Version: 1.1.0 | Last Updated: 2025-06-12

AI Ready Challenge Overview

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Welcome to the IFS AI Ready Challenge. You’ll help customers safely adopt Azure for AI by following the Cloud Adoption Framework for AI process and proven Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF) patterns.

Table of Contents

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Why This Challenge Is Essential

Following a structured AI adoption methodology is not optional—it’s critical for success. Organizations that skip foundational steps face:

  • 70% higher project failure rates without proper AI governance
  • 3-5x cost overruns from reactive security and compliance fixes
  • Regulatory penalties from ungoverned AI implementations
  • Shadow AI proliferation creating ungoverned, high-risk deployments
  • Technical debt accumulation requiring expensive platform rebuilds

Business Impact of Structured AI Adoption

Success Factor With CAF AI Methodology Without Structured Approach
Project Success Rate 85% meet business objectives 30% deliver expected value
Time to Production 40% faster with reusable patterns Extended timelines, rework
Compliance Readiness Built-in governance controls Reactive, expensive retrofitting
Cost Management Predictable, optimized spending Budget overruns, waste
Risk Mitigation Proactive controls, monitoring Reactive firefighting

CAF AI Adoption Phases

This challenge maps to the Cloud Adoption Framework for AI phases:

  1. Strategy – Define business outcomes, AI use cases, and success metrics
  2. Plan – Capture technical, compliance, and responsible AI requirements
  3. Ready – Build an AI Ready platform foundation on Azure
  4. Govern – Apply policies and guardrails (AI governance)
  5. Manage – Implement monitoring, operations, and risk detection
  6. Secure – Enforce security controls and data protection

Quick Strategy Checklist

Before you start, identify:

  • Top 3 business outcomes for IFS’s AI adoption
  • Key AI use cases that align to those outcomes
  • Success metrics to measure AI impact
  • Stakeholder personas and required capabilities

Challenge Objectives

  • Prioritize AI use cases based on business outcomes
  • Select and justify Azure AI services and solutions
  • Document customer requirements: business, technical, compliance, responsible AI
  • Design a trustworthy AI platform and operational processes
  • Integrate governance, management, and security controls
  • Present and justify your end-to-end solution

Team Readiness Requirements

All key stakeholders must participate for successful AI adoption:

Role Participation Level Key Responsibilities Success Criteria
Business Sponsor Full engagement Outcome definition, success criteria, funding decisions Clear ROI targets, strategic alignment
Technical Lead Full engagement Architecture decisions, integration planning Technical feasibility validation
Security Lead Active participation Compliance validation, risk assessment Security controls approval
Data Lead Active participation Data strategy, governance, quality Data readiness validation
Operations Lead Consultation Operational model, monitoring, support Operational readiness plan

Challenge Structure

This challenge is divided into four steps:

  1. Step 1: AI Strategy & Plan – Define business outcomes, AI use cases, requirements, and plan for adoption
  2. Step 2: Requirements – Detail business, technical, compliance, and responsible AI requirements
  3. Step 3: AI Solution Design – Architect AI workloads and platform, applying governance and security controls
  4. Step 4: Present & Justify – Share design, decisions, and alignment to CAF and WAF principles

Challenge Workflow 

flowchart LR
    %% Define the flow of the AI Ready Challenge
    Start([Start]) --> Step1
    Step1[Step 1: AI Strategy & Plan] --> Step2[Step 2: Requirements]
    Step2 --> Step3[Step 3: AI Solution Design]
    Step3 --> Step4[Step 4: Present & Justify]
    Step4 --> End([End])
    
    %% Add descriptions
    classDef step fill:#0072C6,stroke:#025,color:white,stroke-width:2px
    classDef endpoint fill:#5CB85C,stroke:#4CAE4C,color:white,stroke-width:2px
    
    class Step1,Step2,Step3,Step4 step
    class Start,End endpoint
    
    %% Add annotations
    Step1 -.-> Ann1[Business outcomes, AI use cases, Adoption planning]
    Step2 -.-> Ann2[Business, technical, compliance, RAI]
    Step3 -.-> Ann3[Architecture, governance, security, operations]
    Step4 -.-> Ann4[Solution alignment to CAF & WAF principles]
    
    classDef annotation fill:#F8F9FA,stroke:#DDD,color:#333
    class Ann1,Ann2,Ann3,Ann4 annotation

How to Use This Challenge

  • Work as a team through each step in order 1–4
  • Use the activities and whiteboard prompts to guide discussions
  • Reference the Azure Best Practices and the CAF AI checklists for guidance
  • Document findings, designs, and decisions as you progress

References & Supporting Evidence

The statistics and claims used in this document are based on the following industry research and reports:

AI Project Success & Failure Statistics

Cost & ROI Impact

Governance & Compliance

Industry Best Practices

Additional Resources

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