CapabilitiesDigital Trust and Responsible AIDiagnostic
Agent Trust Readiness Diagnostic
Your AI agents are starting to act for you. Can you prove who authorized them?
A focused diagnostic that shows where your organization stands on agent identity, delegated authority and content provenance, what good looks like, and what the gap is costing you. You get options, not a pitch.
Why it matters now
Agents rarely fail on intelligence. They fail on authority.
When an agent books, buys, publishes or signs, three questions decide whether you can stand behind it. Most organizations can answer the first. Few can answer all three.
- 01Who is acting?Can each agent prove its identity to the systems, partners and customers it deals with?
- 02Under whose authority?Is its authority scoped, narrowed when it is passed on, and revocable in minutes rather than weeks?
- 03Can anyone verify it?Can an auditor, regulator or customer check what the agent did, and the content it produced, without taking your word for it?
Where do you stand today?
Six statements, two minutes. Mark the ones that are true for your organization. It is useful whether or not you ever speak with us, and nothing you tick leaves this page.
0 / 6 Early
Most organizations start here. The fastest win is usually an agent inventory and a simple rule for who may grant authority.
A written gap report your leadership team can act on
Diagnosis before prescription. We agree on the problem before anyone recommends a solution, including us.
Current state
Where your agents, delegation model and content provenance stand today, mapped across identity, authority and verification.
Future state
What good looks like for your sector, grounded in the open standards now taking shape for agent delegation and provenance.
Cost of the gap
The risk, rework and missed opportunity of standing still, written in terms your finance and risk committees recognize.
Three options
Practical paths forward, always including “not now.” The choice is yours, with or without us.
Three steps. Bounded scope. No surprises.
A diagnostic is a decision aid, not the first phase of a programme. It ends with your report and your choice.
- 01Short pre-readA focused questionnaire on your agents, systems and content workflows, so the session goes straight to what matters.
- 02Working sessionA 90-minute session with your leads. We agree the agenda and the outcome up front, and you leave with at least one insight you can use the same day.
- 03Gap report and walkthroughYour written report within five business days, followed by a walkthrough with your team. No deck, no hard sell.
Why Hkdolts
The diagnostic draws on expertise at the point where strategy, technology and the emerging rules for AI meet, so it reflects where the rules are going, not only where they are.
- Hands-on expertise in how AI disclosure, digital identity and delegated authority work in practice, not only how they are described.
- A seat where the open rules for agent trust and content provenance are being written, so your future state reflects where those rules are heading.
- More than 15 years of tier-1 consulting, translating technical standards into board decisions, operating controls and accountable owners.
- Independence: vendor-neutral advice built on open standards, with no product to place and no platform to resell.
Who it is for, and how to bring your team along
Who it is for
- CIOs, CISOs, CDOs and risk leaders deploying agents that act across systems and organizations
- Media, entertainment and creative businesses using generative and agentic AI without losing provenance, rights or brand control
- Hospitality and travel groups preparing for AI assistants that book and personalize on a guest’s behalf
- Financial services and payments teams preparing for agent-initiated transactions
Four questions for your team
Agent decisions involve technology, security, risk and the business. Share this page and talk these through first; it makes any conversation with us shorter.
- Which of our agents can spend money, sign, publish or share data today, and which will within a year?
- Who in our organization is allowed to grant an agent authority, and is that written down?
- If an agent acted wrongly tonight, how long would it take us to stop it everywhere?
- What would a regulator, auditor or major customer ask to see, and could we show it?
Start with a conversation
Tell us what you are working on and what is at stake. We will come back with a short note on whether a diagnostic is the right next step for you, and if it is, what it would cover. We take a limited number of diagnostics each month; if this month is full, we will hold a place for the next.
Not sure it is the right time? Keep your self-check result. We would rather you start when it is useful than when we would like you to.
- 1You writeA few lines on your agents and what is at stake.
- 2We replyA short note: whether a diagnostic fits, and what it would cover.
- 3You decideGo ahead, wait for a later slot, or take the self-check result and run with it.
Common questions
We haven’t deployed agents yet. Is it too early?
It is the cheapest time to do it. Authority and provenance are far easier to design in than to retrofit.
Will you try to sell us a bigger project?
The report stands on its own. It sets out options, including doing nothing for now, and you decide whether you want help with any of them.
Is it tied to a particular vendor or technology?
No. The diagnostic is vendor-neutral and built on open standards, so your options stay open too.
Who takes part on our side?
Usually the leads for technology, security, risk and the business unit putting agents to work. We help you decide who needs to be in the room during the pre-read.
What if the self-check says we are already advanced?
Then the diagnostic may not be the right next step. We will say so, and point you to the open standards work where you can help set the rules.