Why Excel Can't Take You to AI: A Guide for Practical Business Leaders

If you're running a company outside of Silicon Valley, you've probably viewed technology investments very differently than your tech counterparts. And for good reason.

In your world, new technology implementations have always been risky. Everything needs to integrate with your existing SAP, Oracle, or Salesforce systems - systems your business literally runs on. These integrations are custom, expensive, and if technology isn't your core business, the risk is enormous.

When you've bought new tools that didn't work with your existing infrastructure, you were left holding the bag. The vendor moved on, and you were stuck with something that didn't deliver as promised. So you've learned to only buy technology that's worked for companies in your industry, with your same use cases, at your scale. Playing it safe means less risk. Less risk means you stay in business.

But now AI is coming, and it's changing the game for everyone - not just tech companies. There will be winners who get ahead of the curve, and there will be those who waited too long and got left behind.