OUR INTERNAL INSIGHT ENGINE

The making of the AI Business Council

the reboot

Would you trust AI defining your consulting business?


Our true AI journey started with a complete business reboot. What if we had the chance to build a business with AI representing our potential market and clients?


Not as a one-off or bolt-on solution, but as an integrated advisory group, influencing everything from services, brand fundamentals, Go-to-market and constant learning? And at the same time, making us invest the time needed to truly capture the potential of a technology, claiming to have a profound impact on both society and business?

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

The Client in the loop

For over two decades, we've navigated the trenches of the consultancy industry, witnessing technological shifts – each presented as the next big thing, often leaving businesses still grappling with the human element.


With AI, the narrative is familiar, yet the potential depth and financial impact completely different. This made us push the question: How can AI genuinely elevate consulting at its core, allowing us to truly understand and continue to serve the decision-makers shaping business today and tomorrow?


This led to our Client in the loop philosophy – an evolution of the traditional AI 'Human in the Loop' concept, where our ideal Clients are represented by fictional AI-generated archetypes.

By applying the Loop, we are able to leverage data and insights far beyond our own human capability and experience.


With each interaction, we have systematically used the insights to help define a consultancy and brand the archetypes would consider in 2025 and beyond.


But one crucial question remained: To fully trust the output and insights, how could we get to a more human centered user interface?

TRUST THE TECHNOLOGY

Find your voice

The first hurdle with AI wasn't the data; it was the interface itself. We found endless prompting, tweaking and typing often led us back to the same problem: outputs that felt like just another echo of what countless other consultants produce.


The breakthrough came when we shifted entirely to Voice interaction as our primary input, guided by a system for dialogue and output – our Client in the Loop-philosophy in action.


Like a live focus group, this lets us truly challenge the AI's responses and dive deeper. Crucially, this rich, interactive dialogue also helps us fight hallucination. Our own domain knowledge, combined with the nuances of voice and tonality, means we can quickly spot inaccuracies and guide the conversation back on track.

THE LOOP

Client in the Loop, looping line with an arrow, forming a figure eight with three dots, indicating a process or loop.

TRUST THE COMPETENCE

Play your part

The Business Council archetypes aren't just theoretical models. They represent deep domain expertise and personalities, all inspired by our own professional experience. 


The Council is based on five professional buyer archetypes – in Management, Entreprenurship, Business strategy, Sales, Brand & marketing and Digital development, with distinct personalities and viewpoints.


It's a tough crowd to impress: their synthetic knowledge, minimizing human biases, comes from thousands of real-world consultancy relationships and pitches – insights that cut through the noise of consultants just pushing the 'latest shiny solution".

Our Council is today far from an echo chamber and has gradually become a true, always available, sparring partner. Through Voice interaction and role-play, we've found an almost natural way to communicate, debate and train.


This collaborative approach ensures our human-driven insights are always challenged and refined. The Council helps us uncover new perspectives, rooted in their deep individual domain knowledge.


Once battle-tested, our partnership then helps us amplify strategy into execution.

A green leaf, illustrating Bearing 45 and Susanne Blombergs experience
A green leaf, illustrating Bearing 45 and Susanne Blombergs experience
Image of pharmaceuticals, representing Bearing 45 and the industry experience of Susanne Blomberg.
A woman is shopping, illustrating Bearing 45 and Susanne Blombergs experience

THE LAUNCH

Proof of value

Since the spring of 2025, we have spent hundreds of hours with the Council applying our Client in the loop concept.


The Voice interaction made us confident that by applying a phased development framework, using the making of Bearing 45 as the case study, we would also be able to create a model for future innovations.


So what do we gain, having the output from the Council treated as the voice of the market? The keys have initially been the Guiding Pillars, each a strategic principle based on the individual iterations with each of the archetypes.


The Pillars, together with more detailed output, significantly impact the definition of our brand fundamentals, capabilities, partnership models and the overall customer journey.

THE CONCEPT

market insights

Business Council Guiding Pillars

Bearing 45 logo with the text "Driving Growth. Together."
A positioning matrix with "Lead by inspiration" in the innovative and approachable quadrant.

REFLECTIONS

Just the starting point

So the verdict so far? What started out on a piece of paper turned out to be a truly radical and transformative experience. Despite AI's early stages, the future for adaptive and customer driven businesses has never been more exciting.

A group of people are sitting around a table with a laptop.
A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

Human, Technology & Trust: Our Business Council shows technology now is becoming a true amplifier of human capabilities and knowledge. Our Client in the Loop approach leverages AI's reasoning, debating and role-playing to gain deep domain-specific insights. To get there, your personal commitment is key to moving beyond the echo-chamber.

Black arrow pointing right.
Black arrow pointing right.
A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

The Human Moderator: While AI technology is evolving, Voice input as the primary interface significantly lowers barriers, despite potential cognitive load. By integrating established frameworks in business design and development, we effectively steer output towards concrete insights and documentation.

Black right-pointing arrow on a white background.
A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

Consulting 2.0: AI's democratization of data and customer insights is a true game-changer. Our Business Council is not a product, but a real example on AI bringing endless possibilities in building structural capital, analyze, prototype and innovate. For those ready to adapt, this is rapidly redefining business models and operational systems.

Author

Daniel Askergren

GROWTH & COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT |

SENIOR ADVISORY & LEADERSHIP

For over two decades, Daniel has partnered with 50 diverse brands, from global industry leaders to local entrepreneurs. He leads and coaches clients through the complexities of shifting business strategies, emerging technologies and evolving customer behavior.

Building on his commercial strategy background, Daniel guides management and teams to grow a curious, customer-centric mindset and strategy. Ultimately, this leads to quicker innovation, stronger business performance and improved market value.