It's your business model that should be dictating what technologies you should be using to make your business a success, not technology driving what you can do with your business.
Buckling under pressure to adopt AI while it's hot, companies are adding AI tools to their tech stacks without a solid roadmap of where they're headed. Such tech-first gambits often drain coffers, forcing executives to confront the stark reality of innovation without impact. As some companies lose sight of their purpose once AI enters the mix, the original business model can serve as the guiding light towards an operational blueprint that simply works.
John Robert Guray, founder of business consultancy 3Rivers Global, is a veteran executive with over two decades of experience guiding telco and IT enterprises across mature, start-up, and turn-around phases. Guray, whose firm stitches together strategy, operations, and technology for digital business transformation, argues the allure of new tech should never overshadow straightforward, foundational business strategies.
Model before machines: "It's your business model that should be dictating what technologies you should be using to make your business a success, not technology driving what you can do with your business," Guray states. He warns against the common pitfall where companies "get a nice technology, spend millions, then try to figure out how to make the most out of it, only to realize they just spent significant sums on a technology that doesn't seem to have any return." Once this path is followed, he notes, companies face tough questions from boards that are hard to answer.
Tailored, not trendy: Guray's philosophy extends beyond just tech and into the world of HR. "It’s not about selecting the best technology; it’s selecting the best-fit technology for what you want to happen in your business, for the outcomes you want," Guray explains. This principle of "best-fit" is equally important when it comes to talent. He points out that organizations may onboard highly accomplished individuals, but "if they do not have the right skills, the right culture, or the best-fit attitude for the business model you want to create, it won’t work." It’s about finding resources, whether tech or personnel, that genuinely align with the company’s specific operational capacity and strategic direction, rather than just opting for what's popular.
It’s not about selecting the best technology; it’s selecting the best-fit technology for what you want to happen in your business, for the outcomes you want.
AI on the assist: AI may be a powerful efficiency tool, but Guray is adamant about the need for humans in the loop. "AI is not something you just activate and it's going to do everything for you," he cautions. "It's about making you more efficient, but it has to be human-centric, with inputs from people asking AI what could be done better, and then human oversight to ensure it’s not tone-deaf and truly appeals to your target audience." He stresses that developing skills like prompt engineering is vital, as "that's where you generate the value of AI."
Like buying a house: Getting granular about human roles in the face of AI, Guray says for areas like consulting, human experience offers an irreplaceable edge. He illustrates this distinction with a vivid analogy: "It's like buying a house," Guray says. "AI never bought a house. It knows the paperwork required, but it doesn’t know the emotional frustration, the logic, the look, the feel, how it impacts you." Nuanced, often subjective, variables derived from lived experience are what enable a consultant to be a true subject matter expert and advisor, something AI in its current form cannot replicate.
