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Prove what works. Find the right leader. Plan to scale.
We help industrial companies define digital success, prove it with AI on their own data, and find the right leader to scale it.
Digital ambition is easy. Knowing what to do next is harder.
We help you make the first critical digital decisions before you commit to building a digital organization.
Where to invest, what value to expect, and who will be accountable for delivering it.Prove what works. Find the right leader. Plan to scale.
Three executive decisions, taken one at a time. Most companies start with the first. What comes next is your decision.
Prove what works
In a few weeks you see, on your own data, whether AI can really move your business. Your leadership team comes out confident enough to decide what comes next, with or without us. The pilot runs outside your production systems, so you get evidence fast without disrupting operations.
- About 10 weeks for one business unit
- Fixed scope and fee
- Data access by week 3
- No obligation to continue with us
For example, the leadership of an offshore service company might say:
Together with your leadership team, we describe in plain operational terms what digital success looks like for your company.
Success looks like this: every new project starts from what we already know. Our engineers find proven designs in minutes instead of days, and rework at the yard is the exception, not the routine.
We find where the gap to that success is biggest and most valuable, turn it into the first business case to prove, and set the path to scale it.
Our first priority is to stop losing knowledge between projects. The first business case: reuse proven engineering to cut rework at the yard.
We put a working AI pilot on your own data and applications, so you see real impact on your reality, not a demo.
AI works on our past modification-project data and flags likely design clashes on a current project, before they reach the yard. Our engineers check what it finds.
A shared description of digital success, the first business case, and a working AI pilot on your own data and applications. Above all, a leadership team that believes AI can deliver, and the evidence to proceed, with us or on your own.
The executive sponsor who commissions the work owns it and can appoint a project manager; yourCDO leads and delivers the pilot with our specialist team or providers of your choice.
Profile the Leader
Who owns the transformation, and how does the role fit into your organization?
With the pilot behind you, we design the leadership and operating model around the transformation. We define the profile of your digital leader, a Chief Digital Officer or equivalent, and how that role works with your CIO, CTO and business units: who decides what, who owns which data and systems, and how responsibilities shift to make room for what is, in effect, a new leadership position.
We then support candidate evaluation alongside you or your recruitment partner. This can run while the pilot finishes, so recruitment does not hold up the next step.
Our new digital leader owns the roadmap and our engineering data. The CIO keeps infrastructure and security, the CTO keeps engineering standards, and each business unit owns its results. Everyone knows who decides what.
You receive:
A leadership and operating model: the profile of your digital leader, how the role works with your CIO, CTO and business units, and redefined roles and responsibilities, ready for recruitment.
A few weeks · Separately contracted
The Corporate Strategy
How do we scale what works across the company?
We scale what worked in one business unit into your corporate digital strategy and roadmap. It sets which business cases follow the first one and in what order, which shared data and platforms every business unit needs, the pace at which you can realistically roll it out, and the governance, data ownership and organizational responsibilities needed to make it stick.
The strategy is owned by your leadership and the leader you appoint. Our engagement ends here, with a clear handover of the work, the evidence and the roadmap.
With the pilot results in hand, we take the approach to every business unit: every project connected, clear ownership of our engineering data, and AI built into how we bid, engineer and fabricate.
You receive:
A corporate digital strategy and roadmap, with the governance, data ownership and responsibilities in place to scale.
Scoped to your needs · Separately contracted
Short reads for your leadership team.
One page each. Practical questions to discuss before you invest in digital and AI.
Who should lead your digital transformation?
The executive roles, what each one brings to digital and AI, and who should own the transformation strategy.
Read the brief (PDF) →What does digital success look like?
Six signs of a transformed company, with a simple checklist to see where you stand today.
Read the brief (PDF) →Your operations have been teaching you for years
Before asking AI to help you, make what you already know usable by AI.
Read the brief (PDF) →You may already own the answer
Let AI work on the pieces you already have, before you buy another box.
Read the brief (PDF) →Leadership that has done the job.
Every engagement is personally led by Massimo Virgilio, an industrial technology executive with more than twenty years leading technology, digital transformation and commercial businesses.
Massimo has held the role from the inside: as Chief Technology Officer, as a digital transition leader in one of the world's largest energy service companies, and as a business leader with full P&L responsibility. That experience is what helps industrial companies avoid the expensive mistakes: the wrong platform, the pilot that never scales, the hire that doesn't fit.
- Chief Technology Officer · Shearwater GeoServices
- Digital Transition Manager & Co-Founder, Innovation Factory · SLB
- Vice President, WesternGeco · Schlumberger
- Managing Director, Stavanger Research · Schlumberger
Selected examples from Massimo's previous executive and transformation roles.
Digital strategy and implementation roadmap, followed by a country-level pilot automating subsurface interpretation with AI/ML.
Integrated exploration data and redesigned workflows, enabling automation and AI microservices and cutting decision turnaround time.
A structured model connecting technology and AI ideas with business needs across a global organization.
Straight answers.
Independence, who does the work, recruiting, timing and cost.
Ask us directlyDo we have to hire a CDO at the end?
No. Some companies need a permanent CDO, others need clear accountability within their existing leadership team. Profiling the leader helps determine the right model.
Are your recommendations independent?
We are independent of technology vendors: no commissions, referral fees or financial incentives influence what we recommend. Implementation is optional and separately contracted. You can use our specialist team or any provider you choose, and where we propose to deliver work ourselves, we say so explicitly.
Who is in charge before a digital leader is appointed?
The executive sponsor who commissions the work, usually supported by a project manager they appoint. yourCDO advises and oversees, but does not take over line responsibility. When your digital leader is appointed, we hand over the work, the evidence and the roadmap.
Who does the actual work?
Every engagement is personally led by an experienced industrial technology executive, with specialist support brought in where required. Your own people are involved throughout, so the capability stays with you.
Are you a recruitment agency?
No. If you need a permanent leader, we:
- assess whether a permanent CDO is necessary at all;
- define the role, responsibilities and competencies;
- support candidate evaluation alongside you or your recruitment partner;
- transfer knowledge and responsibilities to the leader you appoint.
Recruitment fees never influence our recommendations. Appointing a permanent leader can take longer than our engagement; we prepare the role and the handover so the work doesn't wait for the hire.
How quickly will we see results?
The first stage takes about 10 weeks for one business unit: one week to define what digital success looks like, two to set the priorities and the first business case, and around seven to build and test a pilot on your own data. To keep to that timeline, we need access to the relevant data by week 3. The pilot is designed to show whether AI can make a real impact on your reality, so you can decide what comes next with or without us. We don't promise a fixed return by a fixed date.
Who is yourCDO for?
Industrial, asset-intensive companies, with deep roots in energy, that know digital and AI matter but don't yet have effective digital leadership to act on it. If you already have a strong digital leader and team, yourCDO is probably not what you need.
Why only industrial companies?
Because digital and AI in industry are different. The value sits in operations, assets, engineering and safety, the data lives in technical systems, and mistakes have physical consequences. That needs leadership with industrial experience. Our home ground is energy: upstream oil and gas, offshore wind, offshore and subsea, power and renewables. The same approach applies to process, manufacturing and other asset-intensive industries.
What does it cost?
The first stage has a fixed scope and fee, agreed upfront, and stands on its own. Profiling the leader and the corporate strategy are optional and priced separately. We agree the price after a first conversation.
Not sure you need a CDO?
Let's talk.
Thirty minutes, no cost and no obligation. Tell us where you are, and we'll tell you honestly where to start and what to expect.