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Generally, we see businesses look at their IT teams and ask them to complete initiatives that they don't have the bandwidth to do because their job- Yep. -Is in the day to day activities of those businesses. And a lot of those IT folks don't feel it's safe to ask for help. They view that as a, I'm saying I can't do this, versus- Yep. You know, or I'm unable to, versus, I don't have the time. And so that's where having a partnership can really accelerate that technology adoption. Welcome to the latest episode of Unraveling IT, Expert Tech Talks. I'm Garrett Wiesenberg, Director of Solutions Engineering here at Corsica Technologies, and I'm sitting down today with the CEO, Brian Harmison, and COO, Peter Rodenhauser, to dive back into AI strategy. We know AI is everywhere, but the question isn't really what is AI, it's how to use it. Today, we're breaking down how businesses can step into AI in effective and a meaningful way. Thanks, Garrett. Yeah. One of the things we hear all the time is my business, you know, we wanna do AI. How Yep. How do we get started? Or we know we need to get into AI. What everyone is asking about now is how do I practically use it within my business? It might be helpful for us to kinda define some of the terms that we're gonna use today. Yep. So, you know, one of the things that that we often hear is, we wanna implement some AI in our business. And, you know, the first question we ask is, well, what does that mean for you? What are you, what are you trying to solve? And I see a lot of confusion between AI and automation. And automation is just, you know, the things we've done in business for a long time, which is creating routine tasks that that are able to be completed automatically, where AI brings a level of decision making and reasoning into that. That typically replaces some portion of a person's role that that we've traditionally needed a thinking person in in order to complete that task. Yeah. I think that's an important point. And Garrett, thanks for having me. You're welcome. Today. Oh, yeah. Thank you. But, you know, and I think it's also important to note that the two coexist, you know, and they're gonna continue to coexist. So, you know, automation, Brian, as you said, is that, you know, these are these are predefined steps or tasks, that we can programmatically, or systematically automate, in a way that introduces efficiency. Whereas, you know, AI brings that level of, decision making, based on, you know, either known or unknown quantities or variables. Mhmm. So it's exciting and, yeah, definitely worth noting that, you know, we're gonna continue to see them coexist. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the great things about businesses asking about AI is it gives a chance to talk about some of the areas of automation that maybe they haven't explored in the past. Why do you think AI is creating both excitement and anxiety for business leaders right now? Is it because of the the unknowns surrounding AI? Is it just hype? Are they hearing, you know, the buzzword of AI and just wanting to jump in head-first? I mean, where's all the hype coming from? I think, I think for business leaders, there's, you know, whether it's anxiety, there's fear of not wanting to be left behind. Mhmm. So not wanting to miss out on- FOMO. Yep. Maybe some FOMO. Not wanting to miss out on on a wave. You know, I think any business leader is being, you know, certainly challenged or inquired by, you know, their board or their executive team to say, hey. How can we better leverage AI in our business, to either introduce innovation or introduce, you know, cost savings. Those are those are, you know, gonna be typically, your two levers. But I think, you know, the other, you know, concern or fear is around just wanting to better understand it and the applicability of it. I know we're gonna talk about that today Mhmm. Because that's a huge unknown. You know, how can we apply AI to our business that's most meaningful and most impactful. Right. I don't know what you're seeing. Yeah. I agree with what you said, Peter. I think on the anxiety side is, is some of my data being put into a ChatGPT, or used in a way that maybe I don't know about? Are my employees using AI to fulfill their job functions, and, you know, I'm paying somebody to do something that maybe they're not doing anymore? Are we violating some kind of rule or, you know, potentially even ethics around the way a person, for example, in HR might be using AI to, you know, screen candidates. Mhmm. They're so I think some of the anxiety comes from less of the productivity side and more of as Peter mentioned, there's this unknown element of what could be happening in my business. And, you know, I do think the fear of being left behind, you know, I consistently hear it that, you know, we're afraid we'll be the last ones to adopt or we're gonna end up at a disadvantage because we haven't adopted AI. So when you hear leaders, you know, in organizations saying, you know, I want to get into AI, what do you think they're truly asking? I think they're looking for that advice of how do I not get left behind? How do I make sure that I'm not the last one at the table saying we're bringing AI? Mhmm. What what's often missing from that is, well, where in your business? Because we as business leaders have to think about our business in terms of, you know, what are the right areas to use AI? I mentioned HR as an example. HR is not a good area Mhmm. To use AI because AI has natural biases. We don't want to depend on, you know, the the machine reasoning and and learning to to make human capital decisions. But when it comes to my data and looking for insights on my data, that that could be a really good area. So what I usually hear is, you know, when somebody asks that question, they're really saying, you know, where do I get started? Yeah. Yeah. And I think with that, you know, our guidance and advice to clients is gonna, you know, be to really obviously better understand their business. And as Brian said, you know, what areas do we wanna focus on? But I think it starts a very natural place to start is working with the vendors and software applications that you are currently partnering with today and understanding how they are incorporating AI into their products and platforms. Mhmm. If you gain some insight, you know, into that, you know, of course, it's gonna give you a road map of what features functionality you may be able to leverage in in the future. But it also gives you some insight to how a technology vendor or provider is thinking about AI or looking at AI within the products that they're providing you today. Mhmm. I think that's such a great point. I think people think of, you know, we wanna do AI in our businesses. You know, they need to go implement Yeah. Something. And the reality is they likely have partners who are already making those investments that that they can leverage. Mhmm. And where they need to focus is maybe a little bit more the way their business operates and what areas they can leverage the tools that they might already be paying for within that environment. I think that's a really great point. We have this conception or misconception of AI because of things like ChatGPT and even Copilot to some extent, that it's really easy. You know, I just type in stuff and it gives me things back. Yep. And that's true if you need, you know, to write a poem or you want to put something in maybe a little different format, word it differently. Mhmm. Gather a lot of data