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The coming artificial business disaster will not be robots run amok like in Ex Machina or The Terminator. Instead, the monster AI problem many executives will face is their business model going extinct.
“There are a lot of businesses that will go out of existence,” predicts Dean, CEO of Tampa-based ManoByte. “Most businesses will have to change their business model, just the same way they had to change their business model for the Internet and the same way they had to change for mobile.”
ManoByte specializes in AI strategy, transforming businesses with intelligent automation. The company helps optimize sales, marketing, and customer service operations. ManoByte serves clients in California, such as NerdWallet, Bay Cities, and Sequoia Living.
Dean’s Forecast Is Dire, But Hopeful
“Companies that don’t change will either be out of business, or they’re going to find themselves way behind,” he said.
Dean cited Blockbuster Video, Eastman Kodak, and Polaroid as classic examples of businesses that failed to adapt to market changes. The strategic decisions not to change business models were certainly a major factor in these companies’ demise.
He advocates using AI to outperform competitors, disrupt industries, and ensure that businesses don’t fall behind.
This means war, and Dean offers a battle plan for executive-level AI success.
Dean sees AI as an organizational force multiplier, not just a productivity enhancer for leaders. He advocates AI as a business transformation tool rather than just an executive aid.
As a kid, Dean loved the positive future worldview of the sci-fi series Star Trek. ManoBytes’ mission is to help companies “live long and prosper” by leveraging advanced AI technologies to streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and drive growth.
Dean wants executives to consider AI a strategic weapon, not just a productivity tool. He urges a more aggressive, competitive stance, urging leaders to move fast, adapt, and dominate in the AI-driven business landscape.
“Let’s consider the Blockbuster Video analogy,” said Dean. “It’s not that your competitors are moving in the right direction. Your buyer is moving in a different direction, and that’s even stronger when your competitor moves. With AI, you can figure out what they do and catch up when the buyer moves. Now that’s a game changer, and that’s what’s happening.”
According to Dean, at Blockbuster, customers no longer wanted to rent DVDs in the store; they wanted to stream the information with services like Netflix.
“The buyer changed, and that’s what’s happening right now,” says Dean. Competitors are changing, but the biggest thing is that the buyer is changing.”
There is a lesson there for all executive teams today.
“Things are moving so fast that you can’t rely on what AI used to be, the promises it used to have,” says Dean. “Executive leaders need to have the right battle plan to help guide them with what’s happening right now.”
From Digital Twins To Guardian Agents
The first part of the battle plan is to employ digital twins.
“Many companies have armies of inside sales agents,” says Dean. “They are all going to go away because you can teach a digital twin everything that an inside sales agent knows; you can teach them to talk to customers in a better way, and you can teach them to process information much better.”
He adds that digital twins don’t take sick, holiday, or vacation days off.
Dean says AI-powered agents are revolutionizing how businesses interact with customers, automate workflows, and optimize operations. With ManoByte’s AI Agent Building Service, they design and deploy intelligent AI agents tailored to meet unique business needs.
According to research from McKinsey & Company, digital twins are virtual representations of people or processes that can serve as an early-warning system, predicting events and the likelihood they will occur.
Digital twins also provide a risk-free digital laboratory for testing designs, improving efficiency and time to market. That includes optimizing scheduling, sequencing, and maintenance. McKinsey said, “75 percent of large enterprises are investing in digital twins to scale AI solutions.”
“This is a game-changing solution that businesses really need to think about,” says Dean.
The second part of the battle plan is to employ guardian agents.
The so-called guardian agents are AI assistants that proactively monitor and manage AI-driven workflows. They are guardians because they ensure reliability and security, especially with the rise of autonomous AI agents.
“You need to have a human checking, validating and making sure your AI agents are actually doing what they’re supposed to do, just like you have to do with humans,” says Dean.
Dean says guardian agents act as watchdogs for AI systems, overseeing and governing their operations to prevent misuse and ensure optimal performance. Guardian agents can monitor the performance of other AI agents, detect anomalies, and take corrective actions.
“You have to make sure they are showing up on time, that they’re clocking in, and that they’re doing their job,” says Dean. “You got to make sure that they’re following their procedures.”
While AI can help with tactical matters like the increasing use of AI agents in various applications, there’s a growing need for AI to serve on the strategic front.
The Annual Strategic Plan Is Dead, Long Live The Quarterly Plan
“Many businesses have to change how they go about their strategic planning,” says Dean. “It can’t be this. ‘Oh, we’re planning for the next five years.’ You have to throw that out the window because the truth is, that is not going to work.”
Dean says the future requires quarterly strategic planning for a rolling 18-month window.
“Businesses will have to start doing strategic planning almost in real time,” says Dean. “That is a new way of thinking, and it’s a new way of operating.”
Dean says using AI in strategic planning will be the only way to make the shifts necessary because everything is moving quickly.
“We need to teach ourselves to be constantly watching and having a business model that’s agile enough to shift in real time, says Dean.
Henry DeVries is the author of 20 books and is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Indie Books International in Oceanside, California.
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