Prova — Italian for proof

AI adoption you can measure. Governance you can defend.

A five-phase method that treats artificial intelligence the way a board treats any investment: with a defined perimeter, an expected return, a working pilot, verified results — and only then, adoption at scale.

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The Method

Five phases. One rule: proof before promise.

Most AI programmes start with tools and end with slideware. PROVA starts with the business case and ends with measured, governed adoption — in that order, every time.

P

Perimeter

Assessment of where AI can operate safely in your business: data, processes, people — and the governance boundaries set by the EU AI Act and GDPR.

R

Return

A business case before any build: expected hours saved, error rates reduced, time-to-market gained. If the return isn't there, we stop here — cheaply.

O

Operate

One prioritised use case, implemented as a working pilot in your real workflow. Not a demo — a tool your team actually uses, with human oversight built in.

V

Verify

Systematic evaluation against the baseline: before/after metrics, audit trail, documented human-in-the-loop. Results a CFO — or a regulator — can trust.

A

Adopt

Scale what is proven: training for your team, an internal governance framework, and a roadmap for the next use cases — owned by you, not by a vendor.

Why PROVA

Built by a dealmaker, not a vendor.

Deals, not demos

Thirty years of corporate finance — IPOs, M&A, restructurings — mean every recommendation is framed the way owners and boards decide: outcome, risk, return on capital.

EU-regulation native

AI Act, GDPR, DORA: compliance is designed into the perimeter from day one, not retrofitted after the first incident. Built for businesses that answer to regulators, clients and auditors.

Proof before promise

No transformation theatre. Every engagement produces measured results on your own operations — and you keep the assets: playbooks, tools, trained people.

About

Francesco D'Antonio

A senior corporate finance professional who works with AI daily — and teaches executives and their teams to do the same, safely.

Francesco has spent three decades advising Italian companies on the most consequential decisions of their life: going public, buying, selling, restructuring. Today he combines that judgement with hands-on fluency in applied AI — building agents, knowledge systems and evaluation frameworks, not just talking about them — to help European SMEs, professional firms and family offices adopt AI with the discipline of an investment committee.

Connect with Francesco on LinkedIn →
Francesco D'Antonio
  • 30+ years in corporate finance
  • 60+ IPOs advised on European markets
  • ~30 M&A, private equity and turnaround transactions
  • MBA, IMD Lausanne
  • Chartered Accountant (Dottore Commercialista) since 1992
  • Based in Milan — working across Europe in English and Italian
Engagements

Four ways to work together.

EntryExecutive AI BriefingA focused session with the owner or board: where AI moves margin and risk in your business — mapped in 90 minutes, in your language, on your numbers.
CoreAI Assessment & RoadmapThe full P and R phases: use-case discovery, prioritisation by impact and feasibility, business case with expected ROI, and a governance perimeter ready for the AI Act.
RecurringAI Governance AdvisorOngoing oversight as your AI footprint grows: quarterly steering, compliance watch (AI Act, GDPR, DORA), and independent verification of what your vendors promise.
PremiumAI-assisted M&A & SuccessionWhere the method meets thirty years of deals: AI-accelerated due diligence, valuation support and generational-transition planning for owner-led businesses.
Proof

Measured on real engagements. Not in a lab.

Four recent engagements, anonymised for confidentiality. Every figure below is either measured on the client's own operations — from the actual work logs — or declared as a baseline in the approved programme.

Case study · Confidential

Family-owned SME — B2B industrial distribution, Italy

Executive AI programme for the two owners (20 hours, 10 modules), built around three applied projects on live business questions: M&A target screening, supplier compliance benchmarking and competitor trade intelligence.

1,295 → 15
companies screened down to a scored short-list of priority M&A targets, with declared exclusion criteria — in under half a working day
~2 h
to verify the documentation portals of 15 European suppliers with parallel AI agents — an estimated 7–15 person-days manually
1 h 18′
from raw customs data to a board-ready competitor report, including the draft response to the client
2/2
owners trained personally — AI capability built at the top of the company, not delegated down
Case study · Confidential

Italian industrial group — capital goods, international footprint

A multi-module AI programme across strategy, IT, after-sales service and marketing — grown from a single pilot module into a company-wide learning track, with reusable AI assets that remain with the client.

