AI initiative scaling, from pilot to production, has become a governance and capital allocation problem for telecom operators. With the majority of AI implementations running over budget and only 30% of pilots surviving to production, the real risk isn't moving too fast; it's continuing to fund initiatives that will not survive production realities. This research gives telco leaders the business case to implement a stage-gate framework that brings discipline to AI pilot scaling decisions, organizing every initiative into one of three outcomes: scale-ready, re-scope, or terminate. The three minimum gates evaluate each initiative against safety, feasibility, and profitability, ensuring that capital and internal attention flow only to AI investments that can perform where it counts: at scale, under real operating conditions.
Implement Stage-Gates for AI Pilot Scaling Decisions
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