AI Adoption in Mid-Sized Enterprises: Building on First-Mover Advantages

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 1 Comment

As AI adoption accelerates, the cost and volatility of AI investments are becoming significant challenges for organizations. Gartner estimates that GenAI costs could vary by as much as 500% to 1000%, with vendors raising prices by up to 30% as they integrate GenAI capabilities. This unpredictability is driven by factors such as data preparation, infrastructure needs, computational power, talent scarcity, token costs (price per NLP interaction), and regulatory requirements.

For those of us in mid-sized enterprises (MSE) who began exploring AI use cases a few years back, we may not yet be facing this level of cost volatility and cost spikes. While our models and applications haven’t fully scaled, our first-mover advantage lies in AI literacy and capability building. By diving in early, we engaged in hands-on, often scrappy AI projects, frequently co-innovating and co-investing with vendor partners. We built foundational machine learning models, applied large language models (LLMs) to generate human-readable results, and enabled interaction with existing models, all using platforms already familiar to our users. Successful use cases have generated financial benefits, with vendors offering additional resources to showcase our shared achievements.

My advice to MSEs:

  • Dive in NOW – Leverage existing platforms, data, and cloud capabilities.
  • Be Scrappy – Test and learn with vendor ecosystems; seek co-investment and co-innovation.
  • Invest in AI Literacy and Capability Building – Consider AI boot camps, AI leadership day, or AI executive retreat
  • Prepare to scale Enterprise-Wide – Establish governance, prioritize investment, and expand on successful use cases

Photo taken during AI Day with our vendor partners: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce, Microsoft, Softchoice, Adastra, NEORIS, Adobe, o9 Solutions and KPMG.

The Power of Career Lattices

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 2 Comments

In 2007, I was nearing the end of my post-merger integration assignment in Germany when the Head of EMEA IT asked me to return to the Philippines for a temporary role: Interim Regional Director of IT Asia for six months. The Head of IT Asia was heading to Australia for a long-term assignment, and I was asked to fill the gap.

As is often the case with these types of assignments, one of two things usually happens: 1) you complete the assignment and return to your previous role, or 2) the assignment becomes permanent, leading to the career progression you’ve been aiming for. I was hoping for the second option, thinking about my career ladder and wanting to move upward.

My six-month assignment went well, and as it ended, I was eagerly looking for my next step. What came next, however, wasn’t what I had envisioned as the next rung on my ladder. I was offered a position in Mexico as a Process Analyst/Consultant at the company’s corporate headquarters. At that time, it didn’t feel like the upward career move I was hoping for.

But then, my mentor-manager gave me some advice that changed my perspective. He said, “Think of where you are now as the minor leagues. We’re bringing you to the majors here at corporate. You might start on the bench, but you’ll be in the big leagues.” That advice convinced me to take a leap of faith.

That move to Mexico was a pivotal moment—it eventually led me to the U.S., into a new industry in consumer packaged goods, and ultimately, to becoming a Chief Information Officer.

I learned one important lesson: careers aren’t ladders—they’re lattices. Sometimes the most valuable experiences come from stepping sideways, not upwards. The journey is not just about climbing up; it’s about moving across, learning, and growing in all directions. What happens when that vertical path isn’t what you want? When your skills or interests shift? The truth is, most careers, especially in technology, are far from linear. We need flexibility, the opportunity to move laterally, to take on different challenges, and to develop new perspectives. That’s the lattice!

In a world that’s evolving as quickly as ours—especially with advancements like AI—the most successful leaders will be those who embrace the lattice approach, blend technical expertise with leadership, and commit to lifelong learning.

Critical Thinking and O-rings!

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 1 Comment

Somehow, almost every chat these days leads to the topic of AI. Last Tuesday, I was on a Zoom call with my tax advisor, Kevin, and we ended up having a passionate discussion about AI. He emphasized the importance of critical thinking, especially in the future of AI. Critical thinking enables humans to solve complex problems, make ethical decisions, and foster innovation. As AI systems tackle increasingly intricate tasks, the human ability to understand, interpret, and creatively solve problems will remain indispensable.

