Most AI failures aren't technical — they're organizational. Misaligned leadership, absent governance, stalled adoption, and vendor decisions made without strategic oversight. That's the gap Pactus Advisory fills.
Every engagement begins with an honest conversation about what success looks like for you — no pitch, no pressure.
David responds within one business day.
All inquiries are confidential.
Every engagement — from AI Readiness Assessment to Fractional CAIO retainer — is structured around these eight dimensions. This is what separates governed AI adoption from AI experimentation.
Is AI linked to enterprise priorities and measurable outcomes? Who owns it at the executive level?
See serviceAre controls, policies, accountability structures, and oversight in place across the organization?
See serviceCan the organization safely and effectively use its data for AI? Is data classified, governed, and accessible?
See serviceAre use cases prioritized by business value, feasibility, and risk — not by vendor preference or technical novelty?
See serviceAre legal, privacy, security, bias, IP, and regulatory risks identified, owned, and actively managed?
See serviceAre people trained, incentivized, and supported to use AI responsibly and productively in their roles?
See serviceAre vendors selected, governed, and measured objectively — with Pactus sitting on the buyer's side of the table?
See serviceCan leadership show progress, business value, and accountability to the board — with a repeatable cadence?
See serviceEach service below is built on a specific set of the eight dimensions. Most clients start with the Readiness Assessment, then move to a Roadmap or Fractional CAIO retainer — David is personally involved throughout.
Before investing in AI strategy, implementation, or governance, organizations need an honest picture of where they actually stand. The AI Readiness Assessment is the entry point — a rapid, structured diagnostic that reveals what's working, what's missing, and where the highest-leverage opportunities are.
Most organizations discover they have more AI activity than they realized — and less governance than they need. The Assessment surfaces both, and produces a clear starting point for whatever comes next.
Organizations beginning their AI journey, preparing for a board conversation, or those with active AI spend but no clear picture of what's working and what's at risk. Frequently the first engagement in a longer relationship.
For most mid-market companies, the answer to "who owns AI strategy?" is either "nobody" or "our CTO, sort of." Neither is sustainable. A full-time Chief AI Officer costs $300K–$1M+ in total compensation before building a team. A Fractional CAIO provides the same executive leadership at a fraction of the cost.
Pactus Advisory's Fractional CAIO engages 1–2 days per week, attending executive meetings, owning the AI strategy and governance framework, and driving adoption accountability across the organization.
Mid-market organizations ($10M–$500M revenue) with active AI spending but no unified strategy or executive accountability. Also used as a bridge engagement while evaluating a full-time CAIO hire.
Most organizations begin their AI journey with tool purchases rather than strategy. The result is a collection of disconnected pilots, no clear ownership, and leadership teams that can't explain to their board what AI is doing for the business.
The AI Strategy Roadmap is a fixed-scope 4–6 week engagement that produces a clear, prioritized, actionable plan before significant implementation spending begins.
Organizations beginning their AI journey, preparing for a board conversation about AI strategy, or looking to rationalize existing AI spending before committing to further investment.
Your organization invested in Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT Enterprise, Salesforce Einstein, or another enterprise AI platform. Adoption is near zero. The vendor is pointing at your organization. Your team is pointing at the vendor. Nobody is accountable and nothing is delivering value.
This is the fastest-growing engagement type in David's practice — and it's a direct application of the same project recovery work David Kennedy has done across $500M+ in technology engagements.
Organizations with active AI implementations that are failing to deliver value, vendor relationships in conflict, or AI programs where internal escalation has not produced resolution.
Shadow AI — employees using unauthorized AI tools without IT or management oversight — has become one of the highest-risk issues facing organizations in 2026. Younger, AI-native employees are using these tools to accelerate their work, often without understanding the data exposure they're creating.
A well-designed AI governance framework doesn't suppress adoption — it channels it. The goal is Sanctioned AI: harnessing the energy of early adopters while protecting the organization's intellectual property, client data, and regulatory standing.
Organizations in regulated industries, companies with active Shadow AI usage, or leadership teams that have identified AI governance as a board-level risk without a clear owner or framework.
For organizations ready to move beyond strategy and governance into full-scale AI transformation — this is the end-to-end program. The AI Transformation Program takes organizations from readiness assessment through strategy, governance, implementation oversight, and measurable business outcome delivery.
It is not a consulting project. It is a managed transformation with defined milestones, executive accountability, and outcomes tied directly to the Measures of Success defined at the start of the engagement.
Mid-market organizations ($25M–$500M revenue) with board-level AI mandates, manufacturing and healthcare companies modernizing operations with AI, and private equity portfolio companies where AI transformation is a value creation thesis.
In February 2026, $285 billion evaporated from SaaS company valuations in 48 hours. Wall Street called it the SaaSpocalypse. The cause: AI-assisted development has made it faster and cheaper to build bespoke enterprise apps than to license, configure, and maintain off-the-shelf SaaS — and mid-market organizations are acting on it.
35% of enterprise teams have already replaced at least one SaaS tool with a custom-built application. 78% plan to build more in 2026. The question is no longer whether to rationalize your SaaS stack — it's how to do it without creating a governance disaster.
Anyone can vibe-code a replacement for your project tracker or expense tool. Almost no one can govern the transition safely, exit the vendor contract cleanly, ensure the new app has security and audit trails built in — and make sure you're not simply trading a SaaS subscription bill for a Shadow AI liability. That's what this service does.
Mid-market organizations spending $500K+ annually on SaaS licenses, companies where department heads are already building Shadow AI tools to replace official systems, and private equity portfolio companies where SaaS rationalization is a value creation lever. Manufacturing, distribution, logistics, and professional services firms are seeing the fastest ROI.
One Pactus Advisory relationship with a PE operating partner can produce multiple portfolio-company engagements. We package a portfolio-wide AI governance and value-creation program — not one-off projects company by company.
Rate your organization across all eight Pactus AI Leadership Model™ dimensions. Identify gaps before your next board conversation.
SaaSpocalypse, Shadow AI, board pressure, Fractional CAIO economics, and three governance actions every CEO should take now.
Five patterns that predict AI program failure — and what a governed program looks like instead.
Most fractional CAIOs come from engineering or data science backgrounds. They understand the technology. They don't understand why AI implementations fail in practice — because most AI failures are organizational, not technical.
David Kennedy spent 30 years managing the intersection of technology and organizational behavior at enterprise scale. He has led customer success across a $2.8B ARR SaaS portfolio, recovered a $160M distressed technology program, and managed delivery across $500M+ in contract value.
He has been on both sides of failed AI and technology implementations — as the vendor who overpromised, and as the executive responsible for delivering value when implementations went sideways. That perspective is what differentiates Pactus Advisory in the fractional CAIO market.
We diagnose the governance, stakeholder, and change management failures before reaching for technical solutions.
We understand vendor incentives, contract structures, and negotiation leverage — because we've been on that side of the table.
When AI adoption creates organizational conflict — job displacement fears, ownership disputes, vendor disagreements — we resolve it. Most CAIOs can't.
When AI disputes require formal mediation or arbitration, our sister practice Atlanta Dispute Resolution provides independent neutral services.
A one-page diagnostic built from 30 years of technology delivery experience. If two or more of these are present, the program is at risk — regardless of what the status reports say.
Most mid-market organizations are either under-investing in AI governance or over-investing in AI tools without the strategy to make them work. A free 30-minute consultation can clarify which problem you have.
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