question 7). People and skills: not enough evidence. Only managers have been interviewed. Use case shortlist. 1. Typing delivery notes into the order system: value 5, effort 2, a quick win. Needs the scans in one shared inbox first. Days 1 to 30. Approve a one-page AI use policy and a short list of allowed tools. Owner: COO. Ask the client next. Who owns customer data today, and who can approve access to it?
Each score carries its quote and source, and an area your notes don't cover says so instead of guessing.
Why it works
What is an AI readiness assessment, and how do you score one?
An AI readiness assessment scores how prepared an organization is to use AI well, across strategy, data, technology, people, governance and processes, and shows what to fix first. River builds one from material you already have. Paste your notes about the client, or drop interview notes or a survey export. Each area gets a score from 1 to 5 with the line it rests on, or "not enough evidence" where your notes are silent. Use cases, risks, a 90-day plan and your next questions follow.
Most online readiness checks are quizzes that score whatever someone clicks. A client will ask why their data scored a 2, so every score here quotes its source. Governance is judged against the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, a voluntary US framework built on four functions: Govern, Map, Measure and Manage. An optional tap for client size sets the bar. A one-page AI policy and a named owner can be strong governance for a 20-person firm and thin for a bank.
Choosing use cases is where AI programs most often go wrong. In a Harvard Business School study of 758 BCG consultants, AI raised quality by 40% on tasks inside its reach. On a task outside it, people using AI were 19 percentage points less likely to be right. So River favors tasks where a person checks the output. Run your readiness interviews through interview synthesis first, and turn the 90-day plan into a consulting proposal when the client says yes.
What lands in your doc
What's in your AI readiness assessment
- A readiness scorecard across six areas, each scored 1 to 5 with the quote behind it
- Not enough evidence marked plainly where your notes are silent, with the question that would settle it
- Five to eight AI use cases from the client's own problems, scored for value against effort
- The prerequisites for each use case, such as clean order data or an approved list of tools
- Risks to manage, each tied to its evidence and to a NIST AI Risk Management Framework function
- A 90-day plan in three 30-day blocks with owners, then the moves for months 4 to 12
How it works
From client notes to a readiness plan
Paste your notes
Paste what you know about the client, or drop interview notes, a survey export or a systems list.
Tap the size
Optional: pick small business, mid-size or enterprise, so the scores and the plan fit the client.
River scores the evidence
It reads everything first, then scores each area only where a quote or figure supports it.
Share the results
Share the scorecard and plan, or turn them into an interview guide, a summary or a proposal.
How to do an AI readiness assessment yourself
Start with evidence, not a questionnaire score. Interview the sponsor, the IT lead, whoever owns the main data, and two or three people who do the daily work. Ask for the list of systems and any written AI policy. A short staff survey helps, because people often use free AI tools their managers don't know about. Then file every fact under six headings: strategy and goals, data, technology, people and skills, governance and risk, and processes.
Score each heading from 1 to 5 against a written scale: not started, ad hoc, defined, managed across the business, then measured and improving. Score what exists today, not what is planned, and write the evidence beside each number. For governance, NIST's Govern function asks whether policies, clear accountability and rules for third-party tools are in place. The GAO's AI accountability framework adds data, performance and monitoring as principles to check, and it suits public-sector clients well.
Then look for use cases in the client's own problems: tasks with high volume, clear inputs and an output a person can check, such as reading forms or drafting replies. Score each for value and effort, and list what must be true first. Start with one or two quick wins measured against today's baseline. Put a simple AI use policy in place within 30 days, and decide on the bigger bets at day 90, using criteria agreed at the start.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is an AI readiness assessment?
An AI readiness assessment is a structured check of whether an organization can use AI well and safely. It scores areas such as strategy, data, technology, skills, governance and processes, then names the gaps to close first. A useful one shows the evidence behind every score and ends with use cases and a plan, not just a number.
What should an AI readiness assessment include?
Start with a scorecard across the readiness areas and the evidence for each score. Then a shortlist of use cases ranked by value and effort, with the prerequisites for each. Next come the risks to manage, a 90-day plan and the moves for months 4 to 12. River adds the questions to ask next, so the gaps in your notes set the agenda for your next client meeting.
How does River decide each score?
Against a 1 to 5 scale: not started, ad hoc, defined, managed across the business, and measured and improving. A score needs a quote or figure from your material, shown beside it with its source. Plans don't raise a score. Where your notes say nothing about an area, it reads "not enough evidence" instead of a guess or a safe middle score.
Which AI readiness framework does it follow?
The six areas are the ones most readiness reviews cover. Governance and risks are checked against the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and its four functions: Govern, Map, Measure and Manage. NIST published it in January 2023 for voluntary use. River uses it as a reference point; the assessment is not a certification or an audit.
Does client size change the result?
Yes. The evidence stays the same, but the bar moves. A small business can reach a strong governance score with a one-page policy, a named owner and an approved tool list. An enterprise also needs an inventory of its AI systems and risk reviews. Use cases and the 90-day plan are sized to the client too.
Can I assess my own company's AI readiness?
Yes. Paste notes about your own organization instead of a client's: what you do, your systems and data, your team, and what you hope AI will do. The scoring works the same way. Areas you haven't described come back as questions, which makes a good checklist for the conversation with your leadership team.
Is my client's material private?
Your notes and files stay in your own River space unless you choose to share them. River's privacy policy says uploads are never used to train AI models, and the AI providers River uses are contractually bound not to train on them either. Check your client agreement before uploading anything it restricts.
Your next step
More for your project
Answer the AI question with evidence
Paste your notes about the client or drop interview notes. Every score shows the line behind it, and every gap becomes a question.