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When you start playing with other people's money, you have to be right Yeah. As often as you possibly can, you know, and know how to mitigate risk. And that's maybe a whole other conversation, but, we've really had to sharpen our pencils or sharpen our tools to dial it in because we can't... Back to Unraveling IT: Expert Tech Talks, where we usually dive into the deep end of cybersecurity, cloud strategy, and why printers are still the greatest unsolved mystery of our time. I'm Garrett Wiesenberg, and today, we're switching gears. We're taking off the IT hat and putting on the business hat, which, let's be honest, still has a few tech stickers on it. My guest today is Drew Wiard. He started out in pharmacy and health care before trading prescriptions for properties. Fast forward a few years, and Drew's not just flipping houses. He's flipping entire business models. He's built an impressive portfolio of real estate, commercial ventures, and acquisitions that would make even Monopoly Man do a double take. What makes Drew fascinating for us in the tech world is how he's used technology to scale smarter, not as an IT guy, but as a business owner. From evaluating deals to managing operations from afar to experimenting with AI, he's proof that technology isn't just about uptime, it's about the upside. So today, we're digging in to how Drew evaluates deals, leverages data, and uses tech to build real world empires. One smart acquisition at a time. So, Drew, welcome. Can you just give us a little bit of your backstory and maybe tell us a little bit about how you went from pharmacy to, you know, maybe owning some residential properties to ultimately ending up where you're at today, is more commercial real estate and business acquisitions. Yeah. For sure. So, like you said, pharmacist by trade. I did that, graduated from Purdue in '05 and, did that for probably 15 and 17 years, something like that. But about halfway through that, just started buying one rental at a time right here in our hometown of Fort Wayne. Yeah. And it really wasn't to try to get rich or to quit my job or anything like that. It was more like, you know, I'm the sole breadwinner. Right? Yeah. So mom's at home, so just some security blanket money and things like that. But it just grew and grew and grew to the point where I could leave pharmacy. So I did, and really kind of doubled down on the real estate side of things. Yeah. Have acquired a couple of businesses, have enjoyed some elements and aspects of that. In the year that we've really, really refocused on commercial real estate and kinda scaling up to that next level. And, that's gone very, very well. It's been really gratifying. Like warehousing type facility? Industrial real estate. Most of those tend to be warehouses, but sometimes factories and manufacturing and stuff inside. And you had made it pretty high in the pharmacy world, all things considered. Right? You were like a director of pharmacy, if I recall or something? Yeah. That's right. I went into leadership right away. I did a residency, which most pharmacists don't. I got my MBA at night, which most pharmacists don't. But I knew that leadership was where I wanted to be, so I kinda jumped to it pretty quick. You kind of enjoyed being your own boss and setting your own schedule? Yeah. Yeah. Being bossy, I guess. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. You know, think for me, it was really more about trying to set myself apart. And, you know, when the robots come for our jobs, eventually, like, I wanted to have a skill set that was different than all the other pharmacists. Yeah. So that's the driver. Wow. So you mentioned commercial real estate and even acquiring some businesses. You know, with the businesses specifically, is there a reason you decided to, you know, acquire rather than start from scratch? Is that just kind of your overall portfolio idea? Or Yeah. No. It is very intentional. Startups are hard. And a lot of times, they don't work. That doesn't mean acquiring a mature business is any easier. But what it does mean is you're coming into a book of business that's generally established, at least on some level. Yeah. And given just the demographics of country and baby boomers and so many people having a business that they need to exit, but not having a plan for, I think there's a staggering amount of opportunity for those of us who are interested in such a thing. And so having been in leadership for a long time, but really wanting to have the ability to make my own decisions and set my own vision and goals for a team and all that was Yeah. Kind of the driver. Okay. Let's maybe go back a few years, you know, five, ten years ago when you were doing more residential real estate type transactions for long term rentals, things like that. Sure. What did the process typically look like for you when you were evaluating, you know, which properties to buy? Were you just, you know, perusing the MLS and hoping you came across something? Or Yeah. Back in the day, I mean, we would buy off of the MLS. There were actually deals that could be found there. Yeah. As time went on, that that certainly went away, and now it's almost impossible to buy a house, period. This is true. So it's