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The details that matter
Straight answers about the Practice, assessment delivery, responsibilities, and scope.
What is an AI readiness assessment?
An AI readiness assessment reviews whether a business has the purpose, data, controls, and operational capacity to use AI in a specific workflow. Nerode evaluates six domains and turns the evidence into a prioritized 90-day roadmap. The result may be to prepare first, plan a bounded pilot, or defer AI work.
Who is the Practice designed for?
The Practice is designed for U.S. MSPs serving small and midsize businesses, especially owner-led teams of roughly 5–50 people that want a structured AI advisory offer. We review the client environment and sector before agreeing scope.
Is the assessment white-label?
The Practice is designed for delivery under the MSP’s brand. Your MSP owns the client relationship, leads the interview, reviews the findings, and presents the report. Branding and usage rights are confirmed in the engagement terms.
What does Nerode do, and what does the MSP do?
Nerode supplies the methodology, assessment assets, report structure, delivery guidance, and agreed analysis support. The MSP secures client authorization, gathers the inputs, manages client communication, and reviews and presents the result. The client’s sponsor owns business decisions.
What will the client receive?
A readiness summary across six domains, evidence-backed findings, prioritized workflow recommendations, and a 90-day roadmap with owners, prerequisites, and decision points. The report also explains missing evidence and what should be deferred.
Does a high readiness score authorize a pilot?
No. Scores describe readiness and highlight preparation needs. Each proposed workflow must also pass its own data, permissions, vendor, oversight, evaluation, and fallback gates. An average score cannot override a failed gate.
Do you need access to our client’s systems?
The initial advisory scope uses structured interviews and agreed, sanitized evidence. It does not require direct production-system access. Do not send credentials, customer records, regulated data, or confidential files through the website.
Do you implement the AI recommendations?
Implementation is a separate engagement. The assessment defines what to prepare or evaluate; it does not include deploying tools, configuring production systems, or managing an AI application. Any implementation needs separate scope, authorization, and qualified delivery.
How is pricing determined?
We confirm the MSP’s needs, client scope, support requirements, and commercial terms before quoting. The founding Practice is a one-time offer; ongoing assessment support is scoped separately. There is no required subscription at launch.
How long does an assessment take?
Timing depends on evidence completeness, client scope, reviewer availability, and delivery capacity. We agree a schedule after intake. The 90-day roadmap is the client’s planning horizon, not a promise that assessment production takes 90 days.
Is this an audit or compliance certification?
No. This is an advisory assessment, not a security audit, legal opinion, compliance determination, or certification. NIST AI Risk Management Framework concepts inform the method; Nerode does not claim NIST endorsement or certification.
What if the client should not use AI yet?
That is a valid result. A useful assessment can recommend fixing a process, improving data quality, narrowing permissions, or doing no AI project. We do not require the roadmap to produce a software purchase or implementation project.
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