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.
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 our 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.
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.
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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