Fix how the work flows. Then automate it.

Most AI projects fail because they automate a broken process. Datum starts with how your organization actually runs (decisions, handoffs, and accountability), then builds AI systems that fit it.

Governance-grade systems for field-driven Alberta businesses.

Fig. 01 / Current stateTypical field business
Current state: how information moves in a typical field business Field crews text reports to the office. The office copies them onto a whiteboard. Dispatch reads the whiteboard. Nobody is defined as the owner of follow-up. FIELD CREW TEXT + PHOTO OFFICE WHITEBOARD DISPATCH OWNER ? RE-TYPED · Reports re-entered by hand · Status lives on one wall · Follow-up owner: undefined DATUM EL ±0.000 HOW IT ACTUALLY RUNS
Surveyed before builtDiagnose first
01 / The problem

The work gets done. The system around it doesn’t hold.

Most field-driven businesses run on a few people who know where everything is. That works until someone is on holiday, a crew changes, or the business grows past what one whiteboard can carry.

  • P.01

    The whiteboard is the system.

    Job status lives on a wall in the shop. If you’re not standing in front of it, you don’t know what’s current.

  • P.02

    Reports arrive by text.

    Crews send hours, photos and notes to whoever is in their phone. Someone re-types it later, if they remember.

  • P.03

    Reports go missing.

    Field tickets, inspections and daily logs come in late, incomplete or not at all. It surfaces at invoicing, or at an audit.

  • P.04

    Nobody is sure who owns it.

    Decisions stall between the field and the office because the handoff was never defined. Everyone assumes someone else has it.

  • P.05

    AI gets bolted on top.

    A chatbot or automation is added to a process nobody has mapped. It doesn’t fix the confusion. It speeds it up.

  • P.06

    Software didn’t fix it either.

    The last tool was supposed to solve this. It became one more place to check, because the way the work flows never changed.

These aren’t technology problems first. They’re problems of decisions, handoffs and accountability. That’s where Datum starts.

How the work gets fixed
02 / Services

Three ways to work together.

Every engagement starts from how the work actually moves today. Scope, timing and fees are confirmed in writing before anything begins.

S.01Start here

Operations & Governance Diagnostic

A structured look at how your organization actually runs, before anything gets built.

  • Process map of how work moves from field to office
  • Accountability and decision-rights review
  • Gap and risk report
  • Prioritized fixes: some AI, some structural

You get a clear picture and a ranked list of what to fix first, whether or not you build anything next.

S.02Build

System Design & Pilot Build

Redesign one workflow and build the AI system for it.

  • One workflow redesigned with clear owners and handoffs
  • An AI system built to fit that workflow
  • Roles, oversight and review points built in
  • Documentation your team can actually use

A working system in the hands of the people who use it, with the structure to keep it reliable.

S.03Ongoing

Fractional Ops & AI Governance Retainer

Ongoing support once the first system is running.

  • Continuous improvement of live systems
  • An AI use policy for your organization
  • Staff adoption and training
  • The next workflows, prioritized and built

Senior operations and AI governance support, without a full-time hire.

Not sure where to start? Begin with the Diagnostic. Book a Diagnostic Consult

03 / How it works4 stations

Diagnose. Design. Build. Govern.

The order matters. Structure gets fixed before anything is automated, and oversight is in place before the system goes live.

  1. Sta. 0+00

    Diagnose

    Map how work, information and decisions actually move. Talk to the people doing it, in the field and in the office. Find where it breaks.

  2. Sta. 1+00

    Design

    Fix the structure first. Define owners, handoffs and decision rights, then decide where AI belongs and where it doesn’t.

  3. Sta. 2+00

    Build

    Build the system for one workflow. Test it with the crews and office staff who will use it, and adjust before it rolls out.

  4. Sta. 3+00

    Govern

    Set who reviews outputs, how data is handled, and what happens when the system gets it wrong. Then keep improving it.

If the diagnostic shows the fix is structural (a clearer handoff, a defined owner, a simpler form), that’s the recommendation. Not every problem needs AI.

04 / Case studyAnonymized

Alberta oilfield services company

Status: in pilot Sector: Oilfield services · Alberta

The situation

Field crews reported job status and updates by text message. In the office, those updates were transferred onto a physical whiteboard, and that whiteboard was the company’s real-time view of operations.

If you weren’t in the room, you didn’t know what was current. Updates were re-entered by hand, reports could be missed, and it wasn’t always clear who was responsible for acting on them.

The approach

Start with how information actually moved from crew to office to management, and who was expected to act on it. Then design the system around that, not the other way around.

What’s being built

An AI-powered internal operations platform that replaces the whiteboard. Crews keep texting in their reports; the platform takes them in and tracks status in real time, so the office and management see the same current picture.

05 / AI governance

I build the tool and the guardrails.

An AI system inside your operations shapes decisions. Someone needs to own that. Governance isn’t paperwork added at the end; it’s what keeps the system trustworthy after launch.

Included in every build
  • A written AI use policy
  • A map of what data goes where
  • Defined human review points
  • A named owner for each decision

Data handling

What goes into the system, where it’s stored, who can see it, and what never leaves your control. Client, employee and site information is handled with Canadian privacy obligations in mind.

Accuracy checks

AI gets things wrong. Outputs that matter are checked by a person before anyone acts on them, and there’s a clear way to catch and correct errors.

Decision ownership

The system can sort, summarize and flag. People decide. Every decision the system touches has a named owner, and the AI’s role is written down.

06 / About
Jeff Kiers, founder of Datum
Jeff KiersFounder, Datum · Edmonton, Alberta

Governance first. Then technology.

I’m not a software vendor. My background is governance, operations and organizational development, and I implement AI the way I’d approach any change to how an organization runs: understand it first.

For more than 15 years I’ve served on boards in Alberta, in roles including board chair and board secretary, and I’ve chaired governance committees. I founded Boardwise, a governance advisory practice. That work is about decision rights, accountability and building structure that holds up under pressure.

I’ve also led operations and growth at a field-service software company, where I saw how crews, dispatch and the office actually work together, and how often software gets layered on top of a process nobody has defined. I’ve worked in the oilfield myself, so I know the difference between how work is described in the office and how it gets done on site.

Datum brings those together. Diagnose how the organization actually runs, fix the structure, then build AI systems that fit it, with the guardrails in place.

  • Governance15+ years of board service in Alberta: board chair, board secretary, governance committee chair
  • AdvisoryFounder, Boardwise governance advisory
  • OperationsOperations and growth leadership, field-service software
  • PracticeWorkflow design and organizational development
  • FieldHands-on oilfield experience
07 / Next step

Start with a Diagnostic Consult.

A focused conversation about how work moves through your business today, where it breaks, and whether a diagnostic makes sense.

  • How work and information move today
  • Where the handoffs and ownership break down
  • Whether AI is the right fix, or something simpler
  • What a diagnostic would cover for your business

Prefer to write first? Send a message.

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