AI now sits on most leadership agendas, but the list of ideas usually outnumbers the capacity to deliver them. Without a simple way to compare options, it is easy to end up with scattered pilots and side projects that are hard to justify to a board or risk committee.
The CLAID AI Use Case Canvas is a way to bring order to that list. It gives you a single place to describe an AI idea, capture how the work is done today and reach a clear verdict on whether it is worth building.
What the AI Use Case Canvas does
The Canvas is a guided worksheet for each AI idea, from customer service automation to internal tools and back-office processes. It covers the basics you would expect in a funding or risk discussion: who owns the idea, what problem it solves, how much time it currently consumes and what would change for customers and staff if AI is introduced.
From there, it estimates potential benefit in hours saved and quality gains and converts that into a simple ROI figure. You end up with a consistent view across ideas, rather than a patchwork of decks, emails and one-off spreadsheets.
How the scoring works
Each use case is rated on value - time saved, business impact and growth in demand - and on complexity - process stability, dependence on judgment and data sensitivity. The Canvas then gives a plain-English verdict for each idea (quick win, efficiency gain, strategic project or something to park) so you can line options up and decide what to tackle first.
Highlights from a recent session
In a recent session with the OMX community, around twenty companies used the Canvas to map their AI ideas. In about forty-five minutes they captured roughly seventy use cases, which together pointed to more than two million dollars in potential annual ROI.
The main benefit was clarity. Each team left with a short, prioritised list: a handful of quick wins, a smaller set of strategic projects needing deeper design and governance and several ideas to defer.
The main benefit is clarity: a short, prioritised list of quick wins, strategic projects and ideas to defer, in the same structure across business units.
Why this helps governance and risk
Boards are asking two straightforward questions about AI: where is the value, and how is the risk being managed. The Canvas documents both in one place, using the same structure across business units and gives you a clear audit trail when legal, security or risk teams ask why a use case was prioritised.
Because it captures data, people and change impacts explicitly, the Canvas becomes a record you can revisit as models, platforms and policies evolve. Patterns emerge quickly - repeated use of sensitive data, overlapping ideas or areas where guardrails need to be tightened.
How leaders are using it
In many organisations the Canvas acts as a pre-funding filter. Business owners draft their ideas, complete the Canvas in a short session and bring only the strongest candidates forward for design and review.
Delivery teams then sequence work from the same view: quick wins first to test platforms and governance, followed by more complex projects once the environment and guardrails are proven. That way, AI work stays connected to real outcomes instead of drifting into side projects.
Invitation to use the Canvas
If you are facing a growing list of AI ideas and want a clearer way to choose, the AI Use Case Canvas is a practical place to start. We use it in our own client work and make a self-serve version available so your team can map ideas before committing to build.
If you would like access, you can sign up here and we will send you a link plus a short guide for running your first internal session. From there, you can keep using it in-house or bring us in when you want to stress-test specific use cases, data posture and implementation options.