As we head into late summer, many of you are at starting to finalize next year’s technology plans and budget. Inevitably, someone on your team has told you that you should be focusing on AI. They insist it’s going to change everything. They never tell you what the AI is going to actually do, just that you need it, now, or your business is doomed.
Most of this comes from people who are trying to sell you a shovel during the gold rush. The reason they are telling you to use AI is that they know that you will pay them to waste time. Their is an entire group of people in tech who hop around doing this from company to company, never really building anything useful, but knowing if they can bullshit the owner for a few years with demos, they can make $500K in the meantime.
Here’s the truth for most of you reading this…
Your business is not ready. Your current technical team is probably underperforming and your current team is already not delivering on their promises from 2019. Do you really think they will be able to implement AI effectively on top of all that? Challenge your leadership team to show progress in those areas first, before embarking on a new journey.
Your systems are probably old, scattered, and were built on your business model 10 years ago. AI is only going to be effective if it can actually access your data and point you forward 10 years. Modernize what you have, scrap the old processes, and make your data accessible so when you do use AI, it can do something meaningful with it.
Technology without a business purpose is worthless. With a new technology that changes weekly, it’s a complete waste of time. AI is just a tool. Before you buy one, you need to figure out exactly what are you trying to solve. If you don’t know, this is your first goal. Find someone you trust, with creativity, energy, and who has proven they can connect technology to business.
The bottom line is that most of you don’t need AI. You just need creativity and accountability. I’ll be honest, most of your issues are not that complicated to solve. Avoid solutions in search of a problem.
If you insist on moving forward, that is great, but do it in an effective way. Find someone you trust to guide you down a realistic roadmap before you spend millions.
Below is a fun little conversation I had with AI yesterday that you will enjoy.