1 → 7+
from one pilot module to a company-wide programme — renewed on results, not on promises
4
business functions covered: strategy, IT, after-sales service, marketing
9
custom AI assets (skills and prompt libraries) handed over — they belong to the client, not the vendor
3
business cases built in-session on live company data: brand perception, service network optimisation, technical knowledge management
Case study · Confidential

International law firm — offices in Italy and Luxembourg

A 30-hour AI programme designed for lawyers (10 modules: 5 plenary, 5 practice-specific), built on the firm's own house style and on non-negotiable professional guardrails: privilege, GDPR, human verification, accountability.

15
reusable AI skills codified and handed over — from house-style memos to source verification and legal translation. They belong to the firm
5
practice groups with dedicated vertical modules — from funds and banking to litigation — each working on its own use cases
4
deontological guardrails engineered into every workflow: professional secrecy, GDPR, human-in-the-loop verification, accountability
2
data-governance phases by design: public and anonymised data only first; enterprise environment with DPA before any client file
Case study · Confidential

Italian single-family office — Milan

A 12-month, 135-hour organisational AI programme designed function by function — from process mapping to a tailored AI policy — with every phase anchored to KPIs against declared baselines, and built to double as evidence of EU AI Act art. 4 literacy compliance.

135 h
of training and applied work designed across 12 months, one function at a time — starting from how work actually flows
6
functional areas mapped through structured questionnaires and the analysis of 10 internal procedures before a single hour of training
2
AI policies delivered before day one — an AI usage policy and an integrated IT+AI policy, written on a family office's real risks: listed-company information, family data, fraud on payment instructions
10 → 5 days
example of a KPI declared up front (fund due-diligence cycle): every module is tied to a measurable baseline, verified at the end

Methodology: effort figures are measured from the file and session logs of the actual engagements; manual baselines are declared estimates based on market practice. For programmes currently in delivery, scope figures and KPI baselines reflect the approved programme documents. Client names are withheld for confidentiality.

Sectors served
B2B chemical distributionCapital goods & manufacturingLaw firmsAccounting firmsCredit management & NPEFragrance & beautyHR & organisational consulting
Governance

Shadow AI is already in your company. Governance is how you take back control.

People are already pasting company data into public chatbots — no perimeter, no log, no accountability. Prohibition doesn't work: the answer is a governed alternative that beats the workaround. This is the regulatory backbone built into every PROVA engagement.

EU AI Act

AI literacy (art. 4) is already a legal obligation, and the transparency duties of art. 50 apply from 2 August 2026. A structured training programme is not just capability building — it is the evidence a regulator asks for.

GDPR & confidentiality

A clear data perimeter before the first prompt: what may enter which tool, in which environment. Public and anonymised data first; enterprise environments with data-processing agreements before any confidential file. Client files and family data treated as a security matter, not a formality.

Sector rules: MAR, DORA, Italian AI law

Finance and listed-company ecosystems answer to rules of their own: price-sensitive information and market abuse, DORA for financial entities, Italy's AI law 132/2025. If your business answers to a regulator, your AI adoption must answer to it too.

Anti-Shadow-AI by design

A register of authorised tools that says yes fast — slow approval is what creates shadow AI. Human-in-the-loop checkpoints where errors are expensive, an audit trail where decisions matter, and a policy your people can actually follow.

Typical governance deliverables: an AI policy written on your actual risks, a register of authorised tools, training that doubles as art. 4 evidence, verification checkpoints a board can defend.

Run the 5-minute governance check →
Contact

Start with proof.

The first conversation is a working session, not a sales call: bring one process that eats your team's hours, and leave with a view on whether AI can pay for itself there.

Prefer email? Write directly to francesco@provamethod.eu