This brought me to a concept discussed in my MIT AI course regarding the O-ring principle. The O-ring principle originated from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. The catastrophic failure was caused by the malfunction of a small rubber O-ring in one of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters, which led to the destruction of the shuttle and the loss of all seven crew members. This event highlighted the critical importance of even the smallest components in complex systems. The lesson is that in any complex enterprise, as you improve the reliability of all the pieces that go together, the reliability and function of the remaining components become even more central. In many of the things that we will do in the future of work, we will be the last piece that determines whether a particular mission or initiative will be successful. We will be the O-rings!

This ultimately brought me to my twin boys, who are 13 years old now and still passionate coders. They once asked me if they should continue coding, concerned about the future where coding might be fully AI-automated. I said, “Absolutely continue coding- first, you are good at it, and second, in the future, individuals like you who understand the inner workings of machines will have the know-how to critically challenge, prompt/ask questions, and improve missions, initiatives, and outcomes.” Talk about becoming the best of the O-rings!

Beyond Productivity: The Revolutionary Role of Generative AI in Business Transformation

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 1 Comment

The advent of tools like ChatGPT has significantly intensified the hype around AI, marking a pivotal moment for AI’s entry into the mainstream. Consequently, when discussing AI nowadays, it’s common to reference ChatGPT and other similar tools that have emerged. This sudden surge in attention has made everyone eager to share their thoughts, resulting in the term Generative AI (GenAI) being frequently overused and misapplied, which only adds to the confusion. 

What is Generative AI and Isn’t?

Before diving into the main topic, it’s important to clarify widespread misconceptions surrounding GenAI. What exactly is GenAI, and what is not? Many companies have been leveraging AI since the early 2000s, driven by big data, enhanced machine learning, deep learning for predictive analytics, scenario planning, and data analytics. GenAI stands apart. It denotes a subset of AI technologies capable of generating new content that mirrors human-created work. Typically manifesting as text, video, images, or code, it closely resembles human output.

How can companies embrace GenAI now?

As GenAI technology swiftly evolves, the key question shifts from “if” to “how”. Companies need to make the choice between developing in-house or buying, assessing the required investment, addressing potential risks, and recruiting the right talent and developing talent within, all while considering the distinct needs of the company. With GenAI, I would lean to diving in now with the following actions: 

1. Dive in with organizational exploration and learning approach

2. Explore use cases with business-driven mindset

3. Find partners from your ecosystem to learn and co-innovate together 

4. Invest in sustainable technology foundation and get your proprietary data ready

5. Level up your responsible AI and compliance 

The future of GenAI as the ultimate user interface

Many assume that the capabilities of GenAI to generate diverse outputs could lead to significant productivity gains, to the extent that numerous job categories might be phased out in the coming years, replaced by artificial intelligence. However, I would argue that productivity gains are not the ultimate value of GenAI. Such gains, facilitated by tools like GenAI chatbots, may be easily replicated, and therefore not a source of differentiation. They are difficult to quantify in economic terms or captured as tangible benefits in a business case. For instance, a 30% improvement in process throughput does not necessarily translate into enhanced customer retention, product quality, reduced unplanned operational downtime, or better patient treatment outcomes. 

Speed does not equate to quality. Superior outcomes are defined by greater accuracy, reliability, responsibility, relevance, and reduced risk. These improvements are almost always aligned with the business context and strategic goals rooted in the organization’s mission.

The ability of GenAI to mimic human dialogue in interfacing with complex systems, data and technologic features has given us AI’s first true infliction point in broader adoption. GenAI serves as the ultimate user interface (UI) to various technology capabilities, including AI, ERP, CRM, Data Analytics, etc.

In the wake of the GenAI hype, numerous technology companies have positioned themselves as leaders in this field, highlighting their current offerings and future plans that incorporate GenAI. As a technology leader, I’ve attended several presentations and demos showcasing the GenAI strategies of these companies. Interestingly, most of the new GenAI features focus on making the user interfacing more human-like and intuitive, which isn’t surprising given that language processing is one of GenAI’s greatest strengths.

– O9 has significantly enhanced its industry-leading integrated planning platform by integrating GenAI capabilities. This includes a prompt feature that allows users to access trusted insights. By facilitating decision-making via natural language queries and conversational analytics, this solution speaks in the user’s preferred language and gain insights from already existing Digital Brain.

– SAP AI Copilot Joule offers users the ability to complete tasks using natural language and provides relevant help within the application itself. It enables users to navigate SAP solutions more efficiently, streamline tasks, receive smart insights on demand, and access customized content to get started on their work promptly.

