# Chris Taudien — AI Implementation Consultant (Full)

> I help European industrial companies move AI pilots into production.

## About

Chris Taudien is an AI Implementation Consultant based in Palermo, Italy, serving European industrials (DACH & Nordic manufacturers). 15+ years of leadership at Volvo, Polestar, SKF, and Apple. Personal company exit. No juniors, no handoffs — I show up and do the work.

## Pain Points I Solve

- **AI Pilot Purgatory**: 80% of enterprise AI pilots never reach production. You have promising PoCs sitting in labs with no path to deployment.
- **Unclear Ownership**: AI projects stall because no one owns the cross-functional coordination between data teams, IT, operations, and vendors.
- **IT Blockers**: Security reviews, integration approvals, and infrastructure decisions that delay deployment by months.
- **No Executive Alignment**: VP Ops wants speed, CIO wants security, CFO wants ROI proof — and no one is bridging the gap.
- **Unmeasured ROI**: Pilots run without business KPIs, so leadership can't justify scaling.
- **Vendor Hype vs Reality**: External AI vendors oversell capabilities. You need someone technical enough to separate signal from noise.
- **Shadow AI Risk**: Teams adopting AI tools without governance, creating security and compliance exposure.
- **Stuck Projects**: Critical technical initiatives that have lost momentum and need rescue within 30 days.

## Who I Work With

- **PE-Backed Industrials**: Your value creation plan says 'digital transformation.' I turn that into 1-2 AI use cases in production within 6 months.
- **Mittelstand & Mid-Market**: 100-3,000 employees. You bought the AI tools, hired a data analyst, ran some pilots. Nothing reached the shop floor. I fix that.
- **Manufacturing & Supply Chain**: OEE, scrap reduction, predictive maintenance, demand forecasting — I speak your operational language, not just the tech.

## Services — Full Details

### Phase 1 — Assessment & Selection (2-3 weeks, from €8,000)

I inventory your active AI pilots and PoCs, evaluate each against business impact, data feasibility, and sponsorship strength, and deliver a clear recommendation on which use cases have a realistic path to production.

**What's included:**
- Interviews with key stakeholders (VP Ops, CIO, plant manager, data team lead)
- Inventory and evaluation of all active pilots/PoCs in one domain
- Assessment against: business impact, data/integration feasibility, sponsorship strength, risk
- Map of organizational blockers
- Shortlist of 1-2 use cases with clear production timeline
- Recommended governance structure
- Go/no-go recommendation with honest assessment
- Executive debrief session

[Learn more](https://christaudien.me/services/tech-leadership-diagnostic)

### Phase 2 — Pilot to Production (8-12 weeks per use case)

I lead the cross-functional team — your internal data engineers, IT, operations, and external vendors — through production deployment. I remove organizational blockers and ensure business KPIs are tracked from day one. Pricing discussed in discovery call.

**What's included:**
- Cross-functional team leadership (data engineers, IT, operations, vendors)
- Data pipeline stabilization and model hardening
- System integration orchestration (MES/ERP/PLM/SCADA)
- Operational integration design
- Model and data monitoring setup
- Weekly steering committee with VP Ops, CIO, and plant management
- Scope/priority trade-off decisions
- Vendor performance management
- Business KPI tracking from day one

[Learn more](https://christaudien.me/services/vision-to-roadmap-sprint)

### Phase 3 — Handover & Exit (4 weeks)

I train your internal teams, establish governance, document everything, and conduct a readiness review. When your team can handle it without me — I'm done. Included in full engagement scope.

**What's included:**
- Internal IT/data team training on running and evolving the solution
- Operations/plant leader alignment on KPIs and continuous improvement
- Architecture documentation, run-books, and test procedures
- Minimal governance model (who owns what, escalation paths, when to revisit)
- Readiness review — explicit confirmation internal teams can sustain without me

[Learn more](https://christaudien.me/services/embedded-leadership)

## Case Study: Polestar — App Governance Framework

- **Client**: Polestar (Electric Automotive)
- **Duration**: 6 months
- **Role**: Product & Tech Leadership

**Challenge**: Polestar's app ecosystem had grown fragmented. Multiple teams building apps without consistent standards led to inconsistent UX, duplicated effort, no quality gates, brand inconsistency, and difficulty maintaining apps at scale.

**Solution**: Designed a modular app framework architecture, implemented quality standards and gates, created a lightweight governance process, and built internal documentation with enablement sessions.

**Results**: Streamlined app development across teams. Improved technical quality and reduced production bugs. Consistent brand experience across all digital touchpoints. Reduced time-to-market for new features. Framework still in use today.

