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Organisation design challenges resolved in weeks. Not studied for quarters.

We are a specialist organisation design firm for European companies of 300 to 10,000 people, and for the private equity firms that own them.
They call us in to realign operating models, structures, spans and layers, and who decides what, now that a growing share of the work is done by AI agents.

Fixed feeAgreed before anything starts, and published on this site
Senior judgementNo project team, no juniors learning on your budget
No workshopsAn outside answer, not one negotiated around a table
Targeted problem solving onlySpecific questions, not transformation programmes
The work

One question at a time, wherever it has got to

We answer structural questions. How a function should be organised, how many layers it needs, who decides what, and what changes now that AI agents do part of the work.

These questions reach us at 4 moments, and each one needs something different. Describe yours and we will tell you which it is.

01“We need to change, but what’s feasible and how do we get there?” Brief → 02“A new org design has landed on my desk, but should I approve it?” Verdict → 03“I need the analysis and real design options before I can decide.” Design → 04“Org design never stops, but how do I set up an internal practice?” Practice →

Or read it by the role you are in.

What arrives

One document. Clear enough to decide on, complete enough to move on

Let me take you through an example. A consumer food brand of 900 people, selling through supermarkets and wholesalers, put AI agents into its commercial team and left the organisation alone.

4 weeks after they contacted us the board approved a new commercial organisation in a single session, off this document. 10 roles fewer and about €800K a year of payroll, clean from year 2 once severance is paid. The fee was €45K, paid once.

THE QUESTION Consumer food brand, 900 people · commercial function, 84 WHAT THE BOARD ASKED We put AI agents into the commercial function last year. The work changed,the organisation did not. Nobody can tell me what it should now look like,or who is answerable when an agent writes the bid a customer signs.THE AMBITIONA commercial organisation sized for the work that is left,with one named owner for every capability and every decision,and a board able to approve it in a single session.01One workflow, all the way downchosen on hours and exposure02The function around itcapabilities, layers, spans, rights03One recommendationand the case against it HOW THE 4 WEEKS WENT 4 weeks from first call to board pack. €45K fixed, agreed before anything started. No workshops, and nothing negotiated around a table.
WHERE THE WORK SITS 84 people · 6 workflows · every one sized SHARE OF THE FUNCTION’S HOURSOF THAT, WHAT AN AI AGENT CAN DRAFTQuote to contract41%62%taken all the way downRenewals and re-pricing17%55%Account planning14%20%Campaigns and content11%70%Forecasting and reporting9%80%Onboarding handover8%35% what an AI agent can draft what still needs a person All 6 were sized. One was taken all the way down to steps, owners and signatures: the most hours behind it, and the only one that ends in a commitment.
TODAY 23 working days · 7 teams touch it · 6 handoffs EnquiryMarketingday 2QualifyInside salesday 5ScopeField salesday 9PriceBid deskday 13Write bidBid deskday 17Margin checkFinanceday 20ApproveCommercial dirday 22ContractLegalday 23 PROPOSED 7 working days · 2 teams · 1 handoff · 3 steps drafted by an AI agent Qualifyinside salesday 1Read RFP, match bidsAI agentday 1Scope the workbid managerday 2First-pass priceAI agentday 3Set price and margindeal desk leadday 4Draft the bidAI agentday 5Review, sign, senddeal desk leadday 7 produced by an AI agent, in minutes judged by a person, and one of them signs The 3 AI steps replace work that took 4 people 11 of the 23 days. The question the design answers is not what an AI agent can draft, it is who is answerable when it does.
WHO DOES WHAT MarketingInside salesField salesDeal deskFinance & legalAI draftsDemand generationownsQualifying an enquiryownsScoping the workownsPricing a dealownsProducing the bidownsContractingownsRenewalsowns does it today owns it in the design an AI agent drafts the first version 4 of the 7 happen in more than one place today, pricing in 3. In the design each has one owner, and 5 of the 7 now begin with something an AI agent produced.
TODAYPROPOSEDCommercial director84 peopleMarketing9 peopleInside sales14 peopleField sales38 peopleBid desk11 peopleNorth10South12Key accts14Bids7Pricing45 layers to a salesperson · average span 3.4 · 8 managersCommercial director74 peopleMarketing9 peopleRevenue operations25 peopleField sales34 peopleDeal desk9Inside sales16North16South184 layers · average span 5.6 · 5 managers Bid desk and inside sales become one revenue operations team. Key accounts folds into the 2 regions as named accounts. 84 roles to 74: 3 of the 8 manager posts, 4 in field sales, 3 in finance support. Inside sales gains 2, because qualifying moves there and stops happening twice.
WHO DECIDES WHAT WHAT MOVED Field salesDeal deskCommercial dirFinanceDiscount up to 15%RDIIwas the commercial director, 4 daysBid below target marginRRDCunchangedNon-standard payment termsIRCDwas legal, no service levelDeclining a bidRDIIwas nobody, bids driftedSigning a bid an AI agent wroteIDIInew, and the reason for the restPrice list changeCRCDunchangedD decides · R recommends · C consulted · I informed. 3 of the 6 moved, and those 3 are where 16 of the 23 days went.
THE RECOMMENDATION Approved by the board in one session WHAT WE RECOMMENDEDMove pricing and margin authority into the desk that writes the bid, fold the bid desk and inside sales into one revenueoperations team, and put one named person behind every bid an AI agent drafts. One decision for the board, not 5.23 → 7working days to a signedcontract, same approvals84 → 74roles, all of them managementor handoff work8 → 5managers, average span3.4 to 5.63 of 6decisions move, and 16 ofthe 23 days with them€800Ka year of payroll, against aone-off fee of €45K THE CASE AGAINST IT, WRITTEN BY US The revenue operations lead is a new job carrying pricing authority, and there is no obvious internal candidate. Fill that post badly and the 7 days come back as rework. Getting there is not free. Severance on 10 roles runs to roughly €700K, so most of the first year pays for the change and the payroll only runs clean from the second. And it stays a decision until somebody carries it out. That part is not ours.