for research that that doesn't have to be super precise or maybe a hundred percent accurate, but you're looking for directionally accurate. When it comes to integrating those concepts within our own business, the AI has to be trained on our business. And the best way to do that is through the applications and the vendors that we already partner with to run our business, and EMR, or even, you know, SharePoint OneDrive, the data verse Copilot. Yep. And I think that, you know, along those lines and examples you shared, Brian, you know, this this is where we really draw the distinction of leveraging AI as a productivity gainer, not necessarily an automation job elimination tool. And, you know, a couple of good examples, when you look at Copilot, when you look at ChatGPT, you know, how can we leverage that? Well, you know, maybe we're leveraging them just to get an idea or a concept, you know, whether it's summarizing a document. That's a time saver. Doesn't replace the fact that I still need to absorb and understand, digest, marinate on the on the information itself and come up with my own conclusions, but it can get me there faster. Or if I plug in the ChatGPT, hey, give me an idea of a structured report on, you know, something that, you know, whether it's a topic or even, you know, a business report. It can give you an example of an outline. So you're not starting from a blank piece of canvas. Yeah. You know, so it just gives you a little bit of an accelerator, to start that project or initiative. It's not, you know, replacing a function in its entirety Mhmm. Today. Oh. Yeah. Today. I think that's a great point. Where we see AI at right now is not replacing humans doing tasks. It is a productivity multiplier, as Peter said. And, you know, transcribing meeting minutes and giving action items are great another great example. These are things that do have an impact. They're maybe not quite as exciting as saying, you know, we can reduce our direct labor by thirty percent because we're implementing AI, but they allow your good employees to be that much more productive, have a better balance, and spend their time on the most important tasks. Mhmm. You both meet with quite a few clients, you know, often and have these conversations with them frequently. Do you find that there's this misconception surrounding, AI versus automation and they're using them interchangeably to to some extent? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. They think that, you know, AI will solve everything. But really, you know, the automation tools, like you've stated earlier, have existed for quite a long time. It's just a matter of implementing them. Yeah. And I think AI can introduce automation. Yep. Right? So AI is identifying in some cases what can be automated or even how to automate Right. It's becoming that that think engine to to do that. Right? The means to to ultimately that automation end. Yeah. And and a great example is, you know, ChatGPT. Write me some code that does x, y, and z. Mhmm. That code provides a level of automation that was produced by AI. Yep. Which traditionally, maybe I would have had to call a developer and have them do that where now I can just go plug it in. So I I think that distinction is often lost when someone says, you know, the classic Mhmm. We need AI in our business. Yeah. A lot of times what they're thinking of is really automation, and AI can help accelerate that automation for sure. Yep. So what do you think is the the biggest barrier for entry for these organizations trying to adopt AI and trying to, you know, maybe automate some of their tasks, but, you know, also add that layer of AI on top to really intelligently analyze the data and and make decisions. I think it's it's the challenge that businesses have anytime they go to adopt something new, whether it's an ERP system or some automation or AI in this case. It's what is their willingness to adapt the way they think about their process and their use of technology towards the toolset versus towards the way they think it should be done. Mhmm. And, you know, some of the classic ERP implementation horror stories are all about, we tried to bend this ERP system to match the way we operate versus saying, the ERP system's made for our industry. We can adapt what we do to fit these best practices. And Mhmm. And and AI can can be the same way. If if you look at AI as the tool that could build you anything, well, it's gonna be very expensive. It's gonna take a long time, and it probably won't produce the best results. If you look at AI as the tool to help in the evolution of your business towards your business goals, then it can become a very powerful tool that helps you also adapt the way you operate to match what's happening. And and a practical example is, you you know, the the the adoption of Copilot and saying, you know, I I wanna use Copilot in my business to help me find files and do client summaries faster. Mhmm. If if we don't say, well, we're gonna move out of file shares on servers into OneDrive and SharePoint, that becomes very hard Yeah. To do. Where if we adopt now a cloud based file system, it naturally lends itself very easily to say, I wanna apply some AI to that cloud based file system that's made to operate on that cloud based file system. Mhmm. Yeah. I think that's well said. I mean, I I think, you know, when when we talk about the adoption of AI, we're talking about a change management, you know, item and challenge inside people and the processes to support it and Mhmm. Set up to support it are are gonna be key and and critical. I think if if those are set up, then you're set up to be successful. So it's really a a top down mentality. Like, you gotta get the leaders bought into the the changes that you're going to be pushing through the organization, and it's really more of a cultural thing. Yeah. I mean, I think most things are. Yeah. Cybersecurity, same way. K. If Yep. If the the leadership doesn't believe it and it's not culturally valued Mhmm. Neither will automation. Yep. I'm I'm gonna say automation instead of AI first. Yep. Neither will automation, which ultimately then can can drive you towards the use of AI. Mhmm. Because it because AI is just intelligent automation of of these things that that brings in that reasoning and decision making capability Mhmm. To do an automation process. Yeah. And I think it's critical that, you know, with that top down approach, if the the top is casting the vision of, you know, we want to explore and identify ways that AI can help grow, innovate our business. That's a great message to hear. You still need to create the culture of allowing the ideas to grow from the ground up to the organization. Because it's not going to be, you know, the executive team that's gonna think of all of the, you know, applications of AI. It's going to be the teams that need them and creating a culture where, you know, there's not fear of job replacement. Right? I mean, you're truly creating, that vision of, you know, how do we leverage this technology to introduce new products, new services, to our customers or in a more efficient way. Mhmm. And if you can be successful at that, then you can have your team supporting the business, operating the business, ultimately seed where those opportunities are and funnel them back up for the organization for approval and sponsorship and ultimately funding. