AI that works.
Not just pilots.

You don't need a $500K consulting program to find out where AI pays off. In a few weeks, we'll show you where to start, what to fund, and what to skip.

Book a free 30-minute call Calculate your ROI
Financial Services Utilities Manufacturing & Supply Chain Retail & E-Commerce
Where our principals have worked
DeloitteAccentureIBMTruistCadence Bank
90d
To first measurable results
4
Engagements, from first assessment to full program
4
Verticals: Financial Services, Utilities, Manufacturing, Retail
100%
Tool-agnostic. We never resell technology.
Why AI Projects Fail

Most AI initiatives stall
before they deliver anything.

01
No one understands what AI actually is
Confusion about what's possible leads to fear, resistance, and projects that never get off the ground.
02
Pilots get stuck in bureaucracy
Projects overlap, nobody owns the priorities, and a lot of energy goes into work that never ships.
03
Value is promised but never measured
Without a real business case anchoring the work, AI initiatives collapse under internal resistance.
Straight Answers

The questions everyone
asks first.

Most first conversations start with the same four questions. Here's how we answer them.

Where do we start?
With one process that matters. We look at how it runs today, using your own system data, and find the steps where AI would make a measurable difference. Starting narrow gets you a result you can point to, and that result is what earns the next investment.
What is AI, really?
For most businesses, it's software that reads, predicts, or acts on information inside a process. Some of it forecasts, like a model that flags which invoices will be paid late. Some of it drafts, like a tool that writes the first version of a customer letter. Agents go a step further and handle routine work on their own, within limits you set. Once you know which kind fits which step, most of the mystery goes away.
What do we need to build?
Less than you'd think, and usually later than vendors suggest. A well-defined process and data you can trust come first. Custom builds make sense only after the simpler options have been tried and the business case holds up.
What can we use that we already have?
Probably a lot. Most mid-market companies already pay for AI features in Microsoft 365, their CRM, their ERP, or their service platform, and few have turned them on with a plan. We start there, because the cheapest AI is the AI you've already bought.

Each early win builds momentum and gives your people time to work with AI before it changes their jobs. That's how a handful of use cases grows into a program your workforce supports.

Our Services

Right-sized for where
you are right now.

Every engagement starts with how the work actually gets done today and leaves you with analysis and assets your team can reuse. We scope from there, sized to where you are and what you're ready to fund.

Entry Point
Process Assessment
From $20K
2–4 week engagement · Single process or department
You suspect AI could help with a specific process, like billing, underwriting, loan operations, or work order management, but nobody has a clear picture of how that process really runs. We find out, quickly. We map the work step by step, including the workarounds nobody documented, and mark each step for one of four treatments: enhance it with AI, automate it, redesign it, or fix it before anything else touches it. You leave with a business case, a short list of what to do first, and process maps your team can reuse.
Book a call
★ Strategic Roadmap
CLEAR Roadmap
From $95K
12–16 week engagement · Full business function
Once you know where the opportunity is, order matters more than ambition. We extend the assessment across a full business function, score every opportunity on value and readiness, and sequence the portfolio so early wins fund the bigger moves. Process fixes come before automation, and automation comes before agents. You get a roadmap your team can execute, the business cases to fund it, and the reasoning behind every call.
Book a call
Fractional AI Program Management
AI Operations Retainer
Priced to your scope
Scoped to engagement · Monthly retainer
Roadmaps go stale. Pilots finish and then sit. The retainer keeps the work moving: we update the roadmap and assessments as priorities shift, explain why each call was made, evaluate vendors, unstick initiatives, and track the return on what's already live. Senior principals, at a pace that fits yours.
Book a call
★ Full Transformation
CLEAR Transformation Program
From $30K/month
Typically 6–12 months · Implementation partner costs billed separately
When you're ready to build, we run the program. We stand up governance, manage the initiative portfolio, and take use cases from proof of concept through pilot, rollout, and adoption, using a methodology we've run inside banks and global enterprises. Implementation partners do the build. We hold the work to the business case until your team can run it without us.
Book a call

Add-on: AI Workforce Enablement Workshop, from $15K. It can be bundled with any engagement.

From the Field

What this work
looks like in practice.

Work our principals have led at insurers, technology companies, and utilities.