definitely been an evolution as market cycles can continue to change, and inflation has changed, and all of that. But it did very much start with on-market properties, and then Really, really leaned into off-market property. And when it came to, you know, running your numbers and trying to evaluate, is this a good deal for me? Was that just Excel? Was that, you know, paper pencil? What did that kind of look like? I tend to be pretty analytical. I like my spreadsheets and all of that. Yep. So it was definitely by the time we formally put that offer in, yes, it's gone through the spreadsheet. It's, you know, hyper analyzed. You get good at it though, and it's enough of a volume game that you quickly like, you can kinda glance at it and see numbers from a high level. And if it looks good, then you push forward. And Yep. So, cursory review, napkin math, but it's going through the spreadsheet before you transact. And how has that changed today with, obviously, the introduction of AI and other SaaS based applications and things that are available to you? Yeah. Honestly, it's kind of changed wildly. You learn of through the school of hard knocks that when you're playing real estate, you don't wanna play feel estate. Right? Like, people getting their feelings. Right? They love that building. That's a that's a great Yeah. Yeah. So it's When you play at a higher level with the commercial real estate stuff, like, there is no margin for error Because these are million dollar buildings, not hundred thousand dollar Yeah. Buildings. Right? And so the underwriting just needs to be more sophisticated. The tenants are more sophisticated or complex, maybe Yeah. Is a is a better way to put So as time goes on, you have more advanced spreadsheets, you have different tools, you learn different ways to underwrite deals. My partner, who is a walking abacus, and he's brilliant. He was super, super brilliant. He and I kinda said, and we've, you know, dialed in the right tools, but he really has an affinity for taking Excel and kind of melding it with AI to build some really, really powerful tools. And if you were to look at it, you would just see a spreadsheet. What we see is the hours that we built, allowing us to put a couple of inputs in and get an output that helps us make decisions on a much faster volume based level than we ever could have before. Interesting. And it's interesting that you say feel estate, because I imagine that with residential real estate, that's far more common even than in in business real estate or commercial real estate. I'm sure you still have some of that. But Yeah. You know, I just sold my home recently, and I was very attached to it. I'm sure that was a pain to work with. Emotional. Yeah. Isn't it? Yeah. Because it's your baby, you know? Yeah. I think when it's your home, it's a whole different thing. Right? It's okay to play field estate on that front. But when you go to invest, like, you need to know your criteria And it's just very easy to get romantic about buildings and houses and all that. And I've been guilty as well. You know, you look at a project and it's gonna be a great flip and you can do the tile shower here. You can do, you know, the porch out back. But if it doesn't underwrite to a proper Yeah. ROI, then it's all for naught. But we see it in commercial as well. Like, I will see a building that I'm like, oh, that's the one. Like, we're gonna go get that. And you put it through the tools and it like, the numbers just don't- Don't make sense. Yeah. And so you've gotten to a point where it's truly just a numbers game for you. I mean, it probably has to be to an extent. It is. And, you know, you have some flexibility, you know, some ranges and things that you can work within, but we also take on a lot of investor capital. So we have money in our deals, but we invest for other people as well. And that's kind of the second head of our business is, yes, we buy investment commercial real estate, but we provide investment opportunities for people who wanna be outside of the stock market and things like that. And when you start playing with other people's money, you have to be right Yeah. As often as you possibly can, you know, and know how to mitigate risk. And that's maybe a whole other conversation. But, we've really had to sharpen our pencils or sharpen our tools to dial it in because we can't be- Yeah. That makes sense. So going back to what you had said about, you know, building out some Excel spreadsheets with kind of AI built in, you put in a few inputs and it outputs Yep. You know, what you need and saves you a lot of time. Are you finding that that's more accurate as well? Is there an accuracy gain here as well, or is it strictly just a time-based gain? I don't know that I can say it's more accurate. I feel pretty good about underwriting before. Because most of what's there is our thoughts and our process, but we were able to take thirty steps out of it. Now it's five steps. You know? It just deals are hard to get whether you're residential, industrial, commercial. Like, it's just hard right now. And so you have to throw, you know, a hundred lines in the water and hope to get one fish. Right. And so we need to be able to underwrite at a high for a while, that was the rate limiting step. We've now