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's such a great point, Peter, because in unless the people who the automation's going to impact are on board, it, you know, it's not gonna be adopted, and it's not gonna happen. And that's where, as business leaders, we can talk more directly and accurately about AI in terms of, you know, what we expected to do for you as an employee around it's going to make your life easier. We wanna remove these repetitive tasks. We want you doing the real work that you are hired to do and to really make it that that bandwidth multiplier for you. Yeah, absolutely. And to draw a similar analogy, it's when we talk with customers as a managed service provider, we're often talking with, a director of IT, a VP of IT. And, you know, we're positioning ourselves to partner with their organization to provide a lot of the, you know, the back office, IT, and cybersecurity services to free them up Mhmm. To focus on the business. Because they're in a position where they know so much about the business that, you know, let's not waste that time on keeping the lights on, so to speak. Leverage a partner that can do that, you know, more effectively, you know, or, maybe efficiently so that you can focus on adding value and strategy to the business. Same as applicable in, you know, with with AI. How do we leverage this technology so that we can better end? I wanna go back to, something you said previously, Brian, which is, you know, where your workloads are located. You know, having file shares on-prem versus file shares in the cloud, are you are you saying that you can't leverage AI if you have file shares on prem? Or, you know, what are the- Yeah. - you can. There are ways to do that. I you know, our recommendation and, you know, maybe a way to answer this question is to step back a little bit to what I said before, which is, are you adopting the way AI was designed Mhmm. In your particular use case was designed to operate, or are you trying to fit it into the mold of the way you want Yeah. To operate or the way you've always done things? In the software development world, you know, we tell people when they ask you, well, is this possible? Well, anything's possible given enough time and money. Like, this technology, we can do whatever you want. Yep. But none of us have unlimited time or unlimited money. So the question comes down to, you know, what's the best use of that that time and money? And while it could be done, the best way to do it, the most efficient way that also sets you up for long term success and other opportunities is to adopt the methods and systems and data locations that naturally support AI and were built to support AI rather than those that are, you know, being, you know, patched in Yeah. As legacy support. Yeah. And I think to summarize and be, you know, provide even a specific example is, you know, a lot of our clients, even ourselves, we, you know, we're in the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft, you know, 365. Storing files in OneDrive versus, you know, a file system will automatically unlock native AI capabilities that aren't going to exist otherwise. Mhmm. So why would you not take advantage of that? Yeah. And that's really, you know, we're getting at is those native capabilities. So going back to talking with your current software, you know, vendors and providers, understanding, you know, what their roadmap is for AI, how they support AI so that you can take advantage of those capabilities, you know, in the most native way possible is gonna get the most bang for your buck. So what are some practical AI use cases you've seen, organizations adopt, you know, as sort of like a use case example? You know, is it document summarization? Is it data analytics? Maybe a mixture of both or even something else? Yeah. It's, it's both. I think some of the most practical examples maybe aren't the most exciting, because they're not the things that- the silver bullet kind of AI implementations that I think a lot of business folks have in their mind. Mhmm. But they're things like recording meetings, summarizing meetings, creating follow up action items. Those are the super practical everyday force multipliers within business that we see happening, a lot. The other is around, you know, writing automation code through things like Copilot Studio Mhmm. To build efficient workflows in the online Microsoft ecosystem to to be able to operate their business better. So whether that's, you know, an HR approval process, you know, document approval, change management, those kinds of things, all are very easily supported as well as, you know, the movement and reporting on data automatically. Yeah. I would, I would agree. I mean, I think, you know, an accelerator in in low code environments, to automate tasks. So again, using AI to support automation is an area. You know, we're not, I'm not seeing or hearing of AI being used to build, you know, enterprise class, you know, software applications by any means that could be, you know Maybe at the individual level, it is. Right? But it's not Correct. Not replacing those developers who might be using some AI to help them. Exactly. So that's one. You know, Brian mentioned, you know, productivity within businesses. You know, another area, just because, you know, scenario that that we touch on that I see some very practical implementations on is around service desk, help desk ticket management software applications Mhmm. In really helping agents, identify and correlate various incidents as they're working with customers. Again, accelerating knowledge base articles, to them based on some of the keywords that might be, you know, within a request or an incident. That's one. I think we're seeing some things in in even, you know, call center, technology where there's an actual voice over, you know, component. It can pick up based on dialogue. So, you know, if you are in the southern part of the country versus, you know, someone calling in from the UK, the dialects that get translated can even, you know, have a localized Mhmm. Dialogue and accent. Wow. So there's some cool technologies like that that's happening. That's awesome. Yep. So how should a business go about identifying, you know, how they plan to adopt AI? What sort of questions should they be asking themselves or, you know, their coworkers to, you know, really find the right fit? Yeah. There's really kinda two key parts of AI adoption. One is how do we adopt technology in general and bring it into our ecosystem and provide security for it and make sure that that we're using it in a safe and ethical way that that also protects our business. So that's, that's one piece. And that's not really the topic for today, but it's worth mentioning that, you know, as a business, when we talk about adopting any new technologies, bringing in a new system, we need to have a process that manages us through that. So that's one. The other is then what are we why? What's, what's our reason adopting this new technology, and where do we expect it to take us? And that's, that's a piece that that I frankly see most businesses missing. I kinda mentioned this idea of it's like the silver bullet Mhmm. Of technology now. We're gonna implement AI, and all of our wildest dreams are gonna come true. But we don't even know what those dreams are, and we're Yep. We're starting to to use something. And so we see a lot of experimenting with AI because of that, you know, things like Copilot. But it's sitting down and really developing what's our technology plan. Mhmm. And then how does AI help support that plan? And how does it support our growth and our business strategies? And without those strategies in place, it's very difficult to have a successful adoption of any new