Governance-as-a-Service

Governance. As a Service.

Governance-as-a-Service is not a report. It is a continuous control layer that runs before your first deployment, through every sprint, and long after the engagement ends. Your board can cite it. Your legal team can defend it.

Everyone is selling AI capability. Capability without governance is unmanaged operational exposure: shadow AI, single-model dependency, and workflows that can go dark overnight. We close that governance gap with rules before tools: governed inputs, governed outputs, and an auditable AI footprint in between.

Two Sides, One Discipline

Govern the data in. Govern the decisions out.

Data Governance

Controls the inputs

  • Accuracy and quality: data that is fit to act on
  • Secure access and usage: least-privilege by policy
  • Lineage and traceability: provenance is known
  • Classification and standards, enforced

Protects against poor-quality, incomplete, or unauthorized data entering the system.

AI Governance

Controls the outputs

  • Explainability: decisions are legible
  • Fairness, bias, and safety: guardrails hold
  • Accountability: every action is auditable
  • Compliance alignment: EU AI Act, ISO 42001, NIST AI RMF

Protects against opaque decisions, bias, and uncontrolled automation.

The Methodology

Ten governance checkpoints inside every diagnostic.

Rules-before-tools enforcement is built into the audit pipeline itself. Each checkpoint produces an artifact that withstands a board review, a regulator, or your own future audit trail.

01

AI Readiness Score

An 82-point assessment scored 0-100. No engagement starts without a documented data hygiene and AI maturity baseline.

02

Stakeholder Configuration

Accountable owners required by role: executive, operations, customer-facing, finance. You cannot govern what no one owns.

03

Interview Data Capture

Structured stakeholder interviews covering pain, ideal state, constraints, and success metrics. Assumptions made explicit and contestable.

04

Document Evidence Base

Source documents auto-extracted into tagged excerpts. No recommendation without documented evidence.

05

Comprehensive Audit Pipeline

Four-stage audit: merge sources, validate findings, identify gaps, build strategy. Recommendations carry confidence scores.

06

Confidence Scoring

Six confidence dimensions on every audit layer. Investor-grade transparency baked into every output.

07

Contradictions Analysis

Documented vs. reality, with priority and supporting evidence. The gap between belief and evidence named explicitly.

08

ROI Benchmarks

Benchmark library with blended labor rates and cost ranges. Year-1 ROI, payback period, and 5-year net value on every recommendation.

09

Framework-Aligned Outputs

BCG AI Maturity, Deloitte Impact Matrix, Know-Do-Build Roadmap, BCG 10-20-70. External standards, not internal opinion.

10

Stakeholder Memos & Final Report

Role-personalized memos plus a signed, dated report tied to each accountability scope. Audit trail closed.

The full capabilities overview, including all ten checkpoints and the five practice areas they anchor, lives at ob1-deck.vercel.app.

Industry Governance Library

One governance rubric per regulated industry.

Generic AI policy fails the first time a regulator asks a sector-specific question. Our governance library maintains a research-grounded rubric for each vertical we serve: the data landscape, the regulatory regimes, the vertical controls, and the procurement gates. Every capability is rated on a 0-4 maturity ladder against a ten-framework compliance crosswalk, with Tier 3 (Managed) as the defensible baseline for regulated data.

Insurance

GLBA, NAIC Model Law, state DOI (NYDFS)

Healthcare & Life Sciences

HIPAA/HITECH, 21 CFR Part 11, GCP

Banking & Financial Services

GLBA, SOX ITGC, PCI-DSS, FFIEC, NYDFS

Manufacturing

CMMC 2.0, NIST 800-171, IEC 62443

Legal

ABA Model Rules 1.6 / 1.1 / 5.3, Op. 477R / 483

Education

FERPA, COPPA, state student-privacy law

Real Estate, Housing & Lending

Fair Housing Act, ECOA, FCRA

Logistics & Transportation

TSA directives, MTSA, FMCSA, CISA CPGs

Non-Profit

PCI-DSS 4.0, state breach law, CAN-SPAM / TCPA

In development: HR & Staffing (EEOC, NYC Local Law 144), Professional Services (SOC 2, client DPAs), Retail (CCPA/CPRA), Construction, Hospitality, Restaurants & F&B, and Marketing Agencies. If your industry is not listed, the master rubric adapts: that is what it is for.

Where are you exposed if your primary model goes dark?

Start with the readiness diagnostic. Five minutes to a scored baseline, and a clear view of your governance gap. No pitch, no pressure.