Business ownership
Choose the sponsor, workflow owner, value measure and funding decision for each use case.
AI operating model consulting
Paul Okhrem helps CEOs and leadership teams define how AI work is owned, funded and run. Agree the responsibilities, shared capabilities and review gates your teams need to take useful AI from isolated projects into normal business operations.
Personal consulting: USD 1,000/hour, 80-hour minimum, USD 80,000 engagement floor. Scope and availability are agreed before work begins. Published fees and terms.
Make AI a business responsibility
Your teams have AI pilots, subscriptions and delivery partners. The next decision is how that work should run across the company: who chooses priorities, releases funding, accepts risk and supports a system after launch.
I help CEOs, COOs and technology leaders design that operating model. You work directly with me on the decisions and the handover. Your people retain the responsibilities we agree for their functions.
Technology and controls
Agree what teams share: data access, evaluation, security review, platforms and approval evidence.
Service ownership
Name who monitors performance, handles exceptions, pays running costs and can pause the system.
A proposed design for discussion. The right responsibilities depend on your organization and the signed scope.
What you receive from the engagement
The result is a set of working decisions your leadership team can use. The scope selects the records you need and the people who must accept them.
- Target operating model
- A concise map of business, technology, data, risk and executive responsibilities, including the decisions each owner may make.
- AI intake and funding path
- A route from a proposed use case to a funded pilot, a production decision and a continuing operating budget.
- Center of excellence or shared capability charter
- Where a central AI team is justified, its remit, services, decision limits and relationship with business units. A new center of excellence is an option, rather than a default recommendation.
- Review and escalation records
- Evidence required at each gate, who accepts it, when an exception needs review and who can stop the work.
- Handover and capability plan
- Named ongoing owners, gaps in internal skills, a review cadence and the records that remain with your team.
Download an illustrative AI decision-rights worksheet (CSV). It is a planning example to adapt with your team, not a client record or an agreed mandate.
For the detailed control framework, use AI governance consulting. This engagement connects those controls to the way people, funding and delivery work together.
Centralized, federated or a shared model?
An enterprise AI operating model needs to fit the decisions and risks in the business. I compare the practical consequences before proposing an organization chart.
| Model | Useful starting point | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Centralized AI team | Scarce expertise or common infrastructure needs coordinated ownership. | Can business teams get timely decisions and retain responsibility for adoption? |
| Federated business teams | Units have different workflows and enough capability to own delivery. | Which security, data and evaluation standards must still be shared? |
| Shared hub with business owners | Teams need common support while retaining control of their use cases. | What does the hub provide, and who settles disagreements about priorities? |
Generative AI and agents add further questions about data access, human review and actions a system may take. Those questions belong in the operating model alongside conventional machine-learning and automation work.
Test the design on work your teams already recognize
- Map the current decisionsReview active use cases, owners, spend, dependencies and the point where work stalls. Speak with the people who approve, build and use the systems.
- Agree the proposed responsibilitiesChoose the operating structure, decision rights, funding path and shared capabilities with the executive sponsor.
- Walk through a real use caseTest the proposed path against an existing pilot or production workflow. Resolve unclear handoffs and missing evidence before expanding the design.
- Hand over the working recordsAgree who maintains the model, how decisions are recorded and when the leadership team reviews performance.
Review measures can include approval time, unresolved ownership, adoption, running cost and value against an agreed baseline. Targets are set from your evidence; this page does not promise a throughput or financial improvement.
Choose the decision you need help with
- “We do not know what to fund.”
Start with AI strategy consulting to prioritize investments and agree the value case.
- “We know the priorities, but ownership breaks down.”
Operating model consulting defines how your people make, fund and carry out the recurring decisions.
- “We need someone to own the agenda each month.”
A fractional Chief AI Officer provides ongoing personal executive involvement within an agreed part-time mandate.
- “We need to choose a platform or provider.”
AI vendor selection advisory evaluates the options against your workflow, evidence and commercial constraints.
This is a consulting engagement with Paul Okhrem. Software engineering, daily operational coverage and specialist assurance are assigned and priced separately where needed.
Scope, fees and the first conversation
Consulting is USD 1,000 per hour with an 80-hour minimum and USD 80,000 engagement floor. The written scope defines the work, outputs and acceptance criteria. Read the published fees and terms.
For a useful first brief, describe the business units involved, one or two AI workflows, where decisions stall and who will sponsor the changes. Paul works from Prague with international clients; meeting times, on-site work and any travel are agreed before starting.
Paul is Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce and Managing Partner at Uvik Software. Any related-company proposal is disclosed and separately contracted. Your team controls implementation-provider selection.
AI operating model consulting: questions before you enquire
What is AI operating model consulting?
It defines how an organization owns, funds, governs and runs AI work. Paul Okhrem helps leaders agree decision rights, shared capabilities, delivery gates and ongoing owners. The work connects strategy and governance to everyday operating responsibilities.
Do we need an AI center of excellence?
Not necessarily. A central team is useful only if it solves a capability or coordination need. Compare a central, federated or shared structure against your current teams, systems and decisions before creating another function.
Can this cover generative AI and agents?
Yes. The scope can include generative AI and agentic systems alongside existing analytics and automation. It must specify data access, permitted actions, human review, incident ownership and the evidence needed before wider use.
Does this include a fractional CAIO appointment?
No. The consulting scope designs and hands over the operating model. Ongoing executive ownership is a separate fractional CAIO mandate, published at USD 30,000 per month for a six-month minimum, with up to 30 hours per month.
How long will the engagement take?
The schedule depends on the agreed scope, stakeholder access and the work needed to test the design. Consulting has an 80-hour minimum and USD 80,000 floor. The proposal confirms the timetable before work begins.
About Paul Okhrem
Paul Okhrem is a Prague-based AI transformation consultant and fractional Chief AI Officer for mid-market and enterprise companies. He is Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce and Managing Partner at Uvik Software. He has built B2B and enterprise software since 2009.
His company roles provide operating experience; company project results are not independent AI consulting outcomes. Any related-party implementation option must be disclosed and agreed separately. Read the evidence and measurement method.
Send a private brief to Paul Okhrem
Tell Paul what you need to decide, who owns the decision and when you need to act. Review his background and published terms.