technology, let alone AI. Yeah. I think, you know, we're still in such an infancy, you know Mhmm. Mode of AI technology and even the implementation of it. So, you know, in my view, you know, what's most important right now for organizations, especially as they're, you know, dipping the toe in the water and getting some initial exposure is really, you know, incubate, you know, incubate, experiment with some ideas. You know, don't go into, you know, some huge initiative. Figure out, you know, you know, what may work. No idea is a bad idea. Right? I mean, if you come across an idea and you're able to cross it off the list, then, you know, it's something that you shouldn't be focusing on. That's okay too. But really going through that, you know, in terms of an experimental phase, once you get to the point where you can actually identify some, you know, some specific areas where you can leverage AI for that innovation or for efficiency, whatever it might be, you know, those two pillars. You know, the most important one of the most important things that Brian hit on this is really having some governance around the data. Mhmm. You know, that data and where that data lives and, you know, because that that data is what's going to be used, ultimately for, you know, AI engine, whatever it is to make its decisions and to, you know, to create its output. So ensuring that that data is safe, protected, based on your governance within your organization's experience. Okay. Let's say a business has identified a use case. What are the next steps for them to actually, you know, pushing that adoption forward or pushing that initiative forward? I hate to say it depends. But it, you know, it really does depend on where in the organization. Mhmm. But, you know, going back to something that I mentioned earlier, in ensuring that you have people in process in place to support whatever the technology in in some cases is almost secondary to these implementations, because it is a change event. But ensuring that the people and process are aligned, with what the ultimate objective is of your implementation is really that first step. And I mean, you can even go back to that beginning where, where I said, you know, if you're gonna go with that top down approach and, you know, making sure that the top is communicating to all levels, and really encouraging that, you know, that some of that thought leadership and innovation with your organization. So, that would be my recommendation. And I think, Peter, you said it well, a few minutes ago. Start small. Don't go for the whole the whole thing all at once. Choose a portion of that. Use the people and the process Mhmm. To guide you through that implementation. And the other is find folks that have done it before. Find a partner. Yeah. And leverage their expertise. So it can be really easy to look at it and say, we can go this alone, but, you know, partner with a good consultant that can provide you with some guidance in where they've seen a use case like theirs be successful. What are some of those roadblocks? You know, it's always good to get that outside view Mhmm. Of, you know, what are the things that could go wrong? What are the things that could go well? What haven't we even thought of yet? Yep. That's a great point, Brian. Because, you know, most implementations for most companies, you know, when we say, when you say, hey. We've identified, you know, a project or a use case for AI. Mhmm. They're likely not developing something new. They're they're likely deploying or implementing a technology or capability that exists within a software application. Yep. So, you know, having, you know, a consultant or a third party that can help you with that change management aspect of the people and the process is important if you don't feel that you can support yourself, but also the technology implementation itself And making sure that it's configured appropriately and that you have in place, you know, the right monitoring to track the, ultimately, the outcomes that that you're after. Yeah. And that's actually gonna be my next question. I'm hearing a lot of what you guys are saying, which is, you know, a lot of these are more business driven decisions based on, you know, the outcomes they're You're right. Looking to achieve. But, you know, how can they leverage a third party? You know, what do you need to leverage a third party? But it sounds like, you know, know, there is still value in leveraging a third party, that has experience in the different AI platforms. Yeah. I mean, I think of it like any other discipline within our business. You know, why do we do financial audits? Why do we Mhmm. Engage third party security, you know, providers to do assess we do these things because, you know, anytime we're embedded deep into something, it's easy to get that myopic view and miss the bigger picture. And so, you know, having technology partners that that you can leverage within your business who are gonna broaden that view. You know, I think IT people, especially technologists in in general, whether they're, you know, a straight IT person, a developer, You know, we all would like to kinda build it ourselves and Mhmm. You know, figure this out on our own. But what we recognize is that we also have limited views of what's out there and how to do that. And so finding the right partner who doesn't take over, but is able to step alongside Mhmm. Help your internal team really own that long term, but get past that getting started part of the project and knowing what finished looks like. Because those are the yeah. The in between isn't isn't generally so, so difficult. It's how do we know when we're done Yep. And how do we get started? Those are where a third party can really help and certainly accelerate the in between as well and provide some knowledge. But the last piece of this that I'd say is generally, we see businesses look at their IT teams and ask them to complete initiatives that they don't have the bandwidth to do because their job- Yep. Is in the day to day activities of those businesses. And a lot of those IT folks don't feel it's safe to ask for help. They view that as a, I'm saying I can't do this, versus- Yep. You know, or I'm unable to, versus I don't have the time. And so that's where having a partnership can really accelerate that technology adoption. You know, and it it's because it's not solely a technology project or implementation. Nothing is. Yeah. Nothing is. I mean, it's you know, so it's not just a technologies expertise. It's understanding the hows and the who components, to actually implementing the solution and ultimately the outcomes. What do you think will separate businesses that succeed with AI from those that don't? Yeah. It- it's a great question. We see it some now. I mean, I would say every business has some element of where AI could help them improve the way some part of their business operates. I think that's true. Not every industry is going to be as applicable as others. Right now, I just see everyone wanting AI and maybe not knowing why, like we've talked about. Some industries customer service, the example Peter gave was excellent because those are areas where, you know, AI can truly change the way customer service is done in a really meaningful way. And those are going to be the businesses that find the right use case and leverage it well that will have the biggest impact. Mhmm. Again, so much of what we talk about is AI just helping with some automation. We should be doing that anyway. We should be looking at how do we make our businesses more efficient all