eliminated that as the rate limiting step, and now we have other challenges, you know, other bottlenecks that we gotta Work through. So let's dive into some of the businesses you've acquired. You know, how involved are you in day to day? Or were you just the individual who came in, acquired it, and you've got somebody else running that 24/7? You just kind of- Yeah. Good question. So it's evolved over time. We bought manufacturing facilities, and we rolled up a few and merged with a few. The intent is really to be present and on-site about one out of every four weeks. The goal is, you know, for us, when we acquire, we wanna have a good operator, you know, a good COO or Yep. Whatever that title is. And that has worked very well for us. You know, we've merged with some other folks, and they've really been the specialists in that field. And they drive the bulk of the day to day. And I've enjoyed that experience. I for the most part, it's been very positive. It has highlighted that we really do love the real estate thing. And Yeah. It's kind of like what our we are uniquely good at that. I could probably buy and roll up some other businesses, but, I mean, I'm edging into being an old man, and I eventually, I'm gonna retire. Right? I'm not I don't have the energy that you have anymore. So I mean, I'm getting there too. Yeah. Baby steps. Yeah. Baby steps. But, you know, as I look at, like, what do the next ten years look like? I would like to be able to you know, I do a bunch of flying. I do a lot of riding. I wanna do that at the drop of a hat. And if you're not stuck, but if you choose to build a business that requires a ton of your time, then that's the life you get to live. And there aren't too many off ramps if you decide you wanna change it. Whereas investment real estate, if one of my parents gets sick, I can just go be with them for a month. Like, I can just do that. Yeah. You have the flexibility? Yes. We're leaning more and more into that. So, I mean, with those businesses though, and this is probably my final question on those businesses, but do you at all worry about your cybersecurity posture, your IT posture, anything like that? Does that keep you up at night at all? I don't know that it keeps us up at night, but that might be out of naivety. Yeah. One thing that I had never thought about at all was insurance coverage for cyber security type of It had never even crossed my radar. And we acquired the first business, someone suggested it, so we started digging into it. So we purchased it. We haven't had to use that policy, but we have since had, you know, a few, I guess, I don't know what you would call it. Breaches or incidents? Yeah. Exactly. Where, you know, there was a six figure money hole that we had to unwind and figure out. And so my appreciation for the importance of it has really escalated. Yeah. That makes sense. I figured you wouldn't have much exposure it considering you've primarily done real estate investment and pharmacy. I'm sure it was kind of just off to the side. It wasn't, you know, front of house. Yeah. Even at the hospital, I mean, the large corporations that were way outside. I mean, they had the whole IT department. Yeah. Some of that's probably in house or out. Yeah. You know? You just knew what you could do on your computer and what you were, you know Yeah. Log in, log out. Yeah. Log in, log out. Yep. I wish there was a fun name for that, like, feel estate. We'll work on one. Yeah. We'll we'll- Around when I We'll workshop one. Too. But, you know, speaking of, flying, you know, just for our viewership, do you wanna define that a little bit? Because I I don't think people will quite understand what Betty the Butt Fan is. No. No. It strikes people a little odd. So I fly a paramotor. And for those who don't know, like, if we lived in the mountains, we would just go paragliding. You don't need a fan. You don't need a motor. But here, we don't have mountains. Right? So if you wanna get airborne, you have to strap on a fan. And so, Betty the Butt Fan is is my Butt Fan. And there are actually three Betty's. People don't know that. Really? Yeah. In the garage, there's three Betty's. And they have the two person a two seater. Right? I did for a while. I I sold it because, you know, I gave a ride to everyone that I wanted to give a ride, but then it was everybody else who wanted one, and I had to take the time to do it. And they think I'm generous with my time. You're not as much as you probably should be. So That's the old man coming out. Right? It is cantankerous, man. I'm slowly turning into a curmudgeon, but so it has been sold. But I fly as much as I can, and I ride all the things and drive all the things. But that's been really your vision from the start. Right? And I think you've already touched on that a little bit, to be able to do what you need to do or have the freedom to choose what to do and when to do it. That's it. What I wanna do, when I wanna do it, with whoever I want, wherever I wanna do it. Yeah. And that sounds wild and extreme, but that could be taking care of your parents who have cancer. Yep. Like my daughter, she's gonna move to Tampa. She's gonna go trial it for a month. Right? Well, if I wanna go help her move in for two or three weeks Yeah. Help her get it settled, then we