Insurance
From scattered pilots to one AI portfolio
An insurer had spent millions on AI with little to show for it. Projects across the business were running in silos, with no shared view of what existed or where each one stood. We met with leaders in each area, mapped every initiative from idea to implementation, and found the overlaps. Then we built one AI roadmap. The CIO now runs AI as a single portfolio, with a standard process for what moves forward.
Technology
From a stalled roadmap to one finance plan
A large technology company wanted to transform its finance organization with AI, but the roadmap had stalled. We built a consolidated view of every use case, set clear priorities, and worked with the technology team to build reusable capabilities, a factory approach that spanned quote-to-cash. Finance leaders now report one plan for the transformation and the productivity it's expected to deliver.
Utilities
From 70 ideas to a five‑month payback
A utility knew AI could transform its operations but didn't know where to start. We assessed the teams, found more than 70 use cases, and went deep on the strongest with the people doing the work. The roadmap sequenced a first wave to build core capabilities and a second wave to scale on them. The first use cases projected a five-month payback. Pilots are live and set to scale, and the client expanded the work to broader operations.
Our Methodology

The CLEAR Framework™

A structured, repeatable approach to AI transformation, built on process discipline and data readiness.

C
Capture
Map processes · Surface opportunities
We map how your operations actually run, step by step, with your system data and the people who do the work. That shows where manual work, errors, and bottlenecks are costing you before any AI is selected.
L
Layer
Prioritize · Quantify value
Score every opportunity by business impact, data readiness, and feasibility. Know exactly which AI investments are worth making, and which ones aren't.
E
Engineer
Design · Govern · Validate
Design the right solution, whether that's integration, automation, or AI, with governance and stage gates built in. No surprises mid-implementation.
A
Activate
Deploy · Enable · Win early
Quick wins first. We embed AI in the workflows people already use instead of bolting on dashboards, and train your team as we go so the momentum carries itself.
R
Return
Measure · Prove · Scale
Track outcomes in the language of your business: FTE, cost, cycle time, revenue. Prove the value, then scale what works.
Who We Are

Big Four rigor.
Built for the mid-market.

Optimus Insights was founded by two former Big Four principals who have spent their careers inside the kinds of institutions they now serve. They ran the programs and built the teams themselves instead of advising from a distance.

Between us, we bring decades of experience leading AI and operational transformation across Big Four consulting, regional banking, financial services, and global technology. We've built AI governance frameworks from scratch. We've stood up process centers of excellence. We've run multi-million dollar transformation portfolios. We've directed post-merger integrations and implemented automation programs that eliminated hundreds of thousands of hours of manual work annually.

We built Optimus Insights because mid-market companies deserve that level of expertise, led by senior people and measured by outcomes. We run lean on purpose. A small senior team using AI in our own delivery covers ground that used to need a pyramid of analysts, and your fees go to judgment.

LI
Lennie Ignatowski
Co-Founder & Managing Principal

Former Executive and SVP at a Top 25 U.S. regional bank. 20 years leading AI and operational transformation across financial services and global technology. Has led AI strategy, automation, and machine learning programs for Fortune 500 companies. Built and led transformation programs at scale, including a Process Center of Excellence generating millions in annual savings and a $10M+ transformation portfolio at a major regional bank.

AI & Automation Strategy Lean Six Sigma Black Belt MBA PMP ITIL
PL
Philip Li
Co-Founder & Managing Principal

Former Executive with over 20 years of experience leading transformation programs across financial services and federal institutions. Led GenAI PMO at a major mortgage enterprise, prioritizing 10+ AI use cases projected to generate $10M+ in savings. Directed a $375B asset management automation program that eliminated 410,000 work hours annually. Deep expertise in program management, change leadership, AI governance, and strategic transformation.

AI & Automation Strategy Lean Six Sigma MBA ITIL
The Honest Difference

What working with us
looks like.

What you've experienced
✕Vendors who lead with their product, not your problem
✕Pilots that stall and quietly get abandoned
✕AI applied to symptoms, not root causes
✕ROI promised but never actually tracked
✕Junior teams doing the work after the sale
✕Experimental tools tested on your business
✕Advice that tells you what you want to hear
✕Big programs that take a year to show anything
What Optimus Insights delivers
✓We start with your process and data. AI comes after.
✓Structured delivery with stage gates that keep projects on track
✓Root cause analysis before any solution is designed
✓ROI modeled upfront, measured throughout
✓You work directly with the people doing the work
✓Proven tools only, so there are no surprises
✓Straight answers, even when they're not what you want to hear
✓Quick wins first, then the foundation to scale

Ready to cut through
the noise?

Book a free 30-minute call. We'll tell you where AI can move the needle in your business, with no pitch and no obligation.

Book a free 30-minute call

30 minutes · No commitment · Real answers