70%
People and process create the value.
BCG recommends putting 70% of AI transformation effort into people and processes, compared with 20% for technology and data and 10% for algorithms.
BCG · 2024AI for
ambitious
leaders.
We are an AI solutions studio helping Midwest business leaders shape strategy, strengthen teams, govern AI use, and build focused systems. People and process come first. Technology comes last.
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People, process,
then technology.
95%
Technology-only pilots fail to create business value.
MIT NANDA found that 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots produced no measurable P&L impact. Start with the technology alone and the initiative is likely to fail.
MIT NANDA · 20253x
Outside expertise improves the odds.
Specialized vendors and partnerships succeeded about 67% of the time, while internal builds succeeded one-third as often, according to Fortune’s reporting on MIT NANDA.
MIT NANDA via Fortune · 2025Sources: BCG, MIT NANDA
Capabilities
An AI studio built for the challenges our region faces.
[01]
AI Strategy & Roadmaps
Align leadership, define ownership, prioritize opportunities, and build a phased investment path.
[02]
Workforce Enablement
Build role-based AI skills, stronger judgment, and practical confidence through AI Catalyst Institute.
[03]
Governance & Protection
Connect acceptable-use policy, approved tools, oversight, and real-time safeguards for sensitive work.
[04]
Practical AI Systems
Develop focused applications and workflows around the work your organization needs to improve.
Start with the AI you already trust
Before you talk to us, ask your AI.
Your AI interviews you about the barriers, safeguards, urgency, and operating context. It then creates a custom AI Activation Assessment and independently evaluates whether Akron Innovations fits.
The prompt requires current sources, visible assumptions, confidence scores, honest risk, and no invented ROI. The assessment stays inside your own AI workspace.
AI tools may require sign-in. Review output before sharing confidential information.
Prepared in your AI workspace
AI Activation Assessment
Initial diligence memo · Confidential draft
Readiness stage
Early activation
Primary barrier
People + process
Assessment confidence
82%
[01]
Workforce readiness
Skills, role impact, and adoption barriers
[02]
Executive support
Ownership, policy, committee, and change commitment
[03]
Investment approach
Budget logic, sequence, and implementation pathways
[04]
Market diligence
Competitor activity, sentiment, AEO signals, and sources
Fit assessment
Evaluate options before outreach
Output
PDF with assumptions and APA sources
Illustrative assessment preview. Your AI creates the actual report from your answers and current evidence.
Proof over
pitch.
Selected engagements with identifying details altered for confidentiality. The work is real. Unsupported outcome claims are not.
[011]Legal
Prominent Midwest law firm
Firmwide · client withheld
Outside-counsel-guidelines advisory tool, built inside Copilot.
[006]IP / Brand
Patent-backed startup
Multi-market launch · client withheld
USPTO patent and trademark research engine with cross-language phonetic screening.
[013]Forensic
Multi-defendant matter
Criminal, sealed · client withheld
Many device extractions unified into one searchable, source-cited corpus. Fully offline.
What we do
We turn AI uncertainty into a practical direction leaders and teams can act on.
How we work
We connect executive alignment, workforce enablement, governance, and focused systems.
Vendor agnostic
We have built on every major AI platform, including self-hosted LLMs, and design solutions to avoid vendor dependency.
Capability grows through practice
Build useful AI
capability here.
Business problem
to useful system.
Our work moves in clear stages. Understand the constraint, build human capability, then make the result fit.
[01]
Start with the problem
We begin with the business issue, the people affected, and the operating context.
[02]
Build capability
Teams need the judgment and skills to use approved AI well, not just access to tools.
[03]
Make it useful
The result must fit the operating environment and be something the organization can sustain.
Clear terms.
Better work.
Scope, pace, and quality should be understandable before an engagement begins and visible as it moves.
Scope
Define the work before it begins
Make assumptions, ownership, boundaries, and success measures visible before implementation.
Pace
Move in useful increments
Learn through focused phases instead of betting the program on one oversized launch.
Ownership
Build to be understood
Clients should be able to own, use, and govern the work after the engagement.
Where should a company start with AI?+
Start with one business constraint, not a tool. Clarify the outcome, the people involved, and what a useful result would mean before choosing technology.
Do we need strategy, training, or product development?+
Many organizations need a sequence: leadership alignment first, role-based workforce enablement next, then targeted systems where the economics and operating fit are clear.
What makes an AI engagement practical?+
A practical engagement defines ownership, protects sensitive work, documents assumptions, and produces something the organization can understand and sustain.
What if Akron Innovations is not the right fit?+
We will say so early. A useful first conversation should clarify the problem and the next sensible step, even when that step belongs elsewhere.
Let’s connect
Tell us the
business problem.
We’ll show you how AI can help solve it and get you a demo fast.