[Read the full case study](https://christaudien.me/case-study/polestar)

## Testimonials

> "I worked with Chris at an S&P 100 company, delivering the strategy for their IOT devices and the digital service experience surrounding them. His clear strategic thinking and ability to get teams aligned across functions were a huge asset to the company. Would highly recommend working with Chris!"
> — **Stewart Jordan**, Head of Product

> "I've had the pleasure of working with Christoffer while developing apps for Mölnlycke Health care as a consultant. He is a innovative front runner with a get-it-done attitude which I really like. I have more than 15 years of experience in the IT-sector, and I can say that very few people can summon the energy to get complex cross-functional projects started and completed like Christoffer"
> — **Emmanuel Ay**, Software Engineer

> "I had the pleasure of managing Christoffer under a short period at Mölnlycke Health Care AB. I found his knowledge of app and mobility solutions on a strategic, technical and business level to be of a very high standard. Christoffer had the ability to create structure in what can be a very fluid and fast moving environment and his App Factory concept lives on in the company."
> — **Stefan Astbury**, Digital Strategy Consultant

## Articles

### AI Implementation: Consultant vs Interim Leader vs Full-Time Hire
Should you hire a full-time AI lead? Bring in an interim leader? Work with a consultant? A decision framework from someone who's done all three, with leadership experience at Volvo Cars, Polestar, and SKF.
- Published: 2026-01-15 · 8 min read
- Tags: ai implementation, interim cto, consultant, tech leadership
- [Read article](https://christaudien.me/insights/fractional-cto-vs-interim-cto)

### How Much Does an AI Implementation Consultant Cost in 2025?
Your AI pilots are stuck in labs, technical decisions are piling up, and you need senior implementation leadership—but a full-time hire at €250,000+ isn't in the budget. European rates from €5,000-€20,000/month explained with real examples.
- Published: 2025-01-20 · 12 min read
- Tags: ai implementation, pricing, consultant cost, tech leadership
- [Read article](https://christaudien.me/insights/fractional-cto-cost)

### I Built an AI-Native Workflow for Myself. Here's What I'd Build for Your Team.
Everything I've built for myself maps to a problem I keep hearing from European industrial companies: 'We know AI can make us faster. We don't know how to set it up without becoming a security nightmare.' From shadow AI to governed architecture — knowledge, tasks, dev tools, and security.
- Published: 2026-02-05 · 9 min read
- Tags: ai implementation, enterprise ai, ai workflow, tech leadership, ai security
- [Read article](https://christaudien.me/insights/ai-native-team-workflow)

## FAQ

**How quickly can you start?**
Typically within 2-4 weeks, depending on current commitments. For urgent situations, I can sometimes accommodate faster starts.

**Do you work remotely or on-site?**
Primarily remote. For Phase 2 clients, I include regular on-site days (typically 1-2 per month) at no extra cost within Europe.

**What if I'm not sure which phase I need?**
Start with a free discovery call. If you're genuinely unsure, Phase 1 is designed exactly for that — get clarity before committing to a larger engagement.

**Can I start with Phase 1 and decide later?**
Absolutely. Many clients start with Phase 1, then move to Phase 2, and continue through Phase 3. Each phase builds on the previous one, and there's no penalty for starting small.

**What's NOT included in these prices?**
All prices exclude VAT. Travel expenses for on-site work outside included travel are billed separately. Third-party tools or services are your responsibility, though I advise on selection.

**What happens if the engagement isn't working out?**
Phase 1 is a fixed-scope deliverable. For Phase 2, we work in defined sprints with clear milestones, so you can exit at any sprint boundary. I've never had a client leave unhappy.

**How do you handle confidentiality?**
I sign NDAs as standard practice. I've worked with public companies (Volvo, Apple) and understand the importance of confidentiality.

**What industries do you work with?**
Primarily European industrial companies moving AI pilots into production. I've worked with automotive (Volvo, Polestar), consumer tech (Apple), and manufacturing (SKF, Mölnlycke).

## Key Pages

- [Homepage](https://christaudien.me)
- [How I Work (Pricing)](https://christaudien.me/pricing)
- [AI Implementation](https://christaudien.me/ai-implementation)
- [Pilot to Production](https://christaudien.me/pilot-to-production)
- [AI Consulting Europe](https://christaudien.me/fractional-cto-europe)
- [Interim AI Execution Lead](https://christaudien.me/interim-cto)
- [Stuck Project Rescue](https://christaudien.me/stuck-project)
- [Insights / Articles](https://christaudien.me/insights)
- [Polestar Case Study](https://christaudien.me/case-study/polestar)

## Contact

- Email: hello@christaudien.me
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoffertaudien/
- X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisTaudien
- GitHub: https://github.com/christoffffer
- [Book a Discovery Call](https://christaudien.me/pricing)