the time. That's what Yep. That's part of what our job is to do is to say, you know, how do we produce more revenue for whatever the unit cost business model can I change the way I operate that either accelerates my differentiation and provides new ways for me to engage with my customers or dramatically changes my cost structure? Mhmm. Yeah. I think those that are not experimenting or exploring will be left behind. Yep. Yep. That doesn't mean that they have to jump off or jump in completely in the next month, six months, or a year from now. They could you know, it's about knowing what capabilities- Mhmm. Exist. Mhmm. And rewiring, frankly, our minds on how to think about how we operate, whether, you know, it's growing the business, operating the business, all of those things. This is a rewiring exercise that that we're going through. Yep. So constantly challenging, you know, these leadership teams and the broader organizations to evaluate and experiment. There will be an opportunity that presents itself where, you know, the organization will know we have to do that. We have to do that because it's gonna be a step function change for our business. That's who will survive. And I think any business today who's trying to make decisions on what vendor and partnerships they make, needs to be asking a new set of questions around AI road map for those. You know, we we've talked about, don't try and roll your own if you don't have to. Yep. And I'd say in general, none of us really have to. Mhmm. So then it becomes who are we pitching our wagon to in terms of what we expect out of out of AI long term. Yep. And those are different questions than we would have asked five years ago of those same vendor partnerships. And so whether it's your IT partnership, whether it's your ERP system, you know, whatever those key strategic partnerships are for your business, having those AI roadmap conversations with them of how am I going to be able to leverage AI in my business because I partner with you Mhmm. Those are some of the right questions to be asking now and will also help further separate you from those who fall behind. Yeah. That's great, guys. I really appreciate, you know, you joining me today and talking through some of these items. I do have one final question though for each of you. What excites you most about the future of AI in business? And do you think that we're just now scratching the surface of what's possible? So I'll answer the last the second part. I guess there was two questions. I apologize. No. It's two questions. It's a sign of a good interviewer. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I think we're just scratching the surface. Abs- absolutely. There's no doubt about it. What excites me the most is the unknown. You know, I think we you know, discovering all of these various implementations and the process of rewiring our brains and how we think. And I mean, this is, you know, this is me. This is Brian. This is you. This these are this is everyone really having to rethink how we operate. And, that's exciting. You know? I mean, because that means that we are evolving. And, yeah, that's really what excites me the most. So we are scratching the surface. Yep. Hundred percent agree. What excites me the most is, you know, what's far beyond what we already think AI is possible. I think most Americans at least think of AI as ChatGPT or the conversational, you know, GPT style. It's generally what people are talking about. There's so much more that that AI can do when it comes to how we manage data. And if there's the one thing that's growing in our world, it's the amount of data that we have. Yep. And seeing ways that we can leverage, you know, this data ultimately into knowledge and into difference makers in our own lives, in in our businesses, that's the part of it that that's really exciting for me. Yeah. Great. No wrong answer there. So appreciate you guys' time today. And, you know, thank you so much. And have a great day. Alright. Thanks, Garrett. Thanks, Garrett. Yep. Appreciate it.
As you develop your AI strategy framework, you’ll encounter these important terms:
When developing your AI strategy, it’s important to distinguish between RPA and AI:
RPA (robotic process automation) automates repetitive tasks based on clearly-defined rules. It’s not autonomous but highly programmed.
Consider this example:
Here at Corsica Technologies, we conducted a survey of 600 IT and cybersecurity leaders at US companies that use an MSP or MSSP. The results surprised us.
Clearly, AI strategy is evolving. As organizations grapple with increasingly complex and chaotic data environments, they need a strong partner, such as an AI-proficient MSP, to help them cleanse their data, then implement and integrate AI.
This isn’t an insignificant trend. In fact, our research found that AI requirements were a primary reason that many companies considered switching MSPs, even if they were satisfied with their current provider.
For companies developing an AI strategy, it’s important to think about your internal capabilities vs. what your MSP can offer (if you work with an MSP). If you need help defining an AI strategy, preparing your data, and rolling out AI, look for an MSP like Corsica Technologies that maintains deep expertise in AI.
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A services business faces complexity in terms of customer requirements, service delivery, cost management, and strategic consulting with clients. There’s a lot of data to wade through, and it can be hard to see the forest with so many trees.
AI is a huge help here. The right AI tool can aid greatly in business intelligence consulting, empowering the organization to understand customers better and respond to shifting trends in demand.

It’s important to choose an AI strategy consultant who can help you evaluate these tools against their specific use cases to identify the optimal solutions for their business needs. A vendor-neutral approach ensures you get recommendations based on your requirements, not sales quotas.
AI cyber attacks are on the rise. Criminals are leveraging advanced technologies, and leading organizations are fighting fire with fire.
When choosing a SOC (Security Operations Center) provider, it’s important to look for one that actively evaluates and updates its toolset to stay ahead of emerging threats. The right partner will leverage advanced AI capabilities to enhance cybersecurity while maintaining efficiency and effectiveness.
While specific tools may not be publicly disclosed for security reasons, a strong SOC provider will use powerful, AI-driven solutions to deliver continuous, 24/7/365 protection.
Learn more about AI tools for SOC here: How AI Is Changing the Modern SOC Forever
You could approach AI implementation by hiring experts or leveraging existing team members’ expertise. If your staff has the necessary experience and bandwidth, this approach can work well. However, most IT teams are already stretched thin, and developing an effective AI strategy requires dedicated time and focus.
This is why many organizations partner with top AI consulting firms to develop and implement their AI strategy. Expert partners like Corsica Technologies bring the bandwidth and experience to evaluate your operations, challenges, and AI opportunities.
We work collaboratively with your team, transferring knowledge throughout the process to build internal capabilities while delivering immediate results. Our approach combines technical expertise with business acumen to ensure your AI initiatives drive measurable value.