just do that. Yeah. You know? And if it's working eighty hour weeks, well, that's your choice. Right? And you're the one choosing, hey. I'm gonna go work eighty hour weeks. Well, and I can take it with me too. Yeah. Right? I mean, there are I tend to work really hard. It's not that I just wanna skate, but I you know, this week, I will hustle like mad. Next week, I'll dial it back because I wanna do something fun. You know, I wanna have that flexibility and just be able to adjust with the seasons of life. You know, we're it'll be a number of years before grandkids come, but I'm sure that'll bring, like, a whole different season of what I want flexibility and work life to look like. Yeah. Well, and you have, obviously, even though you don't necessarily run your standard business, so to speak, where you've got employees, they come in, sit down, like, you don't necessarily do that. But I'm sure you take IT and cybersecurity somewhat seriously with your personal- For sure. Information, like your work information. Because I'm sure that you've got quite a few financial numbers and confidential documents. What what are you doing, you know, today to secure those? Yeah. I you know, we do really have to think about it. We in times past with our investors, you start with friends and family. Right? So they trust you. Right? They give you a lot of financial information because they're investing with you. And only recently have we moved to an encrypted platform where they go in and they put their numbers in. We should have done that a long time ago. That's just one example of things that we just hadn't really thought about. Yeah. You know, most of our systems, at least on the cybersecurity front, are pretty basic. I mean, they can be things that we can manage ourselves or software systems that we can hire. As we grow and more people want to invest with us and we buy larger assets, we are going to have to start filing with the SEC and all those regulations and things that come with it and the software systems that come along with that. You know, we'll have to do some study and figure out, like, what's the next level of sophistication on the IT side that Yeah. Matches the sophistication of what we're doing on the real estate side. And I I don't know how to answer that yet because we're not there yet. Yeah. We're knocking on the door. I was gonna say, you're buying quite a few large apartment complexes in in Phoenix, Arizona and other locations as well. Right? Like, multi unit- I'm invested with the groups that that do own those. Okay. My group specifically buys industrial flex warehousing mostly in the Midwest, but we closed one in New Mexico Oh, wow. Okay. Couple days ago. Nice. Is that why you had to reschedule last week? That is literally why we had to reschedule last week because we market directly to people who own these buildings. Yep. And when they call and say, okay, come talk to me about it, like, I'm- You're- no. I don't blame you're dropping everything to go and sign on that dotted line. Yeah. Our, COO once told me that time kills all deals. It always does, especially in real estate. It's probably true every time. And that's something that's really stuck with me. Obviously, you know, we do sales here as well, and it's the longer you let it sit, if you don't pounce on the opportunity immediately, the likelihood that that sale is lost is Well, they're either gonna change their mind. Yeah. So you gotta strike while the iron's hot or someone's gonna come in and get the deal that someone was trying to give you. Yeah. Which is why used car salesman are so pushy. That's one reason. Yeah. Well, that's one reason. Yeah. So let's maybe look ahead to the future. Obviously, ten years ago, it was a lot of just Excel documents, lot of your time building out these things. Now, you've got a little more automation built in, some, you know, AI kind of incorporated to maybe help evaluate. Yep. What do you think five to ten years looks like? I think it'll be really interesting. So we do kind of have a five year vision set, but it's really like the next 24 to 72 months that we are laser focused on growth And acquisitions. And I think that's a rabbit hole we could go down, but it has to do with the real estate market and what we think is gonna happen on that front. So right now, it's growth Great. Growth. Yeah. Three to five years, we'll have to reassess to see where the market's at and that asset class and all of that. But my guess is we kind of settle into management as opposed to growth. Okay. And then strategically move in and out of assets as the opportunities present themselves. But we've slowly started bringing more team members on, you know, admin assistants, transaction coordinators. I onboarded a sales team member this morning. Come on. A lot of those things, I think, you know, AI will help us to automate. But when you're running a skeleton crew, you still probably need one person who's accountable Yeah. For getting that process done. Now, maybe I only need that person 10 hours a week instead of 30, and And so I see the potential for that. But I would think probably a team of five or six people is what we see. Yeah. And, yeah, I don't know I don't know that answers the question, but I don't I don't think it'll be wildly different. I