Askéon Consulting
AI consulting for Italian SMEs: we bring innovation and AI into your processes and measure the result where it counts, in the P&L. Higher margins today, and a company ready for a sale or a generational transition tomorrow.
The problem
The problem is not the technology but the processes. Almost all were designed for people working one step at a time, and total time is the sum of the steps. Putting AI into one step makes it instant, but the next step is still human: the gain stops there and never reaches the P&L.
Meanwhile AI capability doubles roughly every seven months (METR): the better it gets, the more the linear process wastes. Value arrives when the process is redesigned around the technology, as happened with electricity in factories.
McKinsey, The State of AI 2025; Osservatorio AI, Politecnico di Milano
of companies use AI in at least one function
McKinsey, The State of AI 2025
attribute more than 5% of EBIT to it
McKinsey, The State of AI 2025
of Italian SMEs have an AI project under way
Osservatorio AI, Politecnico di Milano
of value in Italian PE deals comes from operational growth; 86% in SMEs below €50M
AIFI e BIP, 2025
Does it apply to your company? We look at it on your financials, in one call.
The path
No phase starts without the checkpoint of the previous one. Diagnostic and Plan do not commit you to projects: you decide with the results in hand.
5 weeks
We start from the financial statements and the business. One assessment of processes and infrastructure, for AI and for security: the output is the levers quantified in euros of EBITDA and a ranked list of use cases by impact, cost and readiness.
Four phases, each with a checkpoint: frame scope and data, collect the facts through interviews, system extracts and observation, diagnose area by area, assess. On AI we measure the maturity of data, processes, people and systems; on security the exposure from outside and inside.
6 weeks
A 36-month roadmap with timelines, costs, business case and first hundred days. The owners decide which projects to launch.
Three horizons: margin, then revenue, then new business models. The information base comes first: a unified P&L reporting and integrated data. Security remediation enters the same Plan. The Plan prepares projects for the public incentives available for digital and AI.
8–12 weeks
One use case at a time in production: processes, data, systems and AI agents, with a measured KPI and an internal owner.
Vendor and systems-integration management. We choose technology in the client’s interest: no platform to sell, no commissions. Where needed, interim operating roles and a board seat, with part of the fee tied to results when KPIs are measurable.
ongoing
Role-based training and internal champions who carry the change forward. Ongoing AI and cyber training, as the law requires.
The basics for the whole company during the Diagnostic, then leadership and functions on the chosen use cases. Programmes and attendance documented for Art. 4 of the AI Act.
12–24 months
EBITDA and multiple ready for an investor: pre and post M&A, generational transition, capital and structuring.
Before a sale or a generational transition: normalised EBITDA, recurring contracts, lower customer concentration, due-diligence-grade governance. After an acquisition: the first hundred days, where declared synergies are usually lost.
It starts with the Diagnostic: five weeks, with no commitment to the next steps.
The method
Measured on data, processes, people and systems. Scale adapted from the Gartner AI Maturity Model, with APQC process criteria and the NIST AI RMF for governance and risk.
The same processes as today, decided with data. Low risk, return in months: the margin released funds the rest.
Measured on: cost per transaction, cycle time, error rate, cash released from working capital.
Raises EBITDA
Pricing, customer coverage, speed of quotation.
Measured on: revenue per customer, customers lost unnoticed.
Raises revenue and multiple
Services a company with linear processes cannot sell: data shared across the value chain, value-added services.
Measured on: share of recurring revenue.
Raises the multiple
Horizon 1 raises EBITDA; horizons 2 and 3 raise the multiple, because recurring revenue and demonstrable data lower the risk seen by banks, buyers and heirs. How much it is worth is decided by the numbers after the Diagnostic, not before.
What level is your company at, and what is it worth to move up? We measure it on your data.
Offers
You start through one of the two entry points. The rest is decided with the results in hand: no offer commits you to the next.
Start here
Step 01
5 weeks
To know where AI moves the margin, before spending.
Step 04
ongoing
The legal requirement, turned into skills on your own use cases.
Then, with the results in hand
Step 02
6 weeks
After the Diagnostic, to decide what to do and with what resources.
Step 03
8–12 weeks
One use case at a time, up to a measured result.
Step 05
6–12 months
Before a sale or a generational transition, or after an acquisition.
Every proposal is built after a call, on the scope and numbers of the company. You pay for senior time, not a project: no licence to sell.
Method examples
Business cases built on filed financial statements, before any intervention. They show how the method works; they are not engagement results. Data anonymised.
