Before the end of the year 2024, we chose to spotlight a topic that has shaped boardroom conversations and strategic agendas throughout the year: Artificial Intelligence or AI.

Our last Revinar of 2024, led by Mark Osborne — host of The B2B Growth Blueprint podcast — featured compelling perspectives from Ankur Desai, the CMO of WhiteGloveAI, and Johannes Hoech, the CEO and Founder of Premonio. 

Together, they discussed one of the most critical challenges facing businesses today: a realistic approach to AI investment that “double-clicks” past the frothy future predictions and homes in on how and where an organization can realistically leverage relevant AI offerings. So, we looked into actionable strategies that ensure these technologies deliver tangible value. 

The AI landscape is brimming with opportunity, yet directing it effectively requires cutting through the noise and focusing on strategic impact. With rising interest rates marking the end of “free money,” organizations must justify every investment with precision. For private equity firms seeking valuation growth or public companies juggling competing priorities, AI offers a transformative lever — if deployed thoughtfully.

This webinar introduced a practical, results-oriented framework to build the business case for AI. Unlike traditional approaches focused on cost-cutting or organic growth, AI enables unprecedented potential for operational and strategic changes. Along those lines, Johannes and Ankur, discussed actionable strategies for implementing AI, supported by tools, calculators, and ready-made templates designed to help you articulate and drive AI initiatives within your organization. 

Mark kicked off the webinar with the question:

“What is the real opportunity that you see within AI and bringing transformation for companies, and how does that compare to other ways that companies could grow in the current climate?” 

Ankur shared his career journey, starting as a financial analyst, where he learned to critically question assumptions, a skill that shaped his approach in roles across M&A, strategy, and marketing. Through these experiences, he observed widespread organizational anxieties, often rooted in challenges like insufficient revenue growth, high costs, or operational inefficiencies.

Drawing parallels between AI and the volatile crypto market, Ankur highlighted the skepticism surrounding AI solutions, with many viewed as overhyped or superficial. Companies are hesitant to invest in AI due to fears of unreliable vendors and unclear ROI, compounded by high interest rates and limited options for drastic cost-cutting or M&A strategies.

From his work at White Glove AI, Ankur emphasized that adopting AI is not a quick fix — it requires thoughtful integration, strategic alignment, and realistic expectations about its potential to address organizational pain points and deliver meaningful results.

Johannes emphasized three key points during the discussion. First, organizations must “fix the mess” before automating it, as AI should not merely try to streamline or re-invent flawed processes. This is compounded by the challenge of distinguishing between genuinely valuable AI solutions and overhyped, narrowly focused products. Johannes humorously referred to some AI offerings as “AI backscratchers,” which are limited in scope but heavily marketed with lots of “AI pixie dust.”

Second, the webinar aimed to guide participants in evaluating the business justification for adopting AI. This includes an example calculation for assessing ROI and a concrete use case of building a revenue-generating AI stack to illustrate the process.

Finally, Johannes discussed the transformative potential of AI in creating scalable growth compared to traditional methods like relying solely on organic growth or cost-cutting, which often have significant limitations. However, he noted that economic constraints and skeptical CFOs often hinder AI investment. The webinar sought to address these barriers by helping participants build compelling business cases to secure buy-in for AI-driven innovation.

“Why don’t you walk us through some of the challenges that you’ve seen in building this business case for AI within companies, and some of the ways that folks can think about that.”

Ankur emphasized the importance of understanding the CFO’s cautious approach to AI investments. CFOs prioritize financial stability and are hesitant about proposals that could disrupt the organization. To gain their support, AI initiatives must align with broader business goals and be presented as opportunities for growth, not just cost-cutting.

He also highlighted that AI isn’t just about automating tasks; it’s about augmenting human capabilities. By freeing employees from repetitive work, they can focus on strategic initiatives like product development and market expansion. This shift, which he learned at White Glove AI, drives innovation and growth but requires strong internal champions to overcome resistance and secure executive approval.

Johannes shared his observations of companies hastily reducing staff in the name of AI, especially in areas like product marketing, where tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity are seen as replacements. He emphasized that approaching AI with a cost-cutting mindset often leads to internal resistance and weakens the case for AI. Instead, the stronger argument focuses on how AI can drive strategic growth and reinvent the business, creating new opportunities rather than simply reducing headcount.

“How do you actually generate strategic upside? And how can you reinvent the business? Make it multiplicative rather than subtractive.”

Ankur answered that while AI tools like Skan.ai can help with digital twinning and scenario analyses, it’s critical to ensure the quality of the data being used. He highlighted the issue of “garbage in, garbage out,” where poor-quality data or faulty analysis can undermine the effectiveness of AI. Before implementing any AI or automation solution, it’s essential to have clean, reliable data. He also mentioned the importance of security concerns, sharing an example of a large company that rejected a solution due to concerns about third-party data handling, especially with sensitive documents. For CIOs, ensuring proper data integrity and security is vital before moving forward with AI solutions.

