Zitec

Plenty of retailers are experimenting with AI right now, yet far fewer can point to where it improved the bottom line. The reason catches a lot of teams off guard. 👀

What we've identified as hurdles are:

👉 Misalignment
👉 Risk aversion
👉 The quiet decision paralysis that sets in when nobody wants to own the call

In the second session of our webinar with Google, our Tech Consulting Director, Iulian Oprea, shared three principles that tend to separate the retailers who scale AI from the ones who stay stuck in pilots:

💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜. Rather than transforming the whole company at once, find the people genuinely excited to push through the friction, and hand them real problems to solve.

💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭. When you reward the wrong things, like lines of code or simple automation, you get the wrong outcomes, so reward the appetite for change and experimentation instead.

💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭, because what leadership sees as an opportunity, teams may read as a threat. People commit to what they help build.

This is why AI adoption journeys fail. However, having experience with implementing this technology across industries, we've structured our approach to give you a useful flow to help you succeed.

We call this approach the AI Value Flow, which is a methodology we developed to help you move from isolated pilots to scalable ROI through three phases:

𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩 -> 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 -> 𝐏𝐎𝐂, 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭.

Iulian's full session is available now. Comment 'AI' and we'll send it right away.

Hey there! If you didn't get your daily dose of good news, keep on reading. 😀

A year after the idea first came out, Claudiu Bogdan's hackathon concept turned into a system tracking 13,000 public institutions to bring more transparency into decisions, budgets, and initiatives impacting civic societies.

What's more, Claudiu even quit his job to focus on the platform called transparenta.eu, and we think that his dedication is worth celebrating!

The platform's mission is to transform complex records into accessible public information. It now serves thousands of users who seek a clear understanding of local budgets and administrative decisions. We've heard that since this solution was implemented, some very productive public discussions have emerged.

Various local governments already integrate these data layers directly into their websites to share financial records with the community.

Now, that's what we call great news. 👏

Always happy to support technology serving as an engine of a healthy society. Last year, when we sponsored this hackathon, also supported by Ethical Media Production Alliance (EMPA), the concept was just an idea on paper.

Watching it grow into an essential civic tool is such a great reminder of why engineering for impact remains our priority! 💙

To the founder, Funky Citizens, How to Web, the amazing organizers at AmpliFY ONG, and all others contributing to the platform in any way: keep fighting the good fight.

PS: The solution has already added new features, like the option to view key public data (e.g., spending by categories, total income vs. expenses, and more) from city halls. It's worth checking it out.