VISTA is ION Consultancy's proprietary framework for bringing visibility, ownership and control to AI tool spend, before it becomes an unmanaged line item nobody wants to discuss at board level.
Over the last two years, AI tools have spread through organisations faster than almost any technology before them. Teams sign up for ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and dozens of niche AI products independently, often without IT's knowledge, and almost never with a budget owner attached.
The result: monthly AI spend that is growing quietly, unpredictably, and without anyone responsible for it. When the finance team finally asks "what are we spending on AI, and why", most organisations cannot answer.
VISTA exists to answer that question, and to put a structure in place so it never goes unanswered again.
Each phase answers a question your leadership team is already asking, even if no one has said it out loud yet. Engagements are scoped to cover the phases you need, not every one.
Audit all AI tools and APIs in use, sanctioned and shadow. Map token consumption by tool, team and time period. Establish a cost baseline and identify the top usage drivers.
Attribute every token cost to a user, team or use case. Classify use cases by business value. Identify orphaned or unowned AI workloads.
Set token budgets per team and application, agree a model usage policy, define an approval process for new AI tools, and put data-handling rules in place.
Right-size model usage, audit and trim prompts, identify caching opportunities, and review batch versus real-time workloads.
Establish a monthly spend review cadence, build an executive dashboard, and assign a named AI Spend Owner at leadership level.
We never quote a fixed fee or timeline before we have scoped the work. Every VISTA engagement starts the same way: a conversation, then a scoping workshop, and only then a tailored proposal.
A free 30-minute conversation to understand your AI usage, where the cost pressure is coming from, and whether VISTA is the right fit.
A focused working session to map your AI tool landscape, agree the scope of an audit, and identify quick wins.
A scoped engagement covering some or all of the five VISTA phases, tailored to what the scoping workshop uncovers. Fees and timelines are agreed only after scoping, never before.
Note: VISTA engagements are scoped individually. Not every engagement covers all five phases. Many clients start with Visibility and Identity, a cost audit, before deciding whether to proceed to the full build.
A short set of questions covering the same ground as the VISTA Discovery process. You will get a quick read on where your organisation sits across the five VISTA phases, and where the biggest gaps are likely to be.
5 minutes · No sign-up required
Usually, yes. The risk with VISTA is not just current spend. It is the lack of visibility and ownership, which tends to get more expensive, and harder to unwind, the longer it is left.
No. Many clients start with an audit covering Visibility and Identity, then decide whether to proceed further based on what we find.
The goal is the opposite. Clear standards and ownership mean teams can use AI tools with confidence, rather than informally and at risk.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We will talk through your current AI tool landscape and whether VISTA is the right next step.
Book a Free Discovery Call