If your AI focus has been streamlining internal processes, you’re not alone—but you may be leaving your biggest opportunities on the table. The real value of AI isn’t just cost reduction—it’s business model reinvention. That starts by shifting your focus from internal operations to external value creation.

The AI Six Layers Framework™ helps you redirect and scale your AI efforts by asking the right strategic questions at each layer:

• Layer 2 (Models): Are you using the right kind of model for your ambition? LLMs built for internal document parsing may not power dynamic customer experiences. Choose models based on the layer you’re trying to transform—not just what’s easiest to deploy.

• Layer 3 (Applications): Have you identified customer- or mission-facing workflows where AI could deliver personalization, real-time insights, or entirely new service / product models?

• Layer 4 (Services): Do you have the internal capability to integrate, test, and support these new value streams—across people, process, and risk?

• Layer 5 (Influence): Are your teams, partners, and markets aligned with this new direction? Without a shift in narrative, your transformation won’t get internal traction or external legitimacy.

The Framework also reveals why internal-only AI efforts often underperform: they bypass the layers where AI delivers real strategic value. Without investing in Layer 3 (customer-facing applications), Layer 4 (integration and change management), and Layer 5 (market perception and legitimacy), organizations end up with automation that doesn’t scale, inspire, or differentiate. The Framework helps you course-correct—by aligning your AI investments with where value is created, trust is built, and transformation sticks..

This isn't about abandoning efficiency. It's about building efficiency that scales outward into strategic advantage.