A five-phase method that treats artificial intelligence the way a board treats any investment: with a defined perimeter, an expected return, a working pilot, verified results — and only then, adoption at scale.
Request an executive briefingMost AI programmes start with tools and end with slideware. PROVA starts with the business case and ends with measured, governed adoption — in that order, every time.
Assessment of where AI can operate safely in your business: data, processes, people — and the governance boundaries set by the EU AI Act and GDPR.
A business case before any build: expected hours saved, error rates reduced, time-to-market gained. If the return isn't there, we stop here — cheaply.
One prioritised use case, implemented as a working pilot in your real workflow. Not a demo — a tool your team actually uses, with human oversight built in.
Systematic evaluation against the baseline: before/after metrics, audit trail, documented human-in-the-loop. Results a CFO — or a regulator — can trust.
Scale what is proven: training for your team, an internal governance framework, and a roadmap for the next use cases — owned by you, not by a vendor.
Thirty years of corporate finance — IPOs, M&A, restructurings — mean every recommendation is framed the way owners and boards decide: outcome, risk, return on capital.
AI Act, GDPR, DORA: compliance is designed into the perimeter from day one, not retrofitted after the first incident. Built for businesses that answer to regulators, clients and auditors.
No transformation theatre. Every engagement produces measured results on your own operations — and you keep the assets: playbooks, tools, trained people.
A senior corporate finance professional who works with AI daily — and teaches executives and their teams to do the same, safely.
Francesco has spent three decades advising Italian companies on the most consequential decisions of their life: going public, buying, selling, restructuring. Today he combines that judgement with hands-on fluency in applied AI — building agents, knowledge systems and evaluation frameworks, not just talking about them — to help European SMEs, professional firms and family offices adopt AI with the discipline of an investment committee.
Connect with Francesco on LinkedIn →
| EntryExecutive AI Briefing | A focused session with the owner or board: where AI moves margin and risk in your business — mapped in 90 minutes, in your language, on your numbers. |
| CoreAI Assessment & Roadmap | The full P and R phases: use-case discovery, prioritisation by impact and feasibility, business case with expected ROI, and a governance perimeter ready for the AI Act. |
| RecurringAI Governance Advisor | Ongoing oversight as your AI footprint grows: quarterly steering, compliance watch (AI Act, GDPR, DORA), and independent verification of what your vendors promise. |
| PremiumAI-assisted M&A & Succession | Where the method meets thirty years of deals: AI-accelerated due diligence, valuation support and generational-transition planning for owner-led businesses. |
Four recent engagements, anonymised for confidentiality. Every figure below is either measured on the client's own operations — from the actual work logs — or declared as a baseline in the approved programme.
Executive AI programme for the two owners (20 hours, 10 modules), built around three applied projects on live business questions: M&A target screening, supplier compliance benchmarking and competitor trade intelligence.
A multi-module AI programme across strategy, IT, after-sales service and marketing — grown from a single pilot module into a company-wide learning track, with reusable AI assets that remain with the client.
A 30-hour AI programme designed for lawyers (10 modules: 5 plenary, 5 practice-specific), built on the firm's own house style and on non-negotiable professional guardrails: privilege, GDPR, human verification, accountability.
A 12-month, 135-hour organisational AI programme designed function by function — from process mapping to a tailored AI policy — with every phase anchored to KPIs against declared baselines, and built to double as evidence of EU AI Act art. 4 literacy compliance.
Methodology: effort figures are measured from the file and session logs of the actual engagements; manual baselines are declared estimates based on market practice. For programmes currently in delivery, scope figures and KPI baselines reflect the approved programme documents. Client names are withheld for confidentiality.
People are already pasting company data into public chatbots — no perimeter, no log, no accountability. Prohibition doesn't work: the answer is a governed alternative that beats the workaround. This is the regulatory backbone built into every PROVA engagement.
AI literacy (art. 4) is already a legal obligation, and the transparency duties of art. 50 apply from 2 August 2026. A structured training programme is not just capability building — it is the evidence a regulator asks for.
A clear data perimeter before the first prompt: what may enter which tool, in which environment. Public and anonymised data first; enterprise environments with data-processing agreements before any confidential file. Client files and family data treated as a security matter, not a formality.
Finance and listed-company ecosystems answer to rules of their own: price-sensitive information and market abuse, DORA for financial entities, Italy's AI law 132/2025. If your business answers to a regulator, your AI adoption must answer to it too.
A register of authorised tools that says yes fast — slow approval is what creates shadow AI. Human-in-the-loop checkpoints where errors are expensive, an audit trail where decisions matter, and a policy your people can actually follow.
Typical governance deliverables: an AI policy written on your actual risks, a register of authorised tools, training that doubles as art. 4 evidence, verification checkpoints a board can defend.
Run the 5-minute governance check →The first conversation is a working session, not a sales call: bring one process that eats your team's hours, and leave with a view on whether AI can pay for itself there.
Prefer email? Write directly to francesco@provamethod.eu