Johannes added that he agrees with the points made and emphasized the importance of clearly identifying the business problem and the potential upside of solving it before deciding if AI is the best solution. He mentioned that he built a simple ROI calculator and shared it live on a webinar to help evaluate whether AI is the right approach, highlighting the need for deeper analysis in some cases, as Ankur discussed.

Johannes explained that the ROI calculator helps illustrate the importance of clearly identifying the business value and the problem being solved before implementing AI. He pointed out that some companies try to apply AI to an existing mess, resulting in an AI mess. Others may attempt to replace entire teams with AI tools like ChatGPT, which isn’t effective without a strategic approach. The calculator helps ensure that AI solutions are well thought out, providing a clear ROI either for sellers to present or buyers to assess.

“Ankur, do you want to talk through a little bit of these two different approaches to building the business case for implementing AI in your company?”

Ankur emphasizes the importance of a dual approach when developing a business case for AI. He suggests combining top-down and bottom-up strategies. Top-down involves engaging with executives to pitch AI solutions, while bottom-up involves talking to employees to understand their workflows and challenges. By interviewing both sides, you can create a more comprehensive and compelling business case. This approach increases the likelihood of getting the business case approved and ensures that the AI solution is implemented successfully, with a clear path to ROI.

Johannes agreed that solving business problems requires both a top-down and bottom-up approach, but added a third key element: resident expertise within the team. He emphasized the importance of understanding existing tools — how they work, their capabilities, and their limitations. Johannes shared an example where a solution initially seemed game-changing but turned out to be just AI-enhanced meeting notes, highlighting the need to carefully evaluate tools. He stressed that building a strong case also relies on leveraging internal expertise, like the CIO or data owners, to follow these decisions effectively.

“Where you’re talking to end users and about the impact that it’s going to make on their business. What, what are the pros and cons of each?”

Ankur highlighted a growing trust gap between leadership and employees, driven in part by factors like layoffs, AI adoption, and efficiency pressures. He noted that employees often distrust leadership, assuming decisions prioritize cost savings and efficiency over people — similar to offshoring in past decades.

Ankur pointed out a key advantage of the top-down approach: decisions are made and implemented quickly, even if they seem “heartless.” He shared a story of a CEO who avoided personal connections with employees to make tough decisions, like layoffs, easier. While this approach can improve efficiency and valuation—critical for companies under private equity pressure — it comes at a cost. Those aligned with leadership risk alienation from their peers, like being left out of happy hour invitations.

Johannes built on the discussion by highlighting a key source of employee distrust: many executives, often older, haven’t kept up with technology. When boards demand cost cuts, top-down directives can cause chaos rather than solving problems. To address this, Johannes advocates for a bidirectional approach that combines bottom-up input with top-down strategy.

He emphasizes that frontline workers often know what’s broken and where opportunities lie, but lack channels to communicate this upward. Combining their insights with leadership’s strategic goals allows for smarter solutions. For example, replacing legacy workflows with AI should not only show cost savings but also identify new opportunities — how freed-up time can be used for more valuable work.

Johannes suggests measuring productivity improvements doesn’t need to be overly scientific — simple estimates of time spent can help pressure-test solutions and sharpen strategic thinking around both upside gains and cost savings.

“Ankur, I’ll kick it to you first to talk about some of the transformations you’ve seen.”

Ankur highlights that surprises fuel distrust in organizations, and reducing these surprises can smooth the adoption of AI. If employees are aware of what’s coming—without needing all the specifics—it lowers anxiety and prevents early resistance, apathy, or frustration, especially after disruptions like layoffs.

Johannes stressed that the focus should be on reinventing the business and creating upsides, rather than using AI solely for cost reductions or headcount cuts. The real innovation comes from transforming how work gets done with AI tools.

He provides practical examples of tools that drive results:

• Leadwave.ai for highly targeted, personalized lead generation and follow-ups.
• RB2B to identify website visitors (U.S. only).
• Hailuo.ai for quick video creation from text inputs.

These tools improve pipeline generation, lead engagement, and CRM integration. By maintaining the same headcount but increasing revenue and efficiency, organizations can make a stronger ROI case—one that’s far more compelling than cost-cutting alone.

Ankur agreed that in industries like retail, where headcount is already lean, the focus needs to be on revenue growth. They share an example of a client with brick-and-mortar stores that lose revenue when customers leave frustrated due to a lack of product information, such as pricing differences.

To address this, they suggest implementing an AI agent solution—like a GPT-based tool—within stores. This tool could assist customers in real time by providing product details and helping them make purchasing decisions on the spot, creating significant value and capturing the attention of the C-suite.

Thank you to everyone who has been following our Revinar sessions this year. Your engagement and participation have made each discussion insightful and impactful. We look forward to continuing this journey with you and hope to see you again in 2025 for more thought-provoking conversations and practical strategies. Until then, wishing you a successful and inspiring year ahead!