I’ve been thinking a lot about who is winning in the current transition to AI-land and I’m fairly certain it’s people who understand that AI is a technology rather than an existential threat. Media do not earn my clicks when they bait me with doom and gloom.

Let’s dive in.

A family roundtable got suddenly rather intense when I laughed at someone who claimed - with extreme confidence - that AI is ruining the world. When I finally stopped laughing, I simply asked ‘How do you use AI?’

As suspected, this person tested a chatbot two years ago. Right. We had a robust discussion about the adoption of calculators “ruining” the field of mathematics and the mass production of insulin “poisoning” innocent children. It’s normal for people to resist change.The difference regarding AI is that media have become so extreme that only the most dire clickbait earns any attention.

Let’s think about AI rationally. Why do most companies fail to show an ROI on their AI spend? I argue that part of the root cause is that they used AI to cut costs when they should have used it to aggressively introduce new capabilities for the benefit of their customers.

If your company is thinking through this topic, I recommend looking at how you use it. Did you automate existing, broken processes that rely on existing, broken data? Start by cleaning up your data and focusing on expanding ways to enable your customers. Stop play defense.

Takeaway: The best defense is a good offense. Pivot your AI tokens to creation of new value rather than racing to the bottom to reduce costs for existing capabilities.

Onboarding new customers can easily be treated as an afterthought. Your product or service is easy to use, right?

Nope. Assume that it’s complicated, confusing, and chaotic.

Your tools were built based on how you see the world, the frameworks you use to analyze situations, and your experiences with digital products. Other people had different experiences and may not understand how your tool works at all.

Onboarding is the single biggest factor in customer retention. It’s more important than pricing. If someone understands how to use your software or order from you, they are more likely to shrug off a modest price increase. You become familiar and comfortable and that is highly valuable.

The Optimize Onboarding agent in CorZen assumes that your new customer has a different worldview than your team and creates a pathway for everyone to be successful. If you haven’t looked at your onboarding process in a few months, or are preparing a product launch, it’s a good time to look closely at the onboarding experience. The agent will guide you through creation of a process that turns new customers into happy referrals.

Takeaway: Onboarding deserves at least 15% of your time when preparing a product launch as it is the single biggest factor in customer retention.

I have no words to offer James. He might need help from you.