– Salesforce EinsteinGPT brings personalized content to every Salesforce cloud using GenAI, thereby enhancing the productivity of all employees and improving every customer interaction. Salesforce’s GenAI CRM technology aims to provide AI-created content across every interaction within sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT, on a massive scale. With Einstein GPT, Salesforce is set to redefine customer experiences through the power of generative AI.

As illustrated by these examples, there’s a noticeable enhancement in the utilization of existing digital and technological capabilities within current platforms through the use of GenAI as an intermediary. Envision a future where users interact with their systems in human-centric ways, rather than through the transactional, step-by-step processes that are common today. 

For instance, you could instruct your order fulfillment system with a command like: “Identify any orders from the past week that have not been fulfilled due to stock shortages. Provide a list of affected orders and suggest alternative fulfillment strategies, prioritizing as high urgency.” The system then executes all the necessary steps for you. Essentially, you are conversing with the system, and based on the results, responses, or recommendations, you can tailor your next steps accordingly.

GenAI’s sophisticated understanding of historical context from transactional data, next best action from predictive models, summarization capabilities, will bring a new era of hyper-efficiency in front and back office – taking business process autonomy to a new level. We are looking at a future where GenAI interfacing with technology ecosystems of the future for business agility enabling business transformation journeys. It is, quite frankly, on another level compared to some organizations that have demonstrated the ability to pivot customer journeys on the fly for differentiation.

In conclusion, the value of GenAI extends far beyond mere productivity enhancements; it brings a new era of business transformation where human-like interactions with technology redefine efficiency, decision-making, and strategic agility. As companies navigate the complexities of implementing GenAI, the focus should not just be on the immediate gains but on the long-term potential to revolutionize how we work, think, and innovate within our industries. The journey towards fully embracing GenAI is not without its challenges, but the promise it holds for creating more intuitive, responsive, and intelligent business ecosystems is undeniably compelling.

No Regret Moves

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ Leave a comment

Architectural vision is critical when orchestrating a massive technology build and modernization initiative, especially when faced with significant technical debt. In the beginning, there was a lack of adequate information, and we were confronted with difficult technical questions, often with no easy answers.

It was time for “no regret moves.” Regardless of the situation, no regret moves are actions that carry no downside and often yield extreme value. We focused on what we could control —technology!

  • De-risking ERP with a Lift and Shift approach
  • Network Modernization with SDWAN
  • Cloud migration and decommissioning of our data centers
  • Introduction of new platforms: Data and Integration
  • IT Service Management with ServiceNow

Looking back, there were many anxiety-filled meetings where we had to make bold decisions and hoped for the best.

One by one, our calculated bets paid off, and as a team, we gained self-awareness and knowledge. We felt more confident, which enhanced our ability to meet challenges with creativity and proactivity. We grew as an organization ready to face our next steps from no regret moves, to bets, to big rocks!

Possibilities and Roadblocks

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If your engagement feels like a reactive endeavor, it might be because you are getting involved at the tail end of the strategic decision cycle.

1. The first step is to imagine what the business you serve cares about and their long-term aspirations.
2. The second step is to figure out how technology can enable them to get there.
3. The third step is to understand why they are not there yet.

Asking, “What strategic possibilities can technology create for us?” is a more powerful question than “what execution gaps do we have that can be solved by technology?”

If you can help business leaders get to where they seek to go, when they’re ready to get there, then you are removing roadblocks and creating new possibilities.

Complementary Leadership

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This year I engaged a fitness coach to assist with my strength program for the first time. One of the values I learned from this, is education about how our body works. The complexity of the human muscular system is mind-boggling. It is fascinating how each muscle group works together with the “core” to achieve strength, balance, and endurance.

It is the same way with teams. I had the pleasure of spending two days with our IT leadership team this week during our quarterly meeting. This is the third time we have started it with a reflective discussion. We call this section #Perspectives. This week’s topic was Complementary Leadership. 

