AI Roadmap for Canadian SMBs and Public Organizations
An AI roadmap is a 12-month plan that ranks your AI use cases by value, effort and risk and names the first pilot, its owner and budget. Remolda builds it in two weeks for $2,900 CAD + HST.
In short
- Price: $2,900 CAD + HST for the AI Opportunity Audit, fixed. Two weeks of work.
- Input: interviews with 6–10 people and a walk-through of the real workflows, including the workarounds.
- Output: a ranked map of 10+ AI use cases with ROI ranges and risk notes, a data and systems check, and a 12-month roadmap.
- The roadmap ends with one recommended first pilot: scope, owner, budget and the measure that decides go or stop.
- Fits organizations of roughly 20–500 people that want a plan they can defend to a board, council or funder.
Your situation
A roadmap helps when there are more AI ideas than budget, and nobody agrees on which one goes first. Typical cases:
- Ten departments, ten requests. Every team has an AI idea. You need one ranked list with reasons.
- A mandate from the board or council. "Adopt AI this year" arrived without a budget line or an owner.
- Tools bought, little changed. Copilot or ChatGPT licences are active, usage is low, and the workflows look the same.
- A funding or budget cycle is coming. You need a written plan with costs and expected results.
What the AI Opportunity Audit includes
Interviews with 6–10 people. Leaders, team leads and the people who do the work. We ask where time goes and which decisions repeat.
A walk-through of real workflows. We look at how a request, invoice, application or ticket actually moves, including the spreadsheets and email threads that fill the gaps.
A ranked map of 10+ AI use cases. Each one has an ROI range, the data it needs, its main risk and an effort estimate. Ranking uses three axes: value, feasibility and risk.
A data and systems check. For each use case: where the data lives, whether it is usable, and what blocks access. Typical blockers are scanned PDFs, missing APIs and permissions in SharePoint.
A 12-month roadmap. Work in waves, each with owner, budget range and the metric that shows it worked.
A recommended first pilot. Scope, budget, owner and the go / adjust / stop test at the end.
How the roadmap is built
| Week | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Interviews, workflow walk-throughs, systems inventory | Use-case long list and data notes |
| Week 2 | Ranking, data check, roadmap and pilot scope | Written use-case map, 12-month roadmap, first pilot |
How long it takes
Two weeks. In our experience the schedule usually holds when interviews are booked in the first three days. It depends on calendars, internal approvals and how quickly process documents are shared.
What it costs
The AI Opportunity Audit is $2,900 CAD + HST, fixed. If you only need a first read, the one-week AI Readiness Review is $490. The six-week AI Pilot Sprint that follows the roadmap is $9,800, and the audit fee is credited toward it. All scopes are on the pricing page.
The ranked use cases, ROI ranges and pilot budget from the audit are also the basis for an AI business case your board can check and for applications to AI grants and funding in Canada such as IRAP, SR&ED, BDC LIFT or ESSOR.
Programs across several departments or sites are priced after a 30-minute call.
Why Remolda for an AI roadmap
- Fixed scope and public price. Two weeks, $2,900, the deliverables listed above.
- The roadmap ends in a build. Every roadmap names a first pilot with a budget, and Remolda can build it.
- Vendor-neutral. Tool choices come from your stack and data rules. See how we run AI vendor selection.
- Canadian rules inside the plan. Use cases that touch personal information carry notes on PIPEDA, Quebec Law 25 and Ontario FIPPA duties.
- Contract with a Canadian company. Innova Consulting Group Inc., Ottawa; English or French.
How the work runs
The roadmap covers the Audit and Strategy steps of the Remolda Cycle (Audit → Strategy → Implement → Empower → Evolve).
- Call or request. 30 minutes to confirm scope, then an invoice.
- Kickoff. We agree on the interview list and the workflows to walk through.
- Week 1. Interviews and walk-throughs.
- Week 2. Ranking, roadmap and pilot scope in writing.
- Next step. Build the first pilot, for example workflow automation or a custom AI tool, or take the plan in-house.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI roadmap?
An AI roadmap is a sequenced plan for adopting AI over the next 12 months. It lists the use cases worth doing, their order, the data and systems each needs, the owner, the budget range and the measure of success for each step.
How much does an AI strategy roadmap cost?
Remolda's AI Opportunity Audit, which produces the roadmap, is a fixed $2,900 CAD + HST for two weeks of work. Multi-department or multi-site programs are scoped individually after a 30-minute call.
How long does it take to build an AI roadmap?
Two weeks for the Opportunity Audit. In our experience the schedule depends mostly on how fast interviews can be booked; holidays, approvals and access to process documents can add a few days.
What is the difference between an AI roadmap and an AI strategy?
The strategy sets direction: why the organization uses AI, where it will and will not use it, and how it governs it. The roadmap is the execution plan under that strategy: which use cases, in what order, with what budget and owner.
Does a small business need an AI roadmap?
A business of 20 people or more with repeat work in email, documents, scheduling or bookkeeping usually benefits from ranking its options before buying tools. For smaller teams the one-week AI Readiness Review is often enough.
Which tools does the roadmap recommend?
The roadmap recommends tools by fit: Microsoft 365 Copilot where the organization lives in Microsoft 365, ChatGPT Enterprise or Claude for wider use, and n8n or Power Automate for workflow automation. Licences are bought directly from the vendor.
Can the roadmap support a funding application?
The roadmap documents the problem, the planned work, costs and expected results, which are the inputs most funding and tax-credit applications ask for. Eligibility for programs such as NRC IRAP or SR&ED is decided by those programs; routine set-up of off-the-shelf AI tools generally falls outside the SR&ED technological-uncertainty test.
What happens after the roadmap?
The usual next step is the first pilot. Remolda's six-week AI Pilot Sprint ($9,800 CAD + HST) builds the recommended use case, and the audit fee is credited toward it.
Sources
- National Research Council Canada — NRC IRAP financial support
- Canada Revenue Agency — SR&ED program updates
Facts checked:
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