Mario Thomas

Building Your AI Centre of Excellence

This month, I'm delighted to share my complete eight-part series on building an AI Centre of Excellence (AI CoE). This comprehensive guide has been developed from my experience working with Boards and executives worldwide as they navigate the complex challenge of AI governance.

The series takes you on a practical journey from understanding why boards need an AI CoE through to future-proofing your governance for nascent and emerging technologies. Each article builds on the previous, creating a complete implementation roadmap that balances innovation acceleration with appropriate risk management through minimum lovable governance.

The series references the AI Stages of Adoption (AISA) for understanding multi-speed AI reality, the Five Pillars for building comprehensive capabilities, and the Well-Advised strategic priorities for ensuring balanced value creation. I also introduce the AI CoE Simulator that reveals your multi-speed reality and the AI Initiative Rubric that ensures successful pilot selection. Together, they provide the structured approach boards need to transform AI from ungoverned risk into competitive advantage.

Whether you're establishing your first AI governance structure or evolving existing frameworks to meet new challenges, this series provides practical tools and proven approaches to help you build effective AI governance that can adapt to emerging technologies like multi-agent systems, decentralised agent ecosystems, embodied AI, and federated AI networks.

I hope this comprehensive guide proves valuable as you build AI governance that enables innovation whilst managing unprecedented risks. As always, I welcome your thoughts and experiences as we collectively navigate this transformative technology.

-Mario

Part 1: Moving Beyond Shadow AI Risk to Scaled AI Adoption

Published 8 June 2025 | 11 minute read

Boards face millions of AI decisions per second whilst most AI pilots fail to reach production. This foundational article explores why an AI Centre of Excellence is essential infrastructure for governing AI's unprecedented decision velocity and transforming ungoverned risks into strategic advantage.

Part 2: The Essential Functions of the Five Pillars

Published 15 June 2025 | 12 minute read

Discover the eighteen essential functions every AI CoE needs, organised by the Five Pillars mechanism. This detailed exploration provides a comprehensive framework for building governance that addresses both innovation acceleration and risk management across all stages of AI maturity.

Part 3: Mapping Your Multi-Speed AI Reality

Published 22 June 2025 | 11 minute read

Most boards believe they understand their AI maturity, but multi-speed adoption tells a different story. Introducing the AI CoE Simulator, a practical assessment tool that reveals where different functions truly stand on their AI journey and what this means for governance design.

Part 4: Designing Structure for Multi-Speed Governance

Published 29 June 2025 | 12 minute read

How do you structure an AI CoE that governs everything from shadow AI experiments to enterprise transformations simultaneously? This article explores adaptive governance models, staffing approaches, and integration patterns that enable effective oversight across different stages of AI maturity.

Part 5: Building Capabilities That Scale With AI Adoption

Published 13 July 2025 | 14 minute read

Transform your AI CoE from oversight body to capability accelerator. This comprehensive guide details how to build essential capabilities across all Five Pillars, complete with a 90-day implementation sprint, maturity assessment tools, and practical templates.

Part 6: Your First 90 Days With Well-Advised Value Focus

Published 20 July 2025 | 15 minute read

Transform theory into practice with a comprehensive 90-day roadmap. Introducing the AI Initiative Rubric - a systematic pilot selection tool that ensures your first initiatives deliver Well-Advised value whilst strengthening Five Pillars capabilities from day one.

Part 7: Scaling Beyond Pilots to Enterprise Transformation

Published 27 July 2025 | 12 minute read

With 88% of AI pilots failing to reach production, learn how to join the successful 12%. This article explores platform thinking, evolved governance, and systematic knowledge transfer approaches that transform isolated experiments into enterprise-wide capabilities.

Part 8: Future-proofing Through Continuous Evolution

Published 31 July 2025 | 12 minute read

Your AI CoE is scaling successfully, but what happens when multi-agent systems, embodied AI, and quantum computing disrupt everything you've built? This final article explores how to create 'antifragile' governance that strengthens through disruption, preparing your organisation for technologies not yet invented whilst maintaining today's operational excellence.

Copyright © 2025 Mario Thomas. All rights reserved.