Founder of Grannan AI Partners and Key Decision Analytics. He builds custom AI systems for operations-driven businesses and takes on a small number of clients so every engagement gets his full attention.
Ben's career has been built around one question: how do organizations make better decisions with the data they already have? That question led to a Ph.D. in analytics and decision science, an active faculty position as a professor of analytics, and published research in peer-reviewed journals covering operations, healthcare systems, military logistics, and sports analytics.
The research background is real, but it is not what most clients care about when they first reach out. What they care about is whether Ben can solve a specific problem, deliver something that works, and not waste their time getting there. That is the standard he holds himself to on every engagement.
Grannan AI Partners was founded because the gap between planning and production is wider than most consulting firms acknowledge. Ben fills that gap personally. He takes on a small number of active clients at a time so he can stay involved at every stage, not hand off the technical work once the engagement is sold.
Grannan AI Partners is the build practice. Ben also leads Key Decision Analytics, the strategy and modeling side of the same operation. KDA works out what to build and quantifies the case; Grannan AI Partners designs, builds, and deploys the systems. Some clients arrive with a roadmap already in hand and just need it built. Others start on the KDA side and cross over once the plan is proven. Either way, the two firms split cleanly: decide and prove on one side, build and ship on the other.
The model works. The demo impresses the stakeholders. Then the tool goes live and the team routes around it because it does not fit how they actually operate. Ben starts every engagement by understanding the workflow first and building toward the technology from there, not the other way around.
Eighteen months to go live is not rigor. It is a sign that nobody was fully committed to solving the problem. Ben moves quickly, gets working software in front of real users early, and adjusts based on what actually happens. PROInspected was live and handling real inspection volume ahead of the timeline they were quoted by other vendors.
There are processes that look like automation candidates but are not, because the judgment involved is too variable, the data is too thin, or the cost of a wrong output is too high. Ben will tell you when that is the case rather than take on a project that will not work.
An AI system built for your operation today will need adjustment in six months. The vendors who disappear after handoff are the ones whose clients end up back at square one. Ben builds the kind of relationships that allow for ongoing work, because that is the only way the initial investment keeps paying off.
Ben leads two firms that solve different halves of the same problem. Grannan AI Partners is the build shop that designs and ships the systems. Key Decision Analytics is the strategy and modeling side that works out what to build and proves the case first. Many clients use one. Some use both, in sequence.
The build layer. Custom AI systems designed, built, and deployed into live operations. Field services, inspection, reporting, ERP and CRM workflows, the hands-on implementation work.
The analytical layer. Data strategy, decision modeling, optimization, and AI roadmapping: deciding what to do with your data and quantifying the case before implementation begins.
Visit Key Decision Analytics →Tell us what you are trying to solve and Ben will get back to you within one business day.
Talk to Ben