I'm Nate Troyer. I am an Engineer and Account Executive at Corsica Technologies. And I'm here today talking with Wes DeKoninck. You almost had without saying it. Yeah. I can see it in your eyes. I'll let you take it. Sure. I'm Wes DeKoninck. I'm the Director of Digital Transformation here at Corsica. Yeah. And we're here to talk more about AI. So, you know, we have Wes here today, to kinda discuss how you really get started down the road of, implementing AI in your organization because AI is a buzzword, and it's pretty cool. Yep. Now, and we've had some other podcasts discussing, you know, products like Copilot or the difference between, like, a ChatGPT and Copilot and, what that can offer, like, at least at the executive level, what it can what can be offered there. But, like, if I'm an executive, I'm like, alright. Well, so it makes, you know, administrative work easier. But how do I really, like, start implementing that? I mean, do I- Do I buy new? Do I let a guy like Nate, build something from scratch? Yeah. So where does that entry point really start? Yeah. And it's it's a really common question that I'm getting from clients when they say cool. AI is everywhere. Microsoft has AI. You know, do I go buy the thing? Do I just start using it? Do I hire someone to tell me how to use it, you know, how do we really get started with this? And I think buying something and trying or just building something and trying are probably not the right approaches. I think trying, then buying is the right approach. So in general, I try to take a framework approach to it where you wanna look for your AI people in your business. So your AI evangelists are out there in your business. Your early adopter type of individual. Those, people exist around your organization, and they're all over it, you need to go find them, and you need to pull them together, and then you need to have a conversation because there are free tools available, and you set them to task and say, hey, guys. Take these free tools. Here are your guardrails, which you and Brian have talked about, you know, in other areas. Please don't put you know, personal information or things like about our clients into ChatGPT. Exactly. So but there's there's a structured way to go about testing out these tools without putting your secret information out there, you know, to make it part of the public domain. So you find these evangelists, you set them to task with, hey, explore take what you do every day, find the mundane task, interact with these tools. Here are some possible use cases, but explore and experiment. So find the individuals let them experiment and then analyze those findings. And then you kinda come up with a list of things that, hey, these things were actually impacted positively by AI. And again, at this point, there's no cost because you're using free tools. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So you refine those use cases. And once you have that, you actually have people to evangelize AI. So you're gonna get good adoption of the tool, and people will use it and get the benefits. You have no cost virtually other than time and experimentation. And you have a plan. That's something you can take to your primary stakeholders or your business owners and say, Hey, here is the business case for AI. And here are the costs involved. Here are the tools that we're using. What do you guys think? Yeah. Rather than just spending the money and hoping it works out in the end. Yeah. This is where you don't want someone like me, you know, like, like running the show because- Right. I've never met an engineer who could well, I guess I have. I've met a couple, but they're like unicorns that can sell the business use case for something. They're usually thinking, like, man, this makes my life easier, and we need it. But I can't really articulate it past that. So Yeah. And it's very specific to what they're doing. You have to think this tool has broad use cases in every organization. Yep. Whether you're trying to draft an email or a document, marketing material, need help with coding, like across the organization- creating a PowerShell script- Creating a PowerShell script. So there are so many things that you can do with it. The problem is because there's so many things, because there's so many tools, and there's a lot of newness to this whole thing, people just don't know where to begin. And really, you have to just begin. Yep. You try some things. You get in there. You see what works, and what doesn't work. And you start to write that stuff down and talk about it with the people at your organization, and that's how you're gonna ultimately have success. And you can do all that prior to investing in any technology. So where so, you know, where does where does the what are the examples that you can give of some of the, of some of the integration with AI that that is like the low hanging fruit. The what the the the where you can just start using AI and try it. Which ones have you come across? So a lot of the use cases are mostly with content generation that we're seeing. So, I mean, that's really the big buzz that's out there right now. It's right. Oh, it'll help you write an email and create a proposal. It'll help you analyze documents and things like that. So, you know, getting it to understand what you need to interact with from a data standpoint is kind of difficult if you really wanna dive deep, but that's what I would view as a later stage in AI adoption. Mhmm. The early stage is, help me make this document better. Or I'm writing an email to the CEO about a thing. I don't want it to sound like me. I want it to sound professional. Can you help me with this? So they're using it to modify content that they're generating. They're using it to do things like this podcast. Like, if they wanted to start something like this, they can lower the barrier of entry by saying, give me some topics that we can talk about because I'm having writer's block, or I'm not super creative. So they're helping people with creativity. So, you know, I'd say clerical tasks, document generation, you know, creative tasks, like marketing design, things like that. It's really helping those types of individuals without any additional effort. Beyond those use cases, you're looking to help me code better, help me solve this problem, help me understand this data. That will require a deeper level of integration because the AI needs the context of the information. It needs to be grounded in what details and data you wanna talk to. So what is the what is, like, from an engineering standpoint? What is the engineer's involvement in this is there any, like, training that has to happen to the AI? Is there any coaching that you need to do- Yeah. Or is that like an organizational-wide thing if you're if you're bringing in people from different parts of the org, can they all participate in training the AI? Yeah. They all can, and they all can have their own use cases and experiments. If you're really wanting to go beyond that, you will need engineer involvement, or again, it's just gonna depend on your data set. So if you're talking about all of the data that you have inside of Microsoft What's a data set? What's a data set, types of data? So where so, you know, where does where does the what are the examples that you can give of some of the, of some of the integration with AI that that is like the low hanging fruit. The what the the the where you can just start using AI and try it. Which ones have you come across? So a lot of the use cases are mostly with content generation that we're seeing. So, I mean, that's really the big buzz that's out there right now. It's right. Oh, it'll help you write an email and create a proposal. It'll help you analyze documents and things like that. So, you know, getting it to understand what you need to interact with from a data standpoint is kind of difficult if you really wanna dive deep, but that's what I would view as a later stage in AI adoption. Mhmm. The early stages help me make this document better. Or I'm writing an email to the CEO about a thing. I don't want it to sound like