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We’ve been hearing it a lot lately. Sometimes in meetings. Sometimes in emails. Sometimes just people calling us up on the phone. “Hey, we want to use AI in our business can you help us?”
That’s it. No context. No goal. Just throw it out there with the expectation we can find the silver bullet and hope it sticks.
I feel like it’s the new version of “Let’s make an app for that.” But here’s the thing, saying you want to use AI without knowing why is like telling your contractor “Build me something cool” without mentioning whether it’s a cottage, or an outhouse.
This isn’t a knock on AI, it’s a powerful tool. At Whitecap, we use it daily to help clients build smarter systems, automate repetitive work, and make better decisions. But we’ve also learned that the minute “AI” becomes a checkbox instead of a business strategy, things tend to go sideways fast.
Let’s break down why this is happening, why it’s a bit ridiculous, and what leaders should be doing instead.
The Buzzword Trap
Executives want to look like they’re ahead of the curve. And fair enough, nobody wants to be the last company in their industry to figure out what a chatbot is. But the hype around AI has created a problem. Leaders feel pressure to do something with AI, even if they’re not sure what that is.
We’ve heard of companies dive headfirst into pilot projects with no measurable outcomes, just because another company in their space was “doing something with AI.” That’s not innovation it’s FOMO!
You wouldn’t hire a CFO because “finance is hot right now.” You’d do it because your business needs financial leadership. The same logic should apply to technology.
A Totally Real but Slightly Exaggerated Example
Last year, we had a mid-sized manufacturing client call us up. They were excited.
Client: We’ve allocated budget for AI!
Us: Great.
Client: We want to automate our operations.
Us: Also great.
Client: Can you build us a custom GPT that… well, we’re not exactly sure what it should do but we know we want it to be AI enabled.
When we asked what problem they were trying to solve, there was a long pause, then “Oh, nothing too specific. Our board wants to see that we’re using AI in some way.’”
We get it. But here’s the truth, AI isn’t a strategy. It’s a tool. It can help with strategy, but only if you know where you’re going. Otherwise, you’re just playing buzzword bingo with your IT budget.
Start With the Business Problem, Not the Tool
The smartest companies don’t start with “We want AI.” They start with:
- We’re spending 40 hours a week on manual data entry.
- Our clients are waiting too long for responses.
- Our forecasting is all guesswork.
- Our knowledge is stuck in email threads and people’s heads.
Then they ask, “What’s the best way to fix this?”
Sometimes the answer is AI. Sometimes it’s better workflows, cleaner data, or training staff to use the tools they already have. That’s where the real value is, not in the tool itself, but in what it enables. The outcomes.
AI Is Not Magic (Also, Your Data Is a Mess)
Another thing: AI is only as good as the foundation it’s built on. If your data is incomplete, unstructured, or stored across seventeen SharePoint folders named “New folder (2)”, then AI won’t help. It’ll just get confused faster than your intern on their first day.
At Whitecap, we can spend more time helping clients get ready for AI than we do building AI solutions. And that’s okay. In fact, that’s the responsible thing to do.
You wouldn’t install solar panels on a house with a leaking roof. Same logic here. Fix the operations, then layer on intelligence.
What Executives and IT Leaders Should Be Asking
If you’re a decision-maker trying to figure out how to bring AI into your business (without wasting time and money), here’s what you should be asking:
- What specific problem are we trying to solve?
- What would success look like if we solved it?
- How will we measure success?
- Is our data, processes, and people ready to support this?
- Is AI the best tool for this job, or just the loudest one in the room?
And maybe most importantly, who can we trust to help us figure this out without selling us a shiny object we don’t need?
That’s where we come in!
How Whitecap Helps
At Whitecap, we don’t lead with tools, we lead with business outcomes. Sometimes that means building a custom AI solution. Other times, it means using Microsoft Power Platform or automating something in Dynamics 365 or SharePoint.
We’ve been around for over 25 years, and we’ve seen the tech cycles come and go. The companies that succeed aren’t the ones chasing the trend, they’re the ones that use the right tech to solve the right problems at the right time.
If that sounds like your kind of approach, let’s talk.
Final Thought
Saying “We want to use AI” sounds good on a slide deck, but it’s not a strategy. It’s a starting point. A better starting point is “We want to run a smarter business. What role can AI play in that?”
That’s where the real conversation begins. And that’s a conversation worth having.
Check out this blog post where we share an inside look at how Whitecap is rolling out AI across our own development teams. It’s full of great insights that can serve as inspiration for how you can create a practical, phased AI adoption roadmap tailored to your organization.
Dan Carmichael
President, Whitecap Canada