The situation of strategy teams
According to BCG, a typical strategy team in large companies has a median of around eleven full-time staff, and in mid-sized companies often only a few people. At the same time, these teams are expected to cover the strategy process, board papers, market monitoring and M&A preparation. On top of that come ad-hoc requests such as “How big is the market for …?” or “Are there acquisition targets in …?”, which tie up capacity at short notice.
Strategy teams are considered particularly affected by AI because their work is based on information, analysis and decision preparation. In surveys, many name generative AI as a top priority. Adoption, however, often fails because of security concerns and missing workflows.
Where AI helps the strategy team
| Task | What AI can contribute | What stays with the team |
|---|---|---|
| Market and trend monitoring | Ongoing research, summaries, early warning signals | Assess relevance for the own business |
| Competitor analyses | Profiles, comparisons, analysis of company data | Derive positioning and consequences |
| M&A screening | Longlists, criteria-based pre-selection | Strategic fit, approach, negotiation |
| Board papers | Structure, drafts, executive summaries | Key messages and recommendation |
| Strategy process | Analysing workshops, consolidating planning inputs | Facilitation and decisions |
| Ad-hoc requests | Fast, evidenced first answers | Putting into context and prioritisation |
The biggest effect: routine analyses go faster, and the team gains time for what it is actually there for, namely thinking through strategic questions, assessing options and preparing decisions.
Limits
Strategy depends on knowledge of the own company, its capabilities, culture and internal interests. The team brings this knowledge and the feel for feasibility, not the AI. The weighing of which direction the company should take also remains a task for the strategy team and the board. A market size belongs in a board paper only with a traceable source. And M&A considerations, strategic options and internal figures are among the most sensitive information a company has. They may only be processed in environments that clearly regulate data hosting, access rights and training.
Isn’t Copilot enough?
Many companies have already introduced Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT. For emails, summaries and simple research this is helpful. For strategy work, however, quite a lot is missing: general assistants do not know fixed approaches for market analyses or M&A screenings, so every team member works differently. Results for the board and supervisory board need sources for every statement, not just plausible texts. And insights should be available again for the next topic instead of disappearing in individual chat histories.
Checklist for strategy and corporate development teams
- Identify recurring analyses, e.g. market sizes, competitors, acquisition targets.
- Set standards: one fixed approach per analysis for the whole team.
- Introduce a source requirement: no number in a board paper without a traceable origin.
- Choose a secure environment: EU data hosting, no training, access according to existing permissions.
- Collect knowledge in a shared knowledge base.
- Use external consulting selectively, where it adds the most value, for example for specialist questions or large transformations.
Conclusion
Strategy teams are not getting bigger, but the demands on them are. AI helps to resolve this contradiction: routine work goes faster, results become more consistent and better evidenced, and the team gains time for the actual strategy work. The prerequisite is to use AI not as a general assistant on the side, but as a permanent, secure part of the team’s way of working.