Services group · revenue above €500M · margin below 2%
Staff costs above 70% of revenue, IT without a single data platform, receivables beyond 130 days. Five levers: rationalised IT, operations centres with AI agents, purchased services, new cyber services, integrated remote services.
Luxury house · revenue €40–60M, declining
Purchases above 100% of revenue and sharply falling sales. Four levers: planning and purchasing on a data platform, purchased services, productivity assistants in central functions, CRM-based clienteling.
Want the same exercise on your financials? We start with a call.
Ongoing training · a legal requirement
EU AI Act (Reg. 2024/1689), Art. 4: organisations using AI systems must ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among their staff, calibrated to role and context. In force since 2 February 2025. No certificate is required: a documented programme is.
NIS2, Italian Legislative Decree 138/2024, Art. 23: for entities in scope, management bodies must be trained and must promote regular training for employees. Scope is checked with a lawyer.
Which AI tools are already in use, by whom and with what data. A short questionnaire per role.
Levels per role and an AI use policy for the owners to approve.
Leadership, functions on their own use cases, the whole company. On site, on your processes.
Learning tests and, on cyber, a phishing simulation before and after.
Programmes, attendance and tests documented for Art. 4. Updated every year and for new hires.
up to 25 people
Map, use policy, half a day for leadership, two sessions for everyone, tests and record.
above 25 people
Essential, plus one day per function on its own use cases and the phishing simulation.
every year
Refresher for everyone, new hires, new tools, updated record.
On site, materials included. Training can be funded through Italian inter-professional funds if the company is a member: we check it together.
Are you compliant with Art. 4 of the AI Act? We prepare your training plan.
Who leads the work
A team of operators who have run P&Ls, transformations and sales functions. No platform to sell, no commissions: vendors are chosen in the client’s interest.
Founding Partner
AI and transformation
Twenty years as an operator: at Microsoft he led advisory and transformation for Western Europe, EMEA and worldwide, with over 300 senior professionals; before that Accenture, Monitor Deloitte and Octo Telematics.
LinkedIn →
Managing Partner
Organisation and operating model
COO and Senior Associate Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago; previously Accenture and the United Nations.
LinkedIn →
Chief Financial Officer
P&L, control and finance
CFO and COO in growing companies: at 24ORE Business School revenue from €18M to €33M and an €18M bond; before that Deputy CFO at Octo Telematics and EY.
LinkedIn →
Business Development Partner
Sales functions and advisory
Fifteen years of advisory at DEKRA: business plans, turnarounds, M&A due diligence and company valuations; then Business Transformation Manager at Avis Budget Group; before that, KPMG Advisory.
LinkedIn →Askéon Answer
Askéon Answer replies in seconds using our method, our offers and our analysis. For everything else, there is the call.
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Our analysis
88% use AI, 6% see it in EBIT: why technology does not reach the P&L.
Read →How we take AI into the P&L, from the financials to value.
Read →315,000 business owners are over 70: the numbers nobody wants to read.
Read →Our next analyses, every week on LinkedIn.
Frequently asked questions
From your financial statements and a call. We read the numbers the way an operator does and tell you whether and where AI can move the margin, before proposing any project.
The Diagnostic takes five weeks and the Plan six. Both are fixed-fee and do not commit you to projects: delivery is quoted separately, after the Plan, and decided with the results in hand.
No. We choose technology in the client’s interest and take no vendor commissions. We direct vendors and system integrators so they deliver what the P&L needs.
For AI, yes: the EU AI Act (Art. 4), in force since 2 February 2025, requires organisations using AI systems to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among their staff. For cybersecurity, NIS2 (Italian Legislative Decree 138/2024, Art. 23) requires training for entities in scope.
Five weeks of interviews with each function, system extracts and observation. The output: maturity on 24 criteria (data, processes, people, systems), levers in euros of EBITDA, 8–12 use cases ranked by impact and readiness, cyber exposure with missing baseline measures, and a basic training session for the whole company.
Documented measures so that staff using AI systems have a sufficient level of AI literacy, calibrated to role and context. No certificate is required: you need a map of uses, a role-based training plan, sessions with recorded attendance, a check and a periodic update.
Yes. A company with margins above its sector, governed processes and demonstrable data presents itself to banks, buyers and heirs with a profile the market prices higher. Work on the multiple happens before the transaction, not during it.
With Italian companies from about €5M of revenue upwards, from SMEs to large groups, in every sector where we can bring real operating expertise.
Another question? Write to us, or ask Askéon Answer.
In one call we work out where AI is really worth it for your company, and whether it makes sense to work together.
Book a call →or write to us: info@askeon.capital