The problem with AI in business, as usual, is inflated expectations. I was exactly the same after watching AI ads and hype videos on social media
Bloggers promise that a couple of clicks will launch a hundred agents that will practically run your business for you. But you find out what is true by going and trying it yourself. So I went and tried it
You can scale a business. Firing everyone is a bad idea
You really can scale your business with AI. But firing all your employees is the worst thing you could do right now. There is still a person behind artificial intelligence who makes decisions and presses the buttons
That is why it makes sense to look at AI in terms of scale: processing more orders, speeding up individual processes, and improving reporting, finance and accounting workflows. These are areas where help with the workload is useful, while your employees' experience is still needed to judge the results
People have the practical experience to tell good work from mediocre work. Remove the people who can do that, and processing a larger number of tasks will not replace their judgment. Handling an order faster and knowing whether the work was done well are different parts of the process
Which tasks are a better fit for AI?
Routine tasks lend themselves well to automation with AI. Repetitive work is where it makes sense to look for applications: order processing, preparing reports, and individual operations within finance and accounting workflows
It helps to separate the routine operation itself from the decision someone makes based on its output. Preparing a report is one part of the job. Assessing it and deciding what to do next is another. Human experience is still needed after preparation becomes faster
In my experience, the more complex, multi-part and intellectually demanding a task is, the harder it is to optimize this way. The promise of running an entire business independently bundles many of those tasks into one appealing advertising line
That distinction is where a conversation about AI consulting begins: which routine work can be automated, and where you need a person who makes decisions and can tell a good result from a mediocre one
So I wish everyone a more thoughtful approach to artificial intelligence, using it in ways that actually help them. More to come...
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