Governance Retainer
MonthlyKeep the value over time
Governance Retainer exists for processes that are already live. It follows real usage, results, problems and the changes required, in one monthly review. This is where a launched process is checked to be actually in use.
Why live AI workflows drift after launch
Once the first workflow is live, many organizations lose discipline. Decisions stay tacit, exceptions are handled informally, and no one maintains a reliable value and risk rhythm.
Governance Retainer prevents that drift. It keeps expansion honest and keeps executive visibility tied to operational evidence.
What is included
- Monthly revenue workflow review
- Pipeline quality and adoption review
- AI exception review
- Sales manager behavior/adoption check
- Next workflow prioritization
- Change control reviews
- Vendor governance
- Model and risk review
- Board and ExCom cadence
- Expansion readiness assessment
- Failure-mode review
- Board-ready monthly reporting
Illustrative pattern
A typical governance pattern
Once a revenue workflow is live, governance needs to keep pipeline quality, adoption, exceptions, vendor decisions, and next-workflow prioritization visible. Governance Retainer keeps expansion choices evidence-based instead of reactive.
Limits
What a Governance Retainer is not
The retainer is an executive review rhythm for workflows that are already live. It is not an operating team, and saying so up front avoids the expectation that it will behave like one.
Scope
- A monthly review of value, exceptions, adoption, supplier changes and what should move next — on workflows that are already running.
- Recommendations and a decision record. The decisions themselves stay with your named owners.
Not included
- Incident response, on-call cover, and any form of production support.
- Running, fixing or changing the workflow, and engineering capacity of any kind.
- Authority over your suppliers: the retainer prepares the vendor review, it does not sign or terminate contracts.
- Audit certification, regulatory sign-off or legal advice.
Not promised
- No guaranteed compliance, no guaranteed availability or performance, no guaranteed cost reduction. The retainer keeps the evidence and the decisions visible; it does not control the systems that produce them.
Conditions
- A named internal owner for the chain, not one per component.
- Access to the exception log, the cost data and the supplier reporting. Where the evidence does not exist, the first months go to establishing it, and the review says so rather than reporting a number it cannot support.
- Duration, cadence and notice are agreed per engagement. The artefacts stay yours if it ends.
Already live, but not fully under control?
Governance Retainer is for teams that already have AI in production and now need a disciplined operating rhythm.