We shared our leadership strengths and development opportunities (others called it needs). We became aware of our diversity; from our upbringing, experience, domain expertise, and leadership capabilities. We gave examples of where we rely on other strengths:

  • How leaders who are great in coordination help facilitate and co-lead initiatives between teams
  • How new leaders rely on the veterans for institutional knowledge and a breadth and depth of relationships across the business
  • How we learn from new leaders who are technical thought leaders; bringing new and emerging skills that don’t exist across

Our conclusion: We have diversity in leadership, and there’s nothing we need that we don’t have in this team and our extended team and network. With this conclusion, we challenged ourselves to deliberately empower our leadership compass to expand multi-dimensionally: 

  1. Up: find mentors and role models
  2. Down: mentor others, give back, and help the next one in line
  3. Out: find leader partners to support and complement your needs as well
  4. Within: improve leadership self-awareness, discover our strengths, and needs

Much like the muscular system of the human body, developing the core allows different muscle groups to work in harmony to achieve the best performance. If you do it the wrong way, you can risk injuries that can set you back. Fitness training is an intentional program. With our reflection on complementary leadership, we want to make that team leadership development purposeful to benefit the whole. “Complementary leadership is the intentional partnership between one leader and one or more leader partners to share leadership responsibilities based on complementary skill sets.”1

1– Use Complementary Leadership to Develop Future Ready IT Leaders – Gartner March 2020

A Simple Lesson From My Father

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ Leave a comment

I’m the eldest of 3 boys, and all of us now with families and kids. Still to this day, when we are with our father walking beside him, he would sometimes still hold our hands.

This thought brings me way back to 2005 in Paris. I was fortunate enough to get him there with my mom and brother. I remember strolling by Champ-Elysees when suddenly he brought our attention to a grand hotel with an open window. He described that scene as very fortunate people enjoying breakfast in one of the finest in the world. I sensed the grandeur of Paris, the moment, the smiles, and the happy people.

He paused, gave us time to internalize the scene, and then proceeded to say, “there are those people in our small hometown in the Philippines, having simple breakfast with their coffee, but just as happy.”

It’s a lesson. It is not about where you are; it’s the moment and who you are with that matters.

Simple Lesson on Servant Leadership

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 2 Comments

My 10-year-old son came to my home office. He saw two books about leadership on my desk and immediately shared a blunt observation that stunned me. He said, “You are reading leadership books and yet you are not a good leader.”

Surprised by what he said, I began to probe what he meant to say. My son, who is a prolific coder at his age, amused me with his explanation. He said, “Dad, if you are a good leader, as CIO you should be coding with your team, you are more of a boss, because you just tell them what to do.” I got a good reminder on servant leadership!

That’s right, since I don’t get to code anymore, I am merely overhead unless I bring out the best in my team and develop leadership qualities in them. Leaders must find ways to have meaningful engagements with their team. I believe that leaders that engage their people get to know what they think. They have a finger on the pulse of the organization and can lead effectively.

Power of Relationships: How the Power of Relationships Fuels Leadership and Culture

~ Glenn Remoreras ~ 1 Comment

A few years ago, in an annual performance calibration meeting, our CIO explained why a Business Relationship Manager (BRM) from my team should get an “exceeds expectation” rating. To drive his point, he went on by saying, “If this person asks the pilot of our corporate plane to turn around while in mid-flight, the pilot will turn around.” He was probably more figurative in his argument, but what he really meant to say was that this BRM established such strong and trusted business relationships that he has gained power of influence.

I believe that Power of Relationships is one the greatest factors in determining an organization’s success. “If the results are not there, I go looking at what relationships are broken,” said Darrel Popowich as he opened 2021 World BRMConnect.  Relationships is “the state of connectedness between two or more people which dictates the manner in which they interact, communicate, and behave with each other in pursuit of a shared organizational purpose.”1

Smart vs. Heart

The breakout show of the pandemic has been Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” and it has gotten an additional boost from its multiple Emmys this year. Ted Lasso is an American college football coach who improbably finds himself coaching the fictional English football club AFC Richmond. The premise is that the owner hired an unqualified coach to spite her ex-husband who loves the team. The owner assumed that Lasso didn’t have enough “smart”, meaning knowledge of the game, strategy, and tactics to succeed as coach. The owner underestimated the “heart” of Ted Lasso. He ended up building a stronger and more cohesive team that brought the best in everyone. Ted Lasso led with empathy by letting each person he interacted with feeling cared for. He stayed grounded and humble to accept feedback and let others fill in where they could. More importantly, he built powerful relationships with the owner, front office, coaching team, team captain, players fans, media, and community.

