Case A · Expand II (parent: Meridian overview). Shape the offer: options, TOM, architecture, value case, pitch and negotiation.

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1. Solution options

Option	Verdict
Assessment and strategy only	Necessary but insufficient alone
Full customer chatbot transformation	Reject for Phase 1
Phased agent-assist + governance	Selected
Managed AI ops from day one	Offer after value proof (Phase 3/4)

Phases:

1. Prioritisation, knowledge inventory, RAI model, architecture options, business case.
2. Agent-assist pilot on approved corpus; human verification; evaluation harness; audit logging.
3. Controlled deploy, training, monitoring, benefits tracking.
4. More teams/channels; customer-facing only with stronger controls.

2. Target operating model (must-haves)

Knowledge owner · model risk / RAI forum · product owner · support runbook · benefit owner in operations · clear escalation to humans.

Without TOM, technology may “work” while nobody owns, governs or maintains it.

3. Technical sketch (pilot)

UX for agents → identity → orchestration → retrieval over approved corpus → model layer → guardrails → evaluation & monitoring → audit → human escalation.

Risk tiering: Phase 2 stays medium (employee decision support). Higher tier (regulated customer advice, autonomous financial actions) stays out of scope until gates pass.

4. Business case outline

Baseline: search time, AHT, rework, escalation, complaint themes, current knowledge-tool cost.

Benefits: operational (time saved), employee (EX), risk (fewer inconsistent answers), strategic (governed path to later channels).

Distinguish theoretical → addressable → achievable → adopted → financially realisable. Use ranges and sensitivity.

Investment: consulting, client SMEs, licences/cloud/model usage, data/integration, cyber, change, training, support, contingency.

5. Pitch spine

Confirm outcome → what we heard → reframe → POV → phased solution → implementation → value → risk/governance → team → commercials and next steps.

Demo must prove assist + controls + retrieval grounding—not spectacle.

6. Negotiation trades (what actually closed)

Client push	Firm trade
Wider pilot	Narrower use-case set / lower fixed price
Faster calendar	Faster data-access SLAs + dedicated SMEs
Lower price only	Explicit exclusions (no unsupervised customer replies in Phase 2)

Assumptions and client responsibilities written into the SoW.