What is an AI Readiness Assessment?

An AI Readiness Assessment is a structured evaluation that helps boards and CEOs determine whether their organisation is prepared to adopt Artificial Intelligence responsibly and at scale.

It examines strategy, governance, data, infrastructure, people, and culture to highlight strengths, gaps, and risks. The outcome is a clear roadmap that aligns AI investments with business goals, ensures compliance, and delivers sustainable value.

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‍Why boards and CEOs should care about AI Readiness
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Australian organisations are engaging with AI, but many lack sufficient preparedness:

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• The F5 2025 State of AI Application Strategy Report found that only 2% of enterprises are "highly ready" to scale AI securely across operations; 77% are moderately ready, and 21% are in the low-readiness category. (Decidr.ai, Cyber Security Asean, F5, Inc.)
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• A Decidr survey of over 1,000 Australian SMEs showed that 83% acknowledge AI’s impact within a year, yet 76% have no formal AI strategy or roadmap. (Mediaweek)
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Notitia’s Approach to AI Readiness
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Notitia views AI Readiness Assessments as more than technical audits, they are strategic exercises in trust-building. As a leading data analytics consultancy in Australia, we see them as essential to preparing organisations for responsible adoption.

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According to Pierre du Preez, Director at Notitia, readiness is about giving boards and executive teams the clarity they need before committing resources:

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“AI isn’t plug-and-play. If your organisation doesn’t trust its own data today, it won’t trust the decisions your AI makes tomorrow,” he says.

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“An AI Readiness Assessment bridges that gap, it highlights where data governance, quality, or culture and organisational processes may be lacking and lays out the practical steps to address them.”

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This perspective reflects Notitia’s mission to create trust in data and its vision to lead Australia in data and digital transformation.

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Notitia’s AI Readiness Assessments typically focus on four critical areas before organisations even consider piloting AI tools:

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• Data Quality and Governance – ensuring the organisation has clean, reliable, and well-managed data assets.
• Cultural and Skill Preparedness – building AI literacy among leaders and staff to reduce resistance and increase adoption.
• ​​Process Maturity and Optimisation – reviewing workflows and systems to identify inefficiencies, duplications, or risks that could undermine AI success.
• Ethics and Oversight – embedding principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability into board-level governance.
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“Our goal isn’t to sell hype. It’s to prepare Australian organisations for sustainable AI adoption,” Pierre says.

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“That means identifying gaps in data, people, and processes early on, so when AI is implemented, it actually delivers value.”

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By integrating these foundations into its assessments, Notitia ensures organisations don’t just “adopt AI”—they embed it in a way that is responsible, ethical, and aligned to their strategic outcomes.
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Core pillars of an AI Readiness Assessment
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1. Strategic Alignment

Boards must ensure AI efforts are intentional and aligned with long-term strategy.

• The AI Maturity Assessment 2025, surveying 700+ organisations, emphasises the importance of articulating an AI strategy, roadmap, and alignment with compliance and deployment stages. (globenewswire.com)
• Thoughtworks’ global “State of Digital and AI Readiness” report shows only 17% of organisations are true leaders in digital and AI maturity. (Thoughtworks)
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2. Data and Infrastructure

A solid technical foundation is non-negotiable. This is where consulting data analytics and governance expertise ensures organisations have the right structures before scaling AI.

• Organisations with strong Strategy, Data Readiness, and Compliance significantly outperform others in the global AI maturity survey. (globenewswire.com)
• McKinsey’s “Superagency” research highlights that leaders must act now or risk becoming uncompetitive later. (McKinsey & Company)
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3. Governance, Ethics, and Risk

Ethics and regulation shape trust and compliance.

• In Australia, business groups are pushing for a cohesive national AI strategy. The 2024 Voluntary AI Safety Standard, pending potential legislation, includes transparency, human oversight and record-keeping requirements. (Wikipedia)
• A public Minderoo poll shows that 61% of Australians support balanced AI regulation; 64% favour stricter regulation if it ensures public safety. (The Australian)
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4. People and Culture

Capability and mindset are AI’s ultimate levers.

• AWS reports that 39% of Australian businesses lack skills to adopt AI at scale—jeopardising the government’s ambition to create 200,000 AI-related jobs by 2030. (The Australian)
• Deloitte and RMIT surveys reveal more than one-third of employers report outdated tech skills, with women making up just 30% of the tech workforce. (The Australian)
• The Australian Services Union reports 80% of workers have basic or intermediate AI knowledge, but 84% have had no formal training. (The Australian)
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5. Process and Maturity

Knowing your maturity stage helps steer smart progression.

• Thoughtworks classifies organisations as Leaders (17%), Strong Performers (54%), Emerging Players (26%), and Late Adopters (3%), based on five readiness dimensions. (Thoughtworks)
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6. Ongoing Oversight

AI readiness is a journey, not a checkbox.

• MIT’s 2025 “GenAI Divide” report demonstrates that 95% of GenAI pilots failed to create measurable ROI—largely due to weak integration into workflows. (thecatalystonline.com, Investors)
• Academic research indicates AI readiness emerges through individual sense-making and peer-supported learning, not one-off interventions. (arxiv.org)

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How organisations should use the results of an AI Readiness Assessment
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An AI Readiness Assessment yields a strategy-aligned roadmap including:

1. Prioritised, vetted initiatives across impact, risk, and value.
2. Clear gap identification—people, process, data, infrastructure.
3. Governance frameworks matched to AI maturity and compliance needs.
4. Pilot phase design—low-risk & high-value testbeds to fast-track scaling.

Reframing it: It's not just a diagnostic but a foundation for sustainable AI transformation backed by evidence and structure.

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AI Roadmap: What happens after your AI Readiness Assessment?

The AI Readiness Assessment payoff
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When done right, an AI Readiness Assessment ensures:

• Reduced risk — avoiding failures, compliance issues and reputational harm.
• Increased agility — preparing teams for fast-moving digital change.
• Stronger governance — meeting regulatory and stakeholder expectations.
• Realised value — generating measurable outcomes, not just experiments.
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Get in touch to book in an AI Readiness Assessment for your business.

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