The PROVA Method — AI adoption you can measure

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.

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.

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.

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.

Verify

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

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 →

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 Briefing	A 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 & Roadmap	The 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 Advisor	Ongoing 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 & Succession	Where 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.

Two recent engagements, anonymised for confidentiality. Every figure below was measured on the client's own operations — from the actual work logs, against a declared baseline.

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

business functions covered: strategy, IT, after-sales service, marketing

custom AI assets (skills and prompt libraries) handed over — they belong to the client, not the vendor

business cases built in-session on live company data: brand perception, service network optimisation, technical knowledge management

Methodology: effort figures are measured from the file and session logs of the actual engagements; manual baselines are declared estimates based on market practice. Client names are withheld for confidentiality.

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

AI adoption you can measure. Governance you can defend.