CONSULTING & ADVISORY
Considering a new revenue stream, weighing a technology purchase, or responding to a new competitor? Independent advice brings clarity to important business decisions and confidence to the next move.
A focused engagement to clarify an important business challenge, evaluate options, and develop practical recommendations. Support can include assessing AI investments, supporting a new service, or responding to a changing market.
Inquire nowOngoing advice for owners and leaders navigating technology and business change. An experienced sounding board to challenge assumptions, assess opportunities, and maintain focus as priorities evolve.
Inquire nowBusiness goals shape the scope and pace of every engagement. Expect thoughtful questions, candid advice, and a willingness to work through difficult issues.
Need ongoing ownership and robust execution? Explore fractional emerging technology leadership ↗. For implementation support, see Custom AI Solutions ↗.
Compare options, understand costs and tradeoffs, and focus on the most promising opportunities. The result: a clear recommendation, practical next steps, and a way to measure progress.
WHERE CONSULTING HELPS
Illustrative situations grounded in business decisions, not client case studies.
An 80-person accounting firm has strong client relationships, but advice often arrives weeks after key business decisions. AI could turn existing financial data into an ongoing advisory service and improve the timing of client guidance.
Identify clients facing delayed guidance, test demand and willingness to pay, examine data access and review requirements, and sketch the economics of a monthly offering before development begins.
A one-page business case: target customer, proposed offer, pricing hypothesis, and a 60-day test of demand.
A home-services operator receives a pitch for an AI phone agent promising after-hours lead capture. The sales demo looks flawless. The proposed contract lasts two years. Appointment booking, unusual requests, and dispatch integration remain untested.
Map actual calls and handoffs, compare vendors and simpler alternatives, inspect integration and data terms, and define success criteria for a short live pilot.
A buy, pilot, or pass recommendation, plus test criteria, contract questions, and a clear decision owner.
A 100-person specialist firm continues selling projects using a five-year-old model. A new competitor promises clients answers in days instead of weeks. The leadership team is split between defending the existing model, changing the offering, and launching a new service.
Examine customer buying priorities, the current service's distinctive value, potential changes to service delivery through AI, and competitive signals warranting an immediate response.
Three strategic choices ranked by impact and feasibility, plus a 90-day action plan for the strongest option.
HOW THE WORK UNFOLDS
We start with your business goals and the problems you're trying to solve. Then we discuss how technology could address a pressing business need.
Start with business goals, customers, people, systems, and the decision at hand. Technology follows the business need.
Outcome: A clearly framed question and agreed definition of success.
We research how the latest technologies can apply directly to your business, challenge underlying assumptions, assess credible alternatives, and clarify important trade-offs. Sometimes the path we recommend will be non-technical.
Outcome: Evidence and options for comparison.
We turn findings into a recommendation and work with you to decide whether and how to pursue the opportunity, or defer it altogether.
Outcome: A documented direction, rationale, and next actions.
We help bring the vision to life through stakeholder briefings, pilot design, and partner evaluation. We coordinate handoffs to the right people to implement solutions, as needed.
Outcome: A practical next step with clear responsibility.
THE PERSON BEHIND THE ADVICE
Jon Cambras previously served as Global Head of Emerging Technology Research at Vanguard, exploring the business implications of AI, digital assets, and quantum computing across the firm's four business lines. He also oversaw the firm's blockchain and quantum computing strategies.
Before Vanguard, Jon spent a decade teaching in New York City. He leads every engagement, from the first conversation through recommendations and follow-through.
Meet JonFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
AI strategy consulting connects business goals with potential uses of artificial intelligence. Engagements can include opportunity and risk assessment, executive briefings, vendor evaluation, roadmaps, pilot design, and decision support. Business priorities guide the work.
No! Focused consulting can help founders of growing service businesses and leadership teams facing important technology decisions, even without dedicated resources. The scope reflects the importance of the decision and the resources available.
Yes. Engagements can cover AI, digital assets, blockchain, and emerging technologies with a credible connection to business goals. Relevance guides the scope.
Consulting and advisory address specific questions, evaluate options, or provide ongoing executive perspective. Fractional leadership adds responsibility for a roadmap, coordination, and internal capability development. The distinction is the level of involvement and ownership.
Yes, when included in the agreed scope. Implementation, custom AI solutions, vendor coordination, or fractional leadership can form a separate engagement. An advisory engagement does not automatically include an open-ended software build.
Consulting starts with business goals and compares suitable options, including postponing action. Relevant relationships, commercial interests, and delivery dependencies should be disclosed before influencing a recommendation.
Engagements begin with a complimentary introductory conversation. Focused projects and ongoing advisory are scoped around the question, work involved, and expected value. Deliverables, responsibilities, timeline, and fee are agreed before paid work begins.
START A CONVERSATION
The first conversation is complimentary. Bring an opportunity, a challenge, or an important decision. The discussion covers the business context, possible next steps, and the potential value of a consulting engagement.
