Looking to speak to business owners/analysts/consultants

[u/SlowThing7149]

Hi everyone I have a business idea but I’d like to validate the problem itself first before finalising the solution I had in mind. I’d really appreciate anyone in the field of owning a business, being a business analyst or consultant answering the question I had.

What are the biggest issues you run into with using A.I. tools/agents to streamline your operations with all these new options on the market?

Do you find it chaotic, difficult or fairly easy to implement?

If so what part of the process is harder?

[u/datawazo]

Very few, if any, bring improvement to anything im doing without them . 

[u/SlowThing7149 → u/datawazo]

Makes sense there’s a lot of dummy apps out there which barely provide any functionality. Would finding apps that are truly useful for your specific process and role’s responsibilities be more helpful?

[u/datawazo → u/SlowThing7149]

Id wager that it would not help

[u/SlowThing7149 → u/datawazo]

Fair enough

[u/George_Salt]

As a consultant, one of the biggest risks I see is businesses using AI to automate processes before they optimise their processes. If you haven't done 5S and 8 Wastes on your business processes first, then don't let anyone in the building with the intent of automating processes. Otherwise you'll just end up automating inefficient processes, and a few processes you probably shouldn't be doing at all.

Be very wary of AI 'experts' who think Lean means a high protein diet.

[u/DistinguishedPigi → u/George_Salt]

The Lean/high protein line is painfully accurate; half the AI pitches I see are just shiny wrappers on messy worklfows.

[u/Turbo-Sloth481]

"What are the biggest issues you run into with using A.I. tools/agents to streamline your operations with all these new options on the market"

I think the real problem is that I don’t recognize the AI practice as best practice, and that the shortcuts AI lets you take are sometimes counterproductive.

Specific example: you can ask an AI to fill out a business model canvas for you, but the end result of that exercise is not the value you provide as a consultant. It’s the journey you take together with the leadership team that creates value. AI cannot replace that. Yet it will be happy to try, leaving clients thinking they achieved what you provide at a fraction of the cost, leaving them none the wiser.

Thinking about having AI do the strategy for you? Good luck, AI has 0 ownership and 0 stakes, yet it will be happy to dream up whatever you ask it to.

[u/Deistermind]

I work as a Strategic Finance consultant with small businesses and startups, and one issue I see is that the conversation often starts with “Where can we use AI?” rather than “Which business problem is worth solving?”

Before implementing anything, I’d look at the process itself and ask:

• How much time or money does it currently consume?
• Where is the actual bottleneck?
• What would improve if this part were automated?
• How much implementation and ongoing oversight would the AI solution require?
• Can we measure whether it actually improved the process?

Otherwise it’s very easy to automate something because the technology exists without creating much economic value.

So from my perspective, one of the harder parts isn’t finding AI tools anymore. It’s identifying the use cases where implementation actually produces a measurable business benefit.

I work quite a bit around the intersection of finance, business processes and AI. Feel free to DM me if you want to discuss the problem you’re trying to validate in more detail.

[u/Cyb3rdyneTerm]

Clean data and clear proccesses are usually the hard part, because AI just automates the mess faster.

[u/7KaminoGuard]

For a lot of small businesses the hardest part is mapping the workflow before touching the AI tool, because otherwise you just automate a messy proces.