Spotlight On: Saby Mitra, Dean, University of Florida, Warrington College of Business - caa

You bought the AI tool. Nobody used it. $200/month gone — and now you're more skeptical than ever.

That's not a you problem. That's a sequencing problem.

Here's what a business school dean said recently that stopped me cold: companies have the tools, but they don't have the right data feeding those tools. Most small and mid-sized businesses skip that step entirely. They buy the software first and ask questions never.

This is exactly why AI implementations fail quietly. Not because the technology is bad. Because nobody mapped what data you already have before choosing a solution. The tool arrives. Your team shrugs. The subscription renews anyway.

The fix isn't complicated. Before you evaluate a single AI tool, spend one hour listing the three most repetitive decisions your team makes every week. Sales follow-ups. Inventory reorders. Customer complaints. Whatever it is — that list tells you what data you have, which tells you which AI tools will actually work for your business.

That single exercise has saved clients from six-figure mistakes. It takes an hour, touches nothing in your current systems, and gives you a filter no vendor pitch can spin around.

What's the one repetitive task in your business that still runs on gut instinct or manual effort?

#AIStrategy #SmallBusiness #BusinessGrowth #AIImplementation

Original Source

We have faculty with expertise in AI and analytics, but what they do not always have is the data. Companies, especially small and medium-sized ...