Artificial Intelligence Readiness
Your Institution’s AI Future Starts with a Strategic Foundation
Artificial Intelligence Readiness (AIR)
AIR delivers a comprehensive, multi-framework evaluation paired with strategic executive advisory to position institutions for intelligent transformation across academic, administrative, and research ecosystems.
The AIR Initiative: Strategic Consortium Investment Model / Advancing Campus AI Capabilities
The AIR initiative is not a theoretical exercise but a proven, implementable roadmap for responsible AI integration across higher education. Supported by Edge’s deep institutional partnerships, the E360 foundation, and data-driven principles of HTAP and the Five V’s, AIR provides funders and leaders with a scalable, sustainable model for intelligent transformation.
Through shared frameworks, rigorous evaluation, and a commitment to ethical innovation, the AIR initiative ensures that participating institutions are prepared not just for the emergence of AI technologies but for the future of education itself — a future defined by trustworthy data, human-centered governance, and collaborative excellence.
THROUGH AIR, WE:
Deliver a dedicated executive partner (vCIO) who
brings hands-on technology leadership experience.
Apply best-practice frameworks
(TOGAF for architecture, ITIL for service, NIST for
cybersecurity, and CMMI for maturity modeling).
Provide a 3-year action-oriented roadmap
for innovation, modernization, and
institutional AI integration.
Include a full suite of EXP support services:
vCIO, Business Process Modeling (BPM), and
Virtual CISO (vCISO).
This is more than an assessment—it’s a blueprint for responsible, strategic, and scalable AI transformation.
The Edge Professional (vCIO) will lead:
1. Requirements Elicitation & Business Analysis
- Functional, technical, and financial requirements gathering across institutional
domains - AI use case documentation tied to current-state system constraints and desired capabilities
2. AI Use Case Development & Prioritization
- Catalog of AI opportunities scored on ROI, technical feasibility, compliance risk, and automation impact
3. Business Process Modeling (BPM)
- TOGAF-informed enterprise process redesign
- Future-state diagrams showing GenAI enhancements, user role evolution, and task automation
4. Governance, Risk & Compliance
- NIST-based cybersecurity and AI policy readiness assessment
- ITSM/ITIL-aligned operational controls for service integration and AI lifecycle management
5. Institutional Capacity-Building
Executive coaching, IT org maturity evaluation (CMMI), and AI literacy enablement for leadership and staff
1. Document & System Review
- Audit of IT policies, organizational charts, architecture maps, data classification schemes, and cybersecurity controls
2. Stakeholder Engagement
- Interviews, surveys, and facilitated sessions with academic, research, finance, and IT leaders
3. Diagnostic & Scoring
- Multi-framework scoring of 10 E360 domains, enhanced with AI readiness indicators and automation maturity levels
4. Findings & Roadmap
- Integrated executive report, AIR Scorecard, and prioritized roadmap including budget-level projections and grant alignment
