End-to-end AI Transformation

Mobilizing an End-to-end AI Transformation for SaaS Catering Platform

Driving and Unlocking Funding for Total Enterprise AI Transformation

A modern catering workspace with a laptop displaying an analytics dashboard on a stainless steel counter, surrounded by plated catering food, menus, and a mobile device, with chefs working in a commercial kitchen in the background.

Engagement Lead, AI Transformation

I was accountable for the success of the discovery, client alignment, and delivery.

Principal Investigator

I led all executive and working-level client syncs, translated ambiguous objectives into a clear multi-year transformation roadmap, and directed the team on scope, priorities, and outputs.

Strategic Intervention

When the engagement reached a critical inflection point, I re-established clarity and trust with stakeholders, realigned the delivery approach, and stabilized both the project trajectory and the client relationship.

Challenge

  • End-of-life legacy platform limiting scalability and innovation

  • Need to re-platform to a secure, cloud-native, AI-ready architecture

  • Requirement to migrate hundreds of enterprise clients without disruption

  • Strategic shift toward AI-first tools, systems, and operating model

  • Pressure to improve customer experience, internal efficiency, and developer productivity

  • Enterprise constraints around governance, security, and compliance

Goals

Transition

the business from s traditional SaaS model into an AI-first sofware provider

Reimagine

customer journeys using intelligent automation and AI-augmented interactions

Streamline

internal workflows and eliminate operational inefficiencies

Increase

developer productivity through AI-augmented SDLC practices

Ensure

enterprise-grade security, governance, and complience throughout the transformation

Secure

ECIF funding from Microsoft

Why This Approach Was Different:

A close-up of a MacBook Pro on a stainless steel counter in a professional kitchen, displaying a catering management dashboard with orders, revenue, AI suggestions, and inventory alerts, with minimal kitchen elements softly blurred in the background.

Rather than starting with predefined solutions, the engagement was anchored in AI-augmented discovery and evidence-based strategy.

AI research techniques were used to rapidly synthesize competitive intelligence, customer sentiment, and industry trends with the client's own emerging AI capabilities, which created a shared fact base that aligned business, product, and engineering stakeholders from the outset. AI prototyping techniques were also used to explore customer journey and new interaction modalities.

This insight-led foundation enabled the client to move beyond incremental modernization toward a cohesive, AI-first transformation. Technical architecture, operating model changes, and funding strategy were developed in parallel, ensuring that recommendations were not only ambitious, but actionable, governable, and achievable.

Strategic Deliverables

  • AI-augmented research methodology (multi-model comparison, prompt design, synthesis)

  • Competitive landscape, SWOT, and feature gap analysis

  • Identification of agentic AI opportunities mapped directly to business weaknesses

  • Connecting research → architecture → funding (ECIF)

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Outcomes

Secured $1M+ in Microsoft ECIF funding

enabling a fully funded, year-long delivery program to execute the AI transformation roadmap

Established a clear AI-first target state

including solution architecture and operating model aligned to enterprise governance and security requirements

Delivered a prioritized transformation roadmap

balancing quick wins with long-term, scalable AI capabilities

Defined feature epics for a full platform rebuild

enabling a shift from monolithic legacy systems to a flexible, cloud-native architecture

Produced a Deep Research AI Playbook

codifying AI-driven research, synthesis, and agentic workflows to support ongoing innovation

Identified critical gaps and risks

giving leadership visibility into technical debt, organizational constraints, and competitive threats

Aligned executive, product, and engineering stakeholders

restoring momentum and confidence at a critical inflection point

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About

  • International Catering & Foodservice Management

  • 2025

A comprehensive SaaS catering management solution used by thousands of hospitality and foodservice organizations. Its platform supports online ordering, event and menu management, operational reporting, inventory control and enterprise-scale business workflows for non-commercial catering and food operations.

Impact at a Glance:

  • $1M+ ECIF funding secured
  • AI-first architecture and roadmap
  • Platform rebuild epics established
  • Transformation stabilized and launched