Marc Akbar

AI transformation starts before AI. The most expensive part of an AI project is not the AI.It is everything AI forces your organization to change.Your operations.Your processes.Your data.Your governance.Your people.The way decisions are made.Most organizations discover this too late.They start with models, tools or pilots before understanding the operation they want to improve.AI is not the strategy. It is the consequence of a good strategy.I work with CEOs and executive teams at operations-heavy enterprises - retail, logistics, manufacturing - to decide where AI should create measurable business value, where it should not, and what must change before technology decisions are made.Because AI transformation starts long before the first model is deployed.It starts with awareness.It continues with readiness.Then comes prioritization, architecture and transformation.Only then does AI become an accelerator instead of an experiment.For more than twenty years, I have designed and delivered enterprise systems that run real businesses.As Founder and CTO of Rayonnance, I led the transformation from a custom software company to a product business whose platforms support more than 90,000 field operators across retail, transport, logistics, healthcare and manufacturing.That experience shaped the way I approach AI today:Not as a collection of models or tools, but as a business transformation that must be designed, governed, implemented and measured.My work starts before implementation, when the most important decisions are still open.And it can continue through architecture, team leadership, execution oversight and value realization.• Executive AI Strategy• Operational Intelligence Assessment• AI Readiness• AI Investment Prioritization• Transformation Blueprint• Architecture & Governance• Implementation LeadershipThe objective is not to deploy AI, but to turn AI ambition into working systems that scale and prove measurable business value.Based in Toronto and working across North America and Europe, I bring the same operational lens to enterprises in English and French.Track Record• 200+ production systems deployed• €250M+ in operational systems delivered• Platforms serving more than 90,000 field operators• Board member, helping shape technology strategy and business growthI take on a limited number of enterprises - those where getting AI right moves the business. If that's on your executive agenda, send me a message and we'll see if we're a fit.