mean, does, and I I'm kind of viewing it as well from the perspective of having recently just bought and sold a home, you know, myself personally. Yeah. I used a lot of ChatGPT to run, you know, market analysis or do different things for me based on what it could find on Zillow, Redfin Right. You know, realtor dot com, whatever. Yep. And I was just curious if, you know, you would expect to see some of that as well, but maybe on a more larger scale through the MLS. Like AI built into that to give investors what they need. Well, AI is gonna be built into everything because they have to sell it and you Absolutely. If you just put the star and the AI text to it or something. Right? And we use Gemini heavily because we live in the Googleverse, Google Phone, Google Watch, Google everything. I'm sorry. For I know for better or for worse, but I'm old and cantankerous, so I'm not changing at this point. But I do think that there are things that I just can't really even think of. So for example, one of the tools that we've implemented is we've started leaning on Instantly AI, which does a lot of different things, but we market directly to sellers. Right? And if we were cold emailing from Google, you're gonna get marked spam and it's flagged and all that instantly does a really nice job of kind of mixing that up and spreading the times and changing the message and all of it. It's phenomenal. Yeah. Right? And so that's an example of a software that didn't exist, I don't know, 12 to 24 months ago that, I mean, we're leaning on and it's changing the game for us. So I imagine that there are gonna be software solutions coming, AI solutions that we're just not even thinking. You even know, like, what problem it's gonna be solving, but there's gonna be some Yeah. It's a thing like, you know, like you said, it's gonna solve a problem. Today, don't even see it as a problem because that's the nature of the business. Like, they're just doing it. So I don't I mean, I don't think any of us five years ago would have expected that, you know, you could just put a prompt into a computer and have it spit out a 24 page document on why you should do or not do something or Yeah. Yeah. Well, and we use it a lot for legal review and not that it is the lawyer, but like No. We've got some legal stuff going on and you get some documents. We run it through and say, hey, what does Michigan think about this? What does Indiana think about this? And then you can take that back to the lawyer, and they say, yeah, that's good idea, or no, that's nonsense. But it I don't know. It just gives you it's just such a powerful thought partner, and that's really where I'm trying to lean into it as much as anything is to like, I talk to it, like, when I'm on my walks and stuff. Like, we just banter back and forth to help create It gives you a space to air out your thoughts and have somebody else evaluate them or provide feedback on them, I think. Help me think of things that I hadn't thought of. Yeah. Like, what am I missing in this thought process? What could I be doing differently? How could I frame this differently? Yep. For sure. Yeah. I've used it for legal documents as well, it's great because it'll just summarize it. Because, I mean, you've read through legal documents. It can be it can be awful. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes it says things that you don't know how what it's even saying. Yeah. Legalese is not No. Easy to interpret. No. Not at all. So you see it as more of a an enabler rather than a replacer, essentially, would be fair. I think it's probably reasonable. I haven't thought about it through that lens. So I you know, I'm a big fan of AI and where it's headed. You know? Now we could have a whole different conversation about tech and our kids and devices and how much time I spend on my device, not that Probably a conversation that should be had at some point by we would have had it ten or fifteen years ago. Yeah. I like, when people ask me, how do you raise good kids and all that, you know, fortunately, their mother had a lot to do with it. But I would go back and change all of that Parameters and expectations for the expectations for the house and standards for how we live and how we integrate tech. And as a tech guy who really loves it, I would have next to none of it Yeah. Till my kids are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. Yeah. But that that's a whole different soapbox. I mean, I'm kinda right there as well. I mean, I've got a five year old at home and Yeah. I'm at the point where I don't want him to have a cell phone. I don't want him to ever have a computer in his room or a TV in his room and Right. It's shared devices. It's in central locations and it's only used very sparingly Right. For whatever you may need. But unfortunately, the world today, I mean, it's going more technical. Right? So, I mean, good or bad? Yeah. You know, schools are e learning. Yeah. And I mean, these are all good things. I mean, like, I'm not against the tech. I'm just against our shortened attention span Yeah. You know, the addiction to dopamine, the fact that no one goes out and does anything. Yeah. I see our teens and our young people struggling to interact, and it's a conversation that should be had. Oh, I completely agree. Well, kind