One of the best explanations for this comes from another comedy sitcom from the 50s, I Love Lucy. Ricky, Lucy’s husband, came home and found Lucy looking for one of her earrings in their living room. Ricky then asked Lucy if she lost it in the living room. She replied, “No, I lost it in the bedroom. But the lights out here is much better.” “Most leaders prefer to look for answers where the light is better, where they are more comfortable. And the lights are certainly better in the measurable, objective, data-driven world of organizational intelligence than the messier, more unpredictable work of organizational health.”2

“The power of relationships in an organization provides the groundwork for leadership and culture. In turn, leadership and culture provide the context for strategy, execution, and continuous development.

Begs the question: Why are there not enough leaders that embrace power of relationships?”

Leadership and Culture

Unlike management systems and processes that tend to be linear, “leadership requires a more nuanced view of the world because it involves people: what motivates them, what their interests are, and how engaged they become”.3 Leadership and culture involves deep understanding of the power of relationships that underlies the state of connectedness between people, their interaction, communication, and behavior in pursuit of a shared organizational purpose. It requires leaders to go out of their comfort zone (SMART) and embrace people leadership, and the power of relationships in pursuit or organizational health (HEART). 

There are few universal competencies and behaviors associated with leaders, such as integrity, judgement, resilience, decision-making capacity, analytical ability, charisma, and communication skills. These timeless leadership competencies still apply today. As I reflect on the shift in leadership that is needed in today’s world, I examined other leadership competencies needed in the light of major changes we are currently experiencing. Leadership competencies that leverage connectedness, as well as drive agility. Competencies that bring more focus to HEART side of the equation.

  • Humble: An ability to accept feedback and acknowledge that others know more than you.
  • Adaptable: An acceptance that change is constant and that changing your mind based on new information is a strength rather than a weakness.
  • Vulnerable: Being vulnerable doesn’t make leaders weak, it allows them to show people their authentic self.
  • Engaged: A willingness to listen, interact, and communicate with internal and external stakeholders combined with a strong sense of interest and curiosity in emerging trends.

Leadership is the ultimate lever to evolving culture. An organization’s culture doesn’t just materialize, and it isn’t random. It reflects human behavior, which is why it is often defined using human traits. More specifically, culture is an echo of all the interactions and relationships between any people having anything to do with the organization, past or present. Leadership and culture do not exist as independent things, they overlap or combine. Those unseen connections (relationships) are fundamental ingredients and key determinants of everything. Thus, the power of relationships in an organization provides the groundwork for leadership and culture.

This culture pyramid derived from the book, Change the Culture, Change the Game, is one of the best frameworks to define culture. “Leaders create experiences. Experiences foster beliefs. Beliefs drive actions and actions delivery results.” The combination of experiences, believes and actions is the culture of an organization.

Most initiatives that are heavily biased on the SMART side of the equation tends to focus on the top part of the pyramid: actions and results. This is when leaders take the short cut when trying to improve results. By just calling the team to action: “sell more to increase profit”, “streamline production process to increase throughput” or “standardize processes to improve economies of scale”. I am not saying these are bad initiatives. After all, these actions deliver results that are tangible, measurable, and more predictable. However, it more likely will result in short-term progress or quick wins.

As early as 1990s, few thought leaders and authors were starting to write more about leadership than management that ruled the “Peter Drucker business world”. Change was becoming normal, and life was moving faster. This translated even more so in the business world with advancement in technology; where cycles of innovation and transformation led to the disruption of industries, and the creation of new ones. Unprecedented events in human history, like the current COVID19 pandemic brought the complexity of our world come screaming into view. It is changing the way we live and work.

Leaders who balance SMART with HEART will consider all the elements on the pyramid – company experience, employee beliefs and ingrained practices – and then ensure that what you change is sustained. The right experiences and belief foster powerful relationships between different people in the organization, that in turn build commitment and lasting impact. The actions then initiated by change initiative delivers results that is sustainable and resilient. 

1 BRM Institute, The Relationship-Centered Organization: Accessing Infinite Value Through Relationships https://brm.institute/relationship-centered-organization-system/

2 Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage, Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything in Business, 2012

3 John C. Maxwell, Leader Shift, The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Mush Embrace, 2019