AI governance and customer due diligence

How AI-powered companies can reduce sales cycle time and get projects moving faster.

I recently spoke to an executive at an AI company who told me this about his customers during the sales cycle. He said:

“These big enterprises don’t even know what they want when it comes to vendor AI governance and security.”

This leads to:

• Stalled deals

• Slow deployments

• Barrages of complex questions

While there was clearly a lot of customer concern, it was unfocused and difficult to address head-on.

This executive wanted to get proactive (which was why he was speaking with me).

So here are 3 ways AI companies can close enterprise deals and get deployments up and running faster (even when customers don't know what they want):

1. Use a framework

• The NIST AI RMF is flexible enough for every company, but you can't get certified against it.

• ISO 42001 is different. An auditor can give you a stamp of approval. This can boost prospects confidence in how you use AI.

• If you don't want to add yet another framework, tie your AI governance program to one you already use like NIST CSF or SOC 2.

Bottom line

Pointing to an established standard - and even educating customers about them - shows you know what you are doing.

2. Explain how you train on customer data

• Zoom, Slack, and DocuSign all got burned by bad PR when rolling out AI features.

• Balance business needs with transparency and respect for user privacy.

• This is a bigger deal for B2B companies than B2C ones.

Bottom line

A white paper or trust center can go a long way toward showing a prospect how you take care of their data. Industry standards don't exist yet - help build them.

3. Document which AI tools and vendors you use

• Tracking your models, tools, and even training data will become necessary for EU AI Act compliance.

• GDPR and similar laws require doing this for personal data subprocessors anyway.

• Enterprises are increasingly worried about 4th party AI exposure.

Bottom line

If customers are concerned about AI-related supply chain risks, a detailed bill of materials (AI-BOM) shows you are on top of them.

Having problems with customer due diligence related to AI?

It’s still early days for a lot of companies buying and using AI. That’s why the security and governance review process can be incredibly time-consuming.

The best response?

Take the approach of the executive I spoke with and go on the offense. Build out your AI governance program and communicate about it proactively.

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