What the board actually asked, and what they wanted to be true at the end of it. The ambition is written down before any analysis starts, because it is what the recommendation gets tested against.

A worked example, disguised. Your numbers come from your own data.

Where this is heading

Agents change the work. Almost nobody changes the organisation

Companies are putting AI agents into the flow of work and leaving the structure exactly as it was.

The chart still assumes a person does every step, spans are still sized for supervising people, and accountability still sits where it sat when a human produced the output.

That is why so many AI programmes produce impressive pilots and no change in how the company runs.

The 4 design questions AI agents actually raise →

Inside, a 30 second test of your own numbers: at what point does the person who signs run out of week?

If bringing everyone along is what you actually need, that is a different firm, and we will name one.
The test we apply before taking work
Is it a decision, or a discussion?If what you need is agreement in the room, a facilitator will get you there and we will not.
Can you decide once you have it?If the answer then waits a season for consensus, the weeks we save you are worth nothing.
Whose side are we on?Where a board and a works council look at the same case, we act for one of them, never both.
Can it be scoped and priced today?The question, the document and the fee go on paper before anything begins, or nothing begins.
What it costs

Every price published. Nothing to ask for

Band AOne function or unit, to about 1,000
Band BSeveral units or a division, 1,000 to 5,000
Band CGroup level, 5,000 and up, or across entities
Brief
€7,500
€12,500
€18,000
Verdict
€4,000
€6,000
€8,500
Design
€45,000
€65,000
€85,000 and up
Practice
Scoped per mandate, because it follows the capability you are building

The full list, and what the same question costs elsewhere →

The other half of the promise

What we refuse is why the rest is fast

We do not

  • Run workshops to build buy-in for you
  • Write job descriptions, grading or placement
  • Run the implementation afterwards
  • Put junior consultants on your question

Which is why we can

  • Answer in weeks instead of quarters
  • Keep one senior person on it throughout
  • Publish a fixed price and hold to it
  • Work before anyone can be told there is a question

How an engagement runs →

Bring the question

One paragraph is enough to start

No form, and no discovery call whose real purpose is to work out your budget.

Describe the decision you are facing in a paragraph and you get a straight answer about whether this is work worth doing, and what it would cost.

arno@spineresolves.com

The full price list is already published, so there is nothing to ask for and nothing to negotiate before you know what you are buying.