Slalom, a global consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and people-centred design, partnered with one of the world’s largest retailers to help the organization take a more structured approach to artificial intelligence. Facing a backlog of disconnected AI ideas and no clear prioritization process, the company turned to Slalom to develop a plan that could scale across departments.
At the centre of the project was EnhanceIQ (EIQ), Slalom’s AI-powered accelerator designed to identify where automation and advanced analytics can have the most meaningful impact. Over the course of four weeks, EIQ was used to analyze tasks performed across 22 roles in five departments. The result was more than 450 potential AI use cases, tailored to the client’s operations.
While the volume of opportunities surprised the client, the key challenge was prioritization. Slalom worked with 15 company leaders to validate and rank the most promising use cases, based on feasibility, impact, and alignment with strategic goals. The team translated those findings into a structured three-year roadmap, including “Battle Cards” for each priority use case and a repeatable framework for future evaluations.
The project helped shift the client’s approach to AI. What had previously been a collection of one-off pilots or department-specific tools is now a coordinated strategy with measurable outcomes. Teams that once felt overwhelmed by AI are now using a shared process to evaluate where and how it can improve operations.
In addition to the roadmap, Slalom found opportunities to save between 30 and 50 percent of time across several key roles. The projected value of the identified use cases ranges from $54 million to $121 million in efficiency gains, depending on the scale and speed of implementation.
Beyond the numbers, the project helped lay a foundation for long-term AI maturity within the organization. It introduced a repeatable intake process, created documentation to guide implementation, and demonstrated how AI can support a wide range of business functions—not just IT or data teams.
For Slalom, the project reflects a growing trend: helping large enterprises move from exploratory AI work to coordinated, enterprise-wide strategies grounded in real operational needs.
This article is part of Innovation+ in the Plus 15, a special editorial series from the Calgary Innovation Peer Forum and Digital Journal that explores how Calgary-based companies are innovating.
