Phased Development Plan

AIDE Development Plan

AIDE will follow a structured, evidence-led development pathway designed to reduce risk, test the proposition before major capital is committed, and proceed only where the evidence supports progression.

Structured, Evidence-Led Development Pathway

AIDE’s development model is deliberately phased so that funding, technical work, owner evidence and commercial decisions remain aligned. Each phase answers a different question. Progression is not automatic.

The Three Phases

Phase 1 — Proof of Concept

Phase 2 — MVP Pilot Phase

Phase 3 — Market Release

Phase 1 – Proof of Concept

The Proof of Concept will test whether AIDE’s underlying proposition is strong enough to justify progression to a working product. Accounting data provides the diagnostic foundation, but the proposition being tested is combined-source. Phase 1 will test whether AIDE can reliably produce credible accounting signals, combine accounting with relevant operational information, and derive meaningful, business-specific interpretation that genuinely depends on those combined sources. Accounting plus point-of-sale information is the minimum combined-source configuration being tested, with rostering information added as a richer configuration where it is meaningful and adds genuine decision value.

Key Outcomes

  • Validate reliable access to relevant accounting and operational data
  • Test business-specific risk, opportunity and mixed-signal interpretation
  • Demonstrate credible combined-source synthesis
  • Assess whether combined-source interpretation materially improves the owner’s understanding or decision compared with the accounting foundation alone
  • Test whether SME owners understand, accept and would realistically use the combined-source proposition
  • Assess practical connection, consent, onboarding and price trade-offs
  • Test privacy, security, legal and professional-boundary requirements
  • Assess intermediary and referral pathways
  • Define the bounded product configuration to be taken forward if the evidence supports progression

At the conclusion of Phase 1, the evidence will be assessed under AIDE’s Go/Abandon Threshold Evaluation.

A GO permits AIDE to seek progression to Phase 2.

An ABANDON decision ends the present AIDE development pathway.

Phase 2 – MVP Pilot Phase

Phase 2 combines product build and controlled real-world testing. If Phase 1 produces a GO decision and the required Phase 2 funding and readiness conditions are met, AIDE will build a bounded Minimum Viable Product based on the configuration supported by the evidence and test it with a controlled hospitality-first user group. The product will not operate on accounting data alone. The pilot product will combine accounting with at least one relevant operational source.

 

Key Outcomes

  • Build the evidence-supported AIDE product configuration
  • Implement the required accounting and operational-data connections
  • Deliver timely, plain-English business interpretation to participating SME owners
  • Test usability, trust, relevance and continued use in real operating conditions
  • Assess onboarding, consent, support and interaction friction
  • Test reliability, privacy, security and operational controls
  • Gather evidence on adoption, retention and commercial viability
  • Refine intermediary and market-access pathways

Before live Pilot activity begins, AIDE will complete an internal readiness assessment covering operational safety, privacy, security, accuracy, consent, support and incident controls.

Phase 3 – Market Release

Phase 3 will be considered only after the MVP Pilot evidence has been assessed. The purpose of this phase is to decide whether AIDE is sufficiently useful, trusted, technically reliable and commercially viable to move beyond controlled testing.

  • Initial commercial market entry
  • Refine pricing and customer-support arrangements
  • Expand validated channel and referral pathways
  • Broaden hospitality-market deployment
  • Assess additional SME sectors
  • Consider further operational-data integrations where they add sufficient value
  • Progressive strengthening of infrastructure, security and support capability

Market Release is not assumed in advance. Its scope, timing and funding will be determined from the evidence generated during the MVP Pilot Phase.

The Governing Principle

No capital ahead of evidence.

AIDE is being developed in stages so that each major commitment is supported by evidence from the stage before it.