of segueing directly from you hate IT, you know, what's the one piece of technology you can't live without today? The problem is I love IT. So Yeah. Knowing that I need to distance myself from it from time to time just for my own mental health is a struggle because I do love it. Hit me with the question again. What's the one piece of technology you couldn't live without? Good lord. I don't even know. Spotify. Probably. Spotify Premium for fifteen years. For music or for podcasts or both? Yes. Okay. Spot I didn't realize that Spotify Premium, you get like audio books. Yep. Like, that I was paying for on Audible, which is just nonsense. Yep. Tech I couldn't live without. Man, I even still, I don't know. It's either my CRM for lead generation, or it's gonna be just spreadsheets, because our work is just so analytical. I just don't know how we would do it without it. Now, how we use it in today is wildly different than we did even two years ago, and I'm sure it'll be wildly different in the future. But I don't know. That's probably my answer. Okay. That's a fair answer. Yeah. It's definitely not a wrong answer. Sure. Well, you know, I really appreciate you being here today, Drew. I do ask kind of one parting question of everybody that kind of comes through, and it's typically, you know, what piece of advice would you have for someone who may wanna get into real estate investing or someone who may not be familiar with that world as a whole? You know, what would you say to them today to maybe encourage them to look into it? Yeah. You know, just to jump in or how did they get involved? Yeah. It's for some people, it's a discouraging space because they think they can't do it now or it's harder now or, you know, Drew, you got in when it was easy. I hustled like a maniac back in the day, and you can absolutely get into it today. Yep. I would say I mean, it requires it's like with anything. You've gotta study, you've gotta learn. But I think you learn a lot from people. So find people who are doing it. And the one thing I would leave you with is do not take real estate investment advice from people who do not invest in real estate. Because everyone will tell you why you shouldn't, and they don't own Jack. Yep. So talk to people who have done it, who have made money, who've lost money, and who are in the trenches. That's who you're gonna learn from, and tune everybody else out. Yeah. That's great advice. Thank you again for coming in today. Appreciate you dressing up for the occasion as well. As always. And we'll, we'll catch you again sometime in another episode. For sure. Thank you so much. Yep. You bet. That was Drew Wiard, a perfect example of how business leaders are using technology not for the sake of it, but to create real leverage. What I really loved about Drew's story is that he's not buried in the tech. He's focused on the results. So whether it's evaluating acquisitions, modernizing operations, or even just experimenting with AI, he's using technology to scale without chaos. And that's really the takeaway for anyone in IT. Technology is not the finish line. It's the multiplier. The goal isn't more tools. It's more impact. It's about creating smarter businesses, faster decisions, and outcomes that actually matter. Because at the end of the day, technology is only as powerful as the strategy guiding it. I'm Garrett Wiesenberg, and this has been Unraveling IT: Expert Tech Talks. Thanks for listening.
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.
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Agentic AI refers to AI systems designed to act as autonomous agents that can set goals, make decisions, take actions, and adapt over time with limited or no direct human instruction. Where AI chatbots are built to respond, AI agents are built to act and operate.
Agentic AI has several core characteristics:
Agentic AI differs from chatbots and traditional AI assistants in that it is designed to own outcomes, not just respond to prompts. While chatbots and assistants wait for user input and provide one‑step answers or suggestions, agentic AI systems can set goals, plan multi‑step actions, use tools, make decisions, and continue operating autonomously until the objective is achieved—escalating to humans only when needed.
Attribute | Chatbots & AI Assistants | Agentic AI |
Primary role | Respond to user prompts | Own and achieve goals |
Initiative | Reactive | Proactive |
Scope of work | Single tasks or steps | End‑to‑end workflows |
Decision‑making | Suggests or explains | Decides and acts (within guardrails) |
Autonomy level | Low to moderate | Moderate to high |
Use of tools | Limited, user‑directed | Independent, multi‑tool execution |
Persistence | Session‑based or short‑term | Maintains state, memory, and progress |
Human involvement | Required at each step | Escalates only by exception |
No, agentic AI is not the same as RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or traditional workflow automation. RPA and workflow tools are designed to execute predefined steps exactly as configured, while agentic AI can reason, plan, adapt, and decide what to do next in pursuit of a goal. In short, RPA automates tasks, workflow automation coordinates process steps, and agentic AI takes responsibility for outcomes.
