Richard Golian

1995-born. Charles University alum. Head of Performance at Mixit. 10+ years in marketing and data.

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Richard Golian

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How to Start With AI in a Company

Data in several tools and manual work in spreadsheets. That is the ordinary state of firms.
Richard Golian
Richard Golian · 923 reads
Hi, I am Richard. On this blog, I share thoughts, personal stories, findings and what I am working on. I hope this article brings you some value.

Over the past days I was at home in Slovakia. I talked to friends and to family, and something caught me off guard.

The way one of my family members described a firm they had gone to look at for a day.

They hold their data in several different tools. They join it by hand, in spreadsheets. Somebody moves information from one place to another and puts it together, all by hand.

Once again I realised that this is the ordinary state of firms, and that I live in a bubble that keeps moving further away.

I realised that when somebody in an average firm today says do not do it by hand, use AI, they will probably not be understood. If the firm has not automated anything so far, they will not be understood.

A person who runs such a firm or works in one probably does not understand what they hear in the media and on social networks about how everything somewhere is handled by AI agents and everything is automated. They do not understand the language of the AI echo chamber.

I have been writing about this gap for a long time, in posts such as The Gap Between Professionals Has Never Been as Wide as It Is in the AI Era.

In Why AI adoption fails when the tools are already there I wrote about those who have the models and the connectors ready and still do not use them.

Most firms, however, do not even have the basic connectors or any other links between the individual tools they use.

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Summary

One of my family members described a firm that has its data in several different tools, and its employees still join it by hand, in spreadsheets. I realised that this is the ordinary state of firms and that the people in them do not understand the language of the AI echo chamber. Most firms do not even have the basic connectors. Such firms need help with AI transformation.

Common questions on this article's topic

How do you start with AI in a company that does everything by hand?
First you find out what processes the firm has, what data it works with, and what the inputs and the outputs of those processes are. Automation with AI stands on top of that map.
Why do people in companies not understand being told to stop doing it by hand and use AI?
If the firm has not automated anything so far, the sentence means nothing to them. They do not understand the language of the AI echo chamber that they hear in the media and on social networks.
What does a guide to company transformation do?
They find out what processes the firm has, what data it works with, and what the inputs and the outputs of those processes are. Then they can automate those processes themselves, help the firm with the automation, or lead the internal company team responsible for it.
What is the difference between a consultant and a guide to company transformation?
Mapping processes is what consultants did years ago too. The difference is what comes after. The guide has real experience with process automation, not only with describing the processes.
Richard Golian

If you have any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at mail@richardgolian.com.

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