The workflow is live. Now make sure it keeps paying off.
A few months after launch, the old spreadsheet is usually back. Activation is what stops that.
Going live is the start, not the finish. Activation makes the result stick: the new way of working becomes habit, the numbers hold, and the next workflow gets found.
Per-workflow monthly retainer, from $2,500/month · two tiers (Operate, Scale) · begins when Hypercare ends.
The system launches. The organization activates.
Going live is a milestone, not a result. The pattern we see: month one, the new queue is busy and the supervisors are watching it. Month three, one exception was easier to handle the old way, so someone did. Month six, half the team follows, the AI is answering fewer questions than it was, and nobody has looked at the number since launch.
What puts a live AI workflow at risk is people and process. Old habits creeping back, not the technology.
Activation comes in two tiers, Operate and Scale.
Both run as a per-workflow monthly retainer.
| Dimension | Activation: Operate | Activation: ScaleIncludes Operate |
|---|---|---|
| Intent | Keep one deployed workflow performing | Deepen adoption and expand to adjacent workflows |
| Adoption | Playbook execution, reinforcement, usage tracking by role | Plus active change management and manager enablement |
| Performance | Outcome Assurance dashboards, a monthly check of the number against where it started | Plus a quarterly Value Realization Report tied to the business case |
| Technical operations | We keep the AI working correctly, re-test it regularly, and watch running costs | Plus tuning and improvements as things change |
| Governance | Audit traceability, access reviews, policy operation | Plus second-line support in regulated settings |
| Expansion | Flags adjacent candidates | Runs a scouting cadence that feeds the next Transformation Blueprint |
Scale carries everything Operate does. Each row shows only what Scale adds on top.
Your team's involvement: workflow owners and frontline managers stay engaged through enablement sessions and the monthly KPI review. Day-to-day operation of the workflow is Architech's.
From $2,500 per workflow per month, CAD plus HST. There is no rate card, because a customer-service workflow and a regulated underwriting workflow do not carry the same operating load. We scope the retainer to the workflow in front of us.
Every quarter, you see what the workflow returned.
On Scale, every quarter you get a Value Realization Report. It puts the number your business case promised beside the number your operation delivered, and names the next workflow worth looking at. Expansion starts from evidence, not a fresh sales cycle.
Variance against the starting numbers
The Outcome Spec's variance view: committed outcome versus what the live operation delivered this quarter.
KPI trend since launch
The business KPI tracked month over month, drawn from Outcome Assurance dashboards, not model behaviour metrics.
The next workflow candidate
A named adjacent workflow with a provisional value read, ready to move into a Transformation Blueprint when you decide to expand.
Activation begins when Hypercare ends.
Hypercare is the final four weeks of the Build, included in its fixed fee. It covers elevated support, daily usage monitoring, fast fixes, and adoption triage while the workflow settles in.
When Hypercare closes, it produces a hypercare exit report. That report is the starting artifact for Activation. Nothing restarts, and no context is lost between the team that built the workflow and the team that keeps it durable.
The hypercare exit report
- Usage by role
- Open issues
- Day-30 results beside where the workflow stood before
Where Activation fits in the Work Redesign System
Activation is step three. It starts the day Hypercare ends and runs month over month.
Find where AI pays · AI Jumpstart, a complimentary half-day workshop for executive teams.
Prepare your data and security · AI Foundations Blueprint. Design and prove how AI reaches your systems and data safely, once, so every workflow after it starts on solid ground.
Plan the rebuild
Transformation Blueprint
Two weeks that shadow the work, write down your starting numbers and fix the Build's price, under the Acceptance Guarantee.
View step02Build it and run it live
AI Solutions Build
Agents, copilots and automation built into your systems, measured against where you stood before. Simple workflows in weeks, complex ones within 90 days.
View step03Capture the value
Workflow Activation
Current step
Get your people using it, confirm the results hold, and repeat it where it works.
You are hereActivation runs once a workflow is live, and continues month over month as adoption deepens and proven patterns spread to the next workflow.
What is the status quo costing you?
Pick the workflow that matters most and set the sliders to how the work runs. Every figure is built from your own numbers, not our projections.
No savings promises. A structural read on how much of one workflow's annual cost sits in the steps AI typically touches.
Built entirely from your own numbers. The diagnostic later opens pre-filled with what you set here, so nothing is asked twice.
What you get
- A dollar figure for what one workflow costs to run for a year, at your settings
- The cost of waiting, projected over the months until you act
- The share of that cost sitting in the steps AI typically touches: sorting, routing, looking things up, and drafting
- A one-page summary you can download and forward to a CFO or CEO
- A direct hand-off into the diagnostic, pre-filled with what you set
What buyers ask about Workflow Activation
Because launched is not permanent. A workflow left alone drifts: usage slips back to the old way, the AI's answers wander, and the outcome your business case promised erodes. Activation is the standing work that keeps that from happening, month by month. You are protecting a result you already invested in, not keeping the lights on.
No. Support and defect-fixing belong to the Build. Hypercare covers the first four weeks after launch, and the 90-day warranty covers defects against the agreed specification after that. Activation starts when Hypercare ends and does what neither can: it keeps the workflow performing, as an operating discipline rather than a help desk.
Explore AI SolutionsOperate keeps one deployed workflow durable: playbook execution, usage tracking by role, monthly checks of the number against where it started, technical operations, and governance. Scale adds active change management, manager enablement, proactive optimization, and model updates. It carries a quarterly Value Realization Report tied to the business case. Regulated settings get second-line support, and a scouting cadence looks for the next workflow. Scale is Operate plus depth and expansion.
Operate flags adjacent candidates as the team notices them during day-to-day operation. Scale runs a deliberate scouting cadence. It reviews neighbouring workflows, estimates a provisional value read for each, and feeds the strongest candidate into the next Transformation Blueprint. Expansion starts from evidence gathered while operating your live workflow, not from a fresh search.
Keep the outcome you paid for.
Name the workflow that is live and the result it has to keep hitting. We will scope Operate or Scale around it.
Measured live in your operation: 35% faster resolution, documents and approvals completed 60% faster, 3x faster information retrieval.
Want the full sequence first?
See the Work Redesign System