me. I want it to sound professional. Can you help me with this? So they're they're using it to modify content that they're generating. They're using it to do things like this podcast. Like, if they wanted to start something like this, they could lower the barrier of entry by saying, give me some topics that we can talk about because I'm having a writer's blocker. I'm not super creative. So they're helping people with creativity. So, you know, I'd say clerical tasks, document generation, you know, creative tasks, like marketing design, things like that. It's really helping those types of individuals without any additional effort. Beyond those use cases, you're looking to help me code better, help me solve this problem, help me understand this data, That will require will require a deeper level of integration because the AI needs the context of the information. It needs to be grounded in what details and data you wanna talk to. So what is the what is, like, the from an engineering standpoint? What is the engineer's involvement in this is there any, like, training that has to happen to the AI? Is there any coaching that you need to do Yeah. Or is that like an organizational-wide thing if you're if you're bringing in people from different parts of the org, can they all participate in training the AI. Yeah. They all can, and they all can have their use cases and experiments. If you're really wanting to go beyond that, you will need engineer involvement, or again, it's just gonna depend on your data set. So if you're talking about all of the data that you have inside of Microsoft What's a data set? What's a data set, types of data? So, you know, let's think customer data, client, invoices, you know, agreements, systems that they use, the types of different programs that they have, they have data. So data set would be a type of of data. Okay. So you're given the you're given the AI context. Yeah. Exactly. You're saying go, go use that information and find out this thing about it. Okay. You're telling it what to do and where to go, and it does it. Now, if it doesn't have access, and again, for this trial and error type of thing, it's not gonna have access to the secret sauce of your company. So it may not be able to perform those in-depth tasks. With Microsoft Copilot for three sixty-five, you can turn that on for select users, and it will have your tenant-wide data. But again, guardrails, make sure it's secure. I got my license, and it's so awesome. It is cool. It's great. I've used it for various things that I didn't even think I would. I've used it mostly to ask, like, Can you please give me the HR documentation on what is allowed to be said in the office? I use that all the time. All the time. Yes. And it shows. We've seen a drastic improvement. Yes. We really have. Anyway, so, from, like, an advanced standpoint, when you start when you start getting, getting past the, oh, it helps me make the document better or or whatever. Make those menial tasks, you know, a little easier, to you know, execute every day. Right. Are we seeing companies adopt the, AI in a form of like, like, reporting to use it in reporting and things like that? Yeah. A lot of them are, but these are larger organizations usually because, you know if we come back to what is the engineer's role here? It's about taking that data and getting it into a system that the AI can interact with. So that does require integration of sorts that has to allow the AI to say, hey, you can go talk to that system now. So when I ask you a question about my customers, tell me who my most active customer is. It needs to know what's a customer. Where do I find data about this customer? So you have to train the AI through the use of config duration and other tools, to say, when I say I wanna know something about a customer, you need to go there to look for it. Don't just start searching the web, I ask about a customer, go to my CRM. When I ask about invoicing go to my finance system. When I ask about analysis for profit and loss, I want you to go to my other account system. So you have to tell the, yeah, when when you understand that I want this thing, and this is what this means, here's where you go to get your data to be able to pass that to me. Interesting. So that could so, you know, AI is not really doing magic. Right? Well, the AI we're talking about is not really doing a lot of magic. It's it's finding similarities between data points. Right? Like, it's making connections. Yes. Absolutely. But those connections can be pretty powerful. Right? Oh, absolutely. They can help you plan out your company's, you know, next quarter, two quarters, next year, you know, about what you wanna do. So what has your team been, like, been doing with AI recently? You can give me some sanitized examples. So, we have been using it a lot for coding to expedite what we're doing from a code-based perspective. Right? So it's like, you know, I could spend all day troubleshooting this issue, but if I say, hey, you know, Get Hub Copilot, here's my code, here's my application. Here's what it's supposed to do. Why doesn't this work? You know? Yeah. And it could say, well, this is supposed to be doing this, and you have a problem right here, and you're like, oh, I didn't even think about that. Or, or I'm stuck, can you tell me about this plugin or the best thing I should be using for this? It helps expedite that. It's not solving the problem for you. It's not coding for you. It provides you with the path forward. It's helping you get unstuck and move forward. So You still have to know. Like, I mean, six months ago, I had I think, somebody from our service desk, you know, ask me for a Powershell script to do x because he thought I had it. Like, and I just you know, five minutes with Chad GPT, asked it a couple of questions. I gave it some guardrails. I kept scoping in what I needed it to do. And I handed him a PowerShell script. He's like, that's amazing. Like, how did you do that so quickly? And you just point your head. Right? That's it. I said it was all me. It's all me, buddy. Yeah. No. No. I said, that actually is ChatGPT. You still have to know what you're trying to accomplish and you try to know what, what solution it's providing, and maybe what outcome it's providing too. So you have to test everything that it gives you, and you can't just blindly follow. But it was remarkably accurate. Yeah. You know, it was like eighty-five, ninety percent of the way there. Right. And all I had to do was fill in the last ten percent. So, you know, it it's it's it's fun to use it in those ways. Yes. Because you're like, man. So I just cut out two hours of time, you know, writing this PowerShell script, dealing with ice, you know, this is just from an engineering standpoint. Right? Right. Imagine what it could do for someone in the c suite who essentially needs to have, like bullet points provided to them for what their next steps are on an email chain that's like three miles long. Right? Yeah. That's great. Or say if you're, like, in a law firm or something like that and you're doing, you know, a case prep, Right? I mean, if you had all that data and a data lake somewhere like in m three sixty-five and you ask Copilot, give me, you know, give me the high points of this case, you know, that I need to be, you know, focusing on and let it do that. Yeah. That's incredible. And then you go verify and follow on with that information. Yeah. Yeah. So expediting those tasks, that's one of the things that we're using it for. In code or things like that for all of our systems and internally and for clients. Another thing we're working on is just interacting with sentiments. So trying to understand, like, clients say, I, hey, I need the thing. I wanna do a thing. Creating very specific chatbots that are backed by these. And this is one of the biggest benefits I would say of the large, large language model AI is just giving you the ability to talk to computers as a per where before AI kind of blew up, it was I needed an engineer to talk to computers and data. I told the engineer what my outcome was, Right? Here's what I want to