Attribute | RPA / Workflow Automation | Agentic AI |
Core capability | Executes predefined rules and steps | Plans and achieves goals |
Decision‑making | Rule‑based only | Contextual and adaptive |
Flexibility | Low (changes require reconfiguration) | High (can adapt to new conditions) |
Handling exceptions | Stops or escalates | Adjusts approach or retries |
Scope | Individual tasks or linear flows | End‑to‑end, multi‑step workflows |
Human involvement | Required for exceptions and changes | Needed mainly for oversight |
Typical role | Task executor | Digital process owner / operator |
Agentic AI helps businesses run better by reducing costs, uncovering strategic insights, and shortening cycle times for growth initiatives. Here are the top four high-level business benefits of agentic AI.
Agentic AI is best suited for operational business problems that are multi‑step, dynamic, and outcome‑driven, especially where work spans multiple systems, involves frequent exceptions, or is limited by human availability. Unlike task automation or AI assistants, agentic AI performs best when a process needs ongoing coordination, contextual decision‑making, and follow‑through—rather than just faster responses or single‑step automation.
Businesses control what an agent can and can’t do by combining technical guardrails, policy constraints, permissions, and human oversight. Agentic AI is not “free‑running. ”Rather, in enterprise settings, it is deliberately boxed in so it can act only within clearly defined boundaries.
Agentic AI consulting is a professional service that helps organizations design, implement, and govern AI systems capable of independently planning, executing, and adapting actions toward defined business goals. Rather than focusing on standalone models or chat interfaces, agentic AI consulting centers on creating goal-driven AI agents that can reason across steps, use tools, interact with systems and data, and operate with defined autonomy—while remaining aligned with business, security, and compliance requirements.
In practice, agentic AI consultants work at the intersection of strategy, architecture, and risk management. They help organizations determine where autonomy creates measurable value, define the agent’s scope of authority, and design the technical stack that enables safe real‑world execution. This typically includes agent orchestration frameworks, model selection, memory and context handling, tool and API integration, human‑in‑the‑loop controls, and auditability. The outcome is not “AI for AI’s sake,” but operational agents that can assist or act across workflows such as IT operations, finance, customer support, software delivery, or compliance monitoring.
Agentic AI consulting commonly includes:
In short, agentic AI consulting helps organizations move from experimenting with AI assistants to deploying trusted, goal‑oriented AI agents that can take action inside real business environments—without compromising control, accountability, or security.
The benefits of agentic AI consulting center on helping organizations safely turn advanced AI capabilities into real, repeatable business outcomes. By focusing on goal‑driven, autonomous agents rather than isolated AI tools, agentic AI consulting enables faster execution, higher operational leverage, and better alignment between AI systems, business strategy, and risk controls. The result is AI that doesn’t just assist users—but meaningfully participates in end‑to‑end workflows under defined governance.
Benefit | What It Delivers to the Business |
Faster execution of complex work | Agents can plan and complete multi‑step tasks across systems, reducing cycle time for processes like incident response, reporting, or service fulfillment |
Improved operational efficiency | Automates decision‑making and action across repeatable workflows, freeing staff from manual coordination and follow‑ups |
Better use of AI beyond chat | Moves AI from Q&A and content generation into real‑world action, systems integration, and outcome‑driven execution |
Built‑in governance and control | Defines clear guardrails, permissions, audit trails, and human‑in‑the‑loop oversight to manage autonomy responsibly |
Stronger ROI from AI investments | Aligns agents to measurable business goals, ensuring AI initiatives create tangible value—not disconnected experiments |
Reduced implementation risk | Leverages consulting expertise to avoid common failures around security, compliance, over‑automation, or unclear accountability |
Yes—when implemented correctly. Enterprises typically restrict agents to:
Agentic AI is usually safer than manual processes once guardrails are in place.
Enterprises don’t need perfect data to implement agentic AI. However, most businesses benefit from an initial data audit and cleanup exercise. This prevents messy complications down the road. It also ensures that each user will have access only to the appropriate data once the agentic AI solution launches.
Ready to achieve compliance? Contact Corsica Technologies today, and let’s take the next step on your agentic AI journey.
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