We are a UK consultancy with two practices, supporting asset-heavy, regulated and critical national infrastructure companies. NextFrontierAI helps you work out where AI is worth doing and then get it into production. NextFrontier Consulting does the change, operating model and programme work that makes it stick.
For organisations that want AI working in the business, not stuck in pilots. We help you see where you stand, pick the use cases worth doing, and build the capability to run them yourselves.
A structured look at where you stand on strategy, data, people, governance and infrastructure, and a realistic plan to move forward.
Which use cases are worth doing, in what order, with a clear benefits case and owner for each. Risk and compliance built in from the start.
The roles, decision rights and controls you need to run AI properly, rather than as a collection of side projects.
Practical training for executives, managers, technical teams and the field force, built around the work people actually do.
Senior people working inside your teams, delivering end to end and handing over the know-how as they go.
Change and transformation for asset-heavy, regulated and CNI companies. New technology only pays off when the operating model, the processes and the people change with it. This is where we do that work.
Stakeholder engagement, impact assessment, readiness and adoption for programmes that change how people work.
Designing the target operating model and the route to get there: structure, roles, governance, processes and supporting technology.
Mapping how work happens today and how it should happen tomorrow, including OT and SCADA environments.
Designing services around the people who use them and the people who deliver them, from customers to field teams.
Leading delivery on complex programmes in regulated, asset-heavy businesses.
Supporting Southern Water with a major transformation programme: change management, process modelling and operating model work across operational and digital teams, from site operations through to the executive.
We don't start with a blank page or a six-month discovery. We turn up with a view, test it with you and get to something useful in weeks.
Playbooks, working sessions and people embedded in your teams. When we finish, your people can do the next one without us.
A small number of clients, worked with deeply, alongside partners we trust, in asset-heavy and regulated sectors we know well.
James founded NextFrontierAI in 2026. He has spent his career leading data, AI and transformation programmes in regulated sectors: building data platforms, setting data strategy, designing target operating models and leading the change that gets new ways of working adopted.
He is currently supporting Southern Water with a major transformation programme. Before that he held senior roles at Sand Technologies, AND Digital, Infosys Consulting and Capgemini, working across water, energy, aviation and the public sector.
Peter has decades of senior consulting experience in transformation, programme leadership and operational delivery. He is a GIS and geospatial specialist who has delivered across water and the wider utilities sector, and was formerly General Manager of Esri UK.
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Paul helps organisations move from AI experiments to measurable business value. He most recently led a group-wide AI transformation programme at Fred Olsen spanning 11 businesses, covering strategy, operating models, governance, technology readiness, workforce adoption and use-case prioritisation.
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Simon has a long career in technology, consulting and executive advisory. He advises NextFrontierAI on strategy, positioning in the sector and the senior client relationships that shape where the firm goes next.
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Senior strategists, engineers and change practitioners we know and have worked with. Every associate is vetted for experience and fit before they join a client engagement.
We work with experienced strategists, engineers and change practitioners who want to do good work with good clients. If that sounds like you, get in touch.
AI is arriving fastest in head office and slowest where the real work happens. If the field force gets left behind, utilities end up with two organisations moving at different speeds. Our view: treat AI as reinforcement, not replacement, and give the frontline the tools first.
Read on LinkedIn →Data and AI in regulated sectors. The future of the field force. IT and OT coming together in water. The skills people in critical national infrastructure will need next.
Follow James on LinkedIn or the company page for new pieces.
How do we equip the people who keep the water flowing and the lights on for AI? An evening of practical conversation on what AI means for field operations: knowledge transfer, OT, change and AI literacy. Date, venue and speakers to be confirmed.
We also host small dinners for senior leaders in London. If you'd like an invitation, get in touch.
Softwire
The model providers and cloud platforms we build on, so what we deliver uses current technology rather than last year's.
Specialist consultancies and systems integrators such as Softwire. We deliver together and go to market together in utilities.
Universities, research groups and sector bodies across utilities and critical national infrastructure. Knowing the sector matters as much as knowing the technology.
It usually starts with a thirty-minute call. No deck and no sales pitch. We'll listen, tell you what we think, and be straight with you about whether we're the right people to help.