achieve. And engineers, like, let me think about that. Okay. Here's how I'll go about doing that. They'll build an application. They'll write a query. They'll do a thing. And they'll come back with the data you need. Right? Well, the big benefit of AI in the large language model era is, hey, computer. I wanna do this. Can you figure this out for me? Yeah. And the computer goes and goes, I understand what you wanna do, and here's the data I need. I'm gonna figure this out for you. So it's giving more individuals the ability to have that conversation with data and technology through the use of this model that just can understand humans. So that's one of the biggest benefits of it. It's kind of abstract, but it's really the power that lies behind this, not the fact that I can go get a report or something that could have been done. I could have done that through an engineer, but it gives virtually anyone access, and the ability to talk to that computer. The computer just needs to know what its rules are. Yeah. It's a really interesting concept. Really, it's kind of nebulous because you don't know what you can do with AI until you start trying until you do it with AI. Yeah. Until you do it with AI, and you're like, oh my goodness. I I prepped for a a meeting the other day. And asked a couple of questions about the cultural background that one of the people I was talking to was gonna be a part was a part of. And it's a little different than the Western American culture. And I said, like, what, how, you know, just give me some ideas about how the, how, you know, where their mindset be, and, and, you know, like, what they value, and, like, it was, it was interesting the information it spat out to me. Yeah. And You know, it it worked. I, you know, I kind of carried myself a little differently in that conversation. Given that context. Yeah. Given that context. So, Yeah. It's good. Yeah. It's a it's an awesome, space to be working in. I appreciate you having this conversation with us. I am really interested to see, what a conversation with you would look like in about six months down the road. And see and check in with you to see about more. Yeah. We're we're just crack music's open because again, you can do so much with it. It just becomes what can I do with it? What should I do with it, what makes the most sense? And again, just like most people out there, this is new. Right? This is new technology. They don't know. Well, It's new for us too in the technology industry. We're just seeing how we can interact with it and what makes sense because you can do things with it. That doesn't mean you should. You know, it's not the right answer for everything, but I think that's where the power is because we can do so many things, we can try so many things. Right? Yeah. And so we're just getting the going. And I think the important thing is, as well, it's great to experiment and try to understand how it benefits your organization, if you do it responsibly, it can have a ridiculous impact. Very quick You know? So having guardrails, having guidance is important in this process. And if you don't feel like, you know, what you're doing, get a consultant you know, we're here. Have a conversation with people who understand technology, understand businesses, and how to marry those two things together. And we want businesses to thrive. Absolutely. Yep. So Yeah. That's all we got. Thank you for watching Unraveling IT.
A complete AI strategy includes:
Skipping any of these — especially data readiness and governance — is the most common reason AI strategies stall after the first pilot.
For a mid-market organization (100–500 employees), a working AI strategy can be developed in 4–8 weeks with dedicated leadership time and an experienced partner. This typically includes a readiness assessment (1–2 weeks), use case discovery and prioritization workshops (1–2 weeks), strategy documentation (1 week), and stakeholder review and approval (1–2 weeks). The strategy itself is not the hard part — implementation planning and change management take much longer. Expect the first meaningful AI deployments to be operational 3–6 months after strategy approval.
Digital transformation strategy covers the full scope of modernizing how an organization operates using technology — which includes cloud migration, process automation, data infrastructure, application modernization, and AI. An AI strategy is a component of digital transformation focused specifically on where and how artificial intelligence will be applied. You need a digital transformation strategy to have the right infrastructure for AI; you need an AI strategy to ensure AI deployments are purposeful and measurable rather than opportunistic. In practice, most mid-market organizations develop these in parallel rather than sequentially.
No — and this is one of the most common misconceptions holding mid-market organizations back. Most practical AI deployments for 100–500 employee companies involve configuring and integrating existing AI tools (like Microsoft Copilot, AI-powered ERP modules, or industry-specific platforms) rather than building models from scratch. What you do need is clean, well-organized data; a clear understanding of which business processes are candidates for AI; and either internal IT leadership or an experienced managed services partner to handle implementation and ongoing governance. Data scientists become relevant if you’re building custom models — a step most mid-market organizations don’t need in the first two to three years of their AI journey.
Use a simple 2-axis matrix: plot each potential use case against Business Value (impact on revenue, cost, risk, or customer experience) and Feasibility (data readiness, technical complexity, change management burden, timeline to value). Use cases in the high-value / high-feasibility quadrant are your first priorities — they’ll deliver results fast and build organizational confidence in AI. High-value / low-feasibility use cases belong in your 12–24 month roadmap. Resist the temptation to start with the most ambitious use case; the fastest path to sustained AI investment is a successful early win that people can see and measure.
Measure AI ROI across five areas
Establish a baseline before deployment so you have a true before-and-after comparison. Set specific targets at the outset — “reduce invoice processing time by 40% within 6 months” is measurable; “improve efficiency” is not. Review metrics quarterly and adjust the strategy based on what the data shows.
At minimum, a mid-market AI governance framework should include: an acceptable use policy defining what employees can and cannot use AI for (especially regarding sensitive data); a data classification policy specifying which data categories can be input into AI tools; a review process for approving new AI tools before deployment; guidelines for AI-generated content review and attribution; and escalation procedures for AI-related incidents or errors. For organizations in regulated industries — healthcare, financial services, manufacturing with compliance obligations — governance must also address HIPAA, SOC 2, CMMC, or other applicable frameworks. Corsica’s AI Policy Template is a practical starting point available for free download.
For most mid-market organizations, a hybrid approach works best: engage an experienced managed services partner for AI strategy, implementation, and ongoing governance — while building internal AI literacy across the team in parallel. Building entirely in-house requires data science talent that is expensive, competitive to hire, and often underutilized after initial deployment. Pure outsourcing without internal capability-building creates long-term dependency. The right partner relationship gives you access to expertise and implementation capacity while transferring knowledge to your team over time. Key criteria for evaluating an AI partner: do they have experience in your industry, do they offer ongoing managed services (not just one-time implementation), and do they provide predictable pricing as your AI program scales?
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