AI Governance Company

Governance begins with an inventory of the tools and use cases in scope. Paloren identifies who uses them, what information they handle, which actions they support and who owns the outcome. The inventory includes informal practices that affect the business, while discovery keeps a clear purpose and appropriate handling. We distinguish an employee drafting internal text from a system changing customer records because different consequences require different controls. The result is a usable picture of responsibility and exposure mapped to your regulatory context.

• Tool and use-case inventory
• Data and action classification
• Owner recorded for each material use case

A governance policy needs examples that help staff decide what to do under ordinary pressure. Paloren works with responsible owners to define permitted uses, restricted data, required review and the route for requesting an exception. A practical decision guide can distinguish an approved internal draft from an unapproved customer commitment. It also names who can approve a new tool or accept a risk. Employees should not need to infer rules from a vendor's marketing language. Legal and regulatory interpretation remains with qualified advisers and the organisation's accountable teams.

• Acceptable-use rules with examples
• Approval and exception decision guide
• Clear ownership of specialist interpretation

Governance implementation asks how each important rule is enforced or checked. For a connected workflow, that may involve scoped access, approval before a sensitive action, an activity record and a stop procedure. For employee use, it may mean an approved application list, a source-checking requirement and a reporting channel. A policy saying that people must review output does not show that review happens before an action. We define the evidence a control should produce and who examines it. Technical configuration work is explicitly scoped, with dependencies on the administrators who own the relevant systems.

• Control-to-policy mapping
• Approval evidence and exception records
• Control checks with accountable reviewers

You receive a prioritised gap register, a decision guide, a control register and a review plan. Each material gap has evidence, an owner and a proposed resolution. Paloren also defines review triggers such as a new data source, expanded action authority or a material incident. An incident exercise walks through who stops the workflow, preserves relevant evidence and decides whether it can resume. This makes governance something the business can operate, rather than a document filed after a workshop.

• Prioritised gap register
• Control register and review plan
• Incident exercise findings

Paloren is co-founded by Aaron Agius and Alex Agius. Aaron founded Louder, a growth agency, and has spent 15 years building marketing, data and growth systems. The people behind Paloren have spent two decades inside businesses such as IBM, Ford, LG, Unilever, Jaguar and Chelsea FC. That experience matters because governance needs operational judgement as well as policy language. Paloren also implements connected workflows, so controls can be designed around the systems people actually use.

• Operational and commercial judgement
• Connected workflow experience
• Training and handover built in

Governance starts with an inventory of the tools and use cases in scope. Paloren identifies who uses them, what information they handle, which actions they support and who owns the outcome. The inventory includes informal practices that affect the business, while discovery keeps a clear purpose and appropriate handling. We distinguish an employee drafting internal text from a system changing customer records because different consequences require different controls. The result is a usable picture of responsibility and exposure.

• Tool and use-case inventory
• Data and action classification
• Owner recorded for each use

A written rule is not a control. A control is something that produces evidence: a scoped access setting, an approval record, an activity log or a review checklist. Paloren maps each important rule to a control and defines what evidence it should produce. A policy saying that people must review output does not show that review happens before an action. The control does. This distinction is what makes governance something the business can check rather than something it hopes is happening.

• Rule mapped to a control
• Evidence defined and collected
• Reviewer assigned to the check

An incident exercise walks through a plausible failure: a source feeds wrong data, a sensitive action is performed without review, or an employee pastes restricted material into an unapproved tool. The exercise names who stops the workflow, who preserves evidence, who assesses the impact and who decides whether it can resume. Paloren runs this as a tabletop exercise with the relevant owners, then records the gaps. This is more useful than a policy document because it tests the decision-making under pressure rather than assuming it will work.

• Plausible failure scenario
• Named roles for stop, evidence and resume
• Recorded gaps and actions

Use this checklist before choosing a governance company. First, the proposal states the inventory method and scope. Second, it defines the decision guide and approval routes. Third, it maps rules to observable controls. Fourth, it includes an incident exercise. Fifth, it states the review plan and what is excluded. If any of these are missing, ask for written clarification before signing. Legal advice is a separate engagement and should be confirmed with qualified advisers.

• Inventory method and scope
• Decision guide and observable controls
• Incident exercise and review plan

Paloren references recognised frameworks where they apply: ISO 42001 for AI management systems, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework for governance scope, and the EU AI Act for high-risk classifications. The reference depends on your regulatory context. Paloren does not provide certification or legal advice. It organises the requirements and decisions so your legal or compliance team can review them, and so the controls are practical rather than theoretical.

• ISO 42001 for AI management systems
• NIST AI RMF for governance scope
• EU AI Act for high-risk classifications

Acceptable use is defined with examples that help staff decide under ordinary pressure. A useful guide distinguishes an approved internal draft from an unapproved customer commitment. It names who can approve a new tool or accept a risk. It also defines what data may be used and what stays restricted. Paloren works with responsible owners to write these rules, so they reflect the business rather than a template. Legal interpretation remains with qualified advisers.

• Permitted and restricted uses with examples
• Approval route for new tools
• Data boundaries named

When an incident occurs, the first step is to stop the workflow. The second is to preserve evidence. The third is to assess the impact. The fourth is to decide whether the workflow can resume. Paloren defines these roles before an incident happens, so the team knows what to do rather than improvising under pressure. The incident exercise tests this with a plausible scenario, and the gaps found during the exercise are recorded with owners.

• Stop the workflow
• Preserve evidence
• Assess impact and decide whether to resume

Use this checklist before choosing a governance company. First, the proposal states the inventory method and scope. Second, it defines the decision guide and approval routes. Third, it maps rules to observable controls. Fourth, it includes an incident exercise. Fifth, it states the review plan and what is excluded. If any of these are missing, ask for written clarification before signing. Legal advice is a separate engagement.

• Inventory method and scope
• Decision guide and observable controls
• Incident exercise and review plan