Services

For investors

Pre-investment analysis for private equity, and the review that follows the deal.

Working as an investor-side partner, we analyse the organisation you are about to invest in across its major operational attributes: technology and regulatory maturity, data, leadership and skills, scalability, market growth and risk. The pre-investment report names the gaps, the opportunity and the firm’s readiness for investment, with an at-pace roadmap to close the gaps. After the deal we come back, on the timetable set in the proposal, and measure the company against the same baseline. Private equity first; other investors and acquirers alike.

Pre-investment analysis

The target assessed across technology and regulatory maturity, data, leadership, scalability, market growth and risk; a written report with gaps, opportunity, readiness and a solution roadmap.

Fixed fee

Post-investment review

The company reassessed against the baseline the report set, on the timetable agreed in the proposal.

Monthly retainer

Solution roadmap and execution

The gaps closed: solutions proposed and designed by Vardonne, built, deployed, hosted and supported by ArcSystemsTechnology, managed and monitored in operation.

Scoped after the report

Investment readiness

For firms entering investment discussions: ready before the investor looks.

We analyse the maturity of the organisation for the growth stage and the investment being sought, prepare a structured report, consult on solution design, and execute the technology and organisational solutions that make the firm investment ready. We do not raise the money, introduce investors or advise on the terms of a raise, and we give no investment, legal or regulatory advice.

Readiness assessment

The organisation’s maturity assessed for the growth stage and the investment being sought; a structured report of what an investor will find.

Fixed fee

Solution design and execution

The technology and organisational solutions designed with you and carried out, so that the firm is investment ready.

Scoped after the report

Vardonne Intelligence

Enterprise AI strategy, readiness, effectiveness and growth, for investors and firms alike.

We consult firms on defining enterprise-level AI strategy, evaluating AI deployment readiness, evaluating the effectiveness of AI already deployed, and defining and locking in an AI growth strategy. The cost to run is understood before deployment and after it. Vendor-independent: no supplier pays us to recommend it.

AI readiness assessment

Use cases, data and risks assessed; operating model maturity assessment and gap analysis.

Fixed feeAbout 4 weeks

Enterprise strategy

Engagement on the analysis and definition of an AI enterprise strategy, including value definition and portfolio, programme and project execution definition.

Scoped after assessment

AI effectiveness review

The AI already deployed evaluated: value against its objective, operating model, drift, cost to run.

Fixed fee

AI growth strategy

The AI growth strategy defined and locked in: what next, in what order, and what it must return.

Scoped after assessment

Operating financials

AI proposal operating cost analysis, or post-deployment AI opex cost analysis; business case gap analysis and ratification proposal.

Fixed feeAbout 3 weeks

AI governance

The AI register, policy set and evidence an investor or a regulator asks for.

Fixed feeAbout 2 weeks

The AI operating model

AI works as a system, not as a set of tools. Six layers, each with the place it usually breaks.

Layer, what it must cover, and where it usually breaks

Layer	What it must cover	Where it usually breaks
Value	Where AI adds value, and how it is measured after go-live	Deployed with no value objective
Strategy	One enterprise AI strategy and roadmap	Applications bought piecemeal
Data	Data architecture, quality and readiness	Deployed before the data is ready
Deployment	Use cases taken from pilot into production	Pilots that never reach production
Governance	Drift, output quality, human checks and the AI register	Output quality left unmanaged
Economics	Tokenomics: the cost to run, per use and per outcome	Running costs discovered too late

A chain, not a menu: each element feeds the next, and a gap in one weakens every other. Everything points at value, set before deployment and measured after it, and the operating model (roles, cadence, stage gates and the AI register) keeps the whole system in step. We assess every element and every link, then sequence the work so the gaps close in the right order.

1. Gap analysis

   Your AI estate assessed against each layer: what is missing, and what needs to be ratified.

2. Enterprise AI strategy

   Where AI adds value to your organisation, with a value objective for every use case. For an existing AI ecosystem: analysis, gap and maturity assessment to confirm or ratify that it is fit for purpose, identify sub-optimal, value-detracting deployments, and define a ratification proposal.

3. Readiness programme

   A sequenced programme of sub-projects: data, governance, the cost model and the pilots.

4. Value realisation

   Benefits measured after deployment, against the objective set at the start.

ArcSystemsTechnology

The group’s build arm. The loop closed.

Where the assessment finds a technology gap, ArcSystemsTechnology develops, deploys, hosts and supports the technology solution, introducing technology maturity into the organisation and increasing the firm’s value through technology IP, automation and a de-risked operating environment. Vardonne proposes and designs; the group builds, manages and monitors. One closed loop, from the gap to the running system.

Build, deploy, host and support

Developed, deployed, hosted and supported by ArcSystemsTechnology, the group’s build arm.

Scoped after the report

Cadence

Reviews, decisions and risks kept running after go-live.

Included

Every engagement: the fee in writing before work begins · a named senior lead · a written close · vendor-independent. Every engagement is quoted in writing after the first conversation; fees exclude VAT and expenses. Durations include contingency and run from the day we have the documents and access to the people the work needs. Expenses such as travel and hotels are charged at cost, with no mark-up, within limits agreed in writing before work begins, and invoiced monthly with receipts.

Across industries

We work across all industries. The questions an investor asks are the same in any sector: is the technology sound, is the data usable, will it scale, is the AI real and does it pay back. What changes is the regulator, the vocabulary and the evidence. Each engagement is run in the client’s terms.

• Professional services Practice platforms and firm-wide AI assessed for scale before a merger or an investment, with governance the partners can sign.
• Financial services and insurance Technology and model risk read the way the supervisor reads it; AI taken from pilot to production under scrutiny.
• Health and care Clinical and data protection standards as the readiness test; AI decision support from pilot to routine use.
• Public sector The AI governance public bodies and their suppliers are asked for, and technology estates assessed before consolidation.
• Construction, property and infrastructure Asset data made ready for AI, and capital-heavy businesses assessed for scale before investment.
• Manufacturing, logistics and utilities Operational AI taken to production and kept there, and multi-site operations assessed for the next stage of growth.

Each industry links to AI already in production there, from the use-case library.

Also offered

Roundtables and market insight, on their own or within an engagement.

Roundtables

Bring the right people into one room and leave knowing what they know, what they don’t know, and what they need.

As a contributor

Vardonne attends as a thought leader and shares its experience on the subject.

As a facilitator

Vardonne facilitates or co-facilitates the session, asks the questions, and draws out each attendee’s views and needs.

What you receive

A written summary of the discussion and the gaps in knowledge it revealed.

Fixed fee per event

Market insight

Know what your market thinks, and how that is changing, before you commit.

A one-off study

Market analytics or a survey, designed, run and reported for a single decision.

A quarterly series

Four surveys a year on the same questions, so change is tracked, not guessed.

What you receive

A report with the findings and what they mean for your organisation.

Fixed fee, or retained for a series

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Fees are set out in writing before any engagement begins. Start a conversation and we will send the shape and the fee that fit.