Vancouver, OR: Building AI Strategy That Drives Growth
- JR
- Sep 19, 2025
- 4 min read
Vancouver, Oregon, September 19, 2025 — AI Isn't the Future—It's the Present
A recent workshop in Vancouver, Oregon, reminded business leaders of a powerful truth: AI is no longer optional. Organizations that embrace AI leadership, align it with business fundamentals, and use it to enhance customer experience will thrive. Those who hesitate risk being left behind as competitors accelerate modernization.
This event wasn't about showing tools. It was about connecting AI strategy to business growth, customer engagement, and competitive advantage. With strong ratings across content, deliverability, applicability, and recommendation, the workshop proved both eye-opening and practical.
One attendee captured it: "Great hands-on workshop demonstrating how to train an AI agent. Loads of take away value for everyone!"
Feedback From the Room: What Resonated Most
The Vancouver group was vocal about content value and organizational gaps. Their feedback painted a clear picture of what worked and what comes next.
"Focus on operations and the sales piece a bit more. Overall tremendously eye opening and great value."
"Really like the real world value and relatability of the content. Working hands on with the agents was eye opening."
"Fast paced with enthusiasm, and loads of great information that is relevant and actionable."
"Strong alignment between super high-tech AI strategies without sacrificing necessary business fundamentals."
"This course really helped me clear up confusion I had about AI agents. I have some actionable tools and actions for next week."
These responses reflect what business leaders want most: structural clarity and strategies that tie AI directly to business outcomes.
Survey Insights: A Glimpse Into AI Readiness
The participant survey revealed enthusiasm and areas of concern that mirror broader industry trends.
Ownership and Leadership Some organizations identified their CEO or functional leaders as accountable for AI adoption. Others admitted no clear owner, or only loosely defined working groups. Without strong AI leadership, companies risk scattered initiatives without measurable impact.
Data Readiness When asked if they could run a 30-day AI pilot today, most participants admitted they only had scattered or siloed exports. A few had raw data they could label, but very few were genuinely prepared. Data quality remains one of the biggest barriers to effective modernization.
Governance and Safety Rules for AI usage were inconsistent. Many companies reported relying on informal habits with no consistent enforcement. Only a few had robust protections, such as blocking sensitive data from entering AI tools. Without stronger governance, AI risks compliance breaches and loss of trust.
KPIs and Accountability Most participants reported having no KPIs tied to AI—or, at best, occasional tracking with unclear ownership. A small minority reported a KPI with a named owner and review cadence. Without measurable goals, AI efforts lack direction.
Desired Outcomes When asked what they wanted most from AI, responses centered around three outcomes:
Revenue growth
Cost reduction
Closing talent and skills gaps
The overwhelming emphasis on revenue growth underscores that businesses view AI not just as cost-saving, but as a driver of customer engagement and market expansion.
Blockers to Adoption The most common blockers cited were:
Leadership buy-in
Data quality
Talent and skills
These are not technical barriers—they are organizational ones. They require deliberate AI strategy to overcome.
The Learning Moment: Turning Barriers Into Breakthroughs
The workshop's most significant value came from helping leaders reframe blockers as opportunities. The Vancouver group walked away with key lessons:
AI leadership matters. Without a single accountable leader, AI adoption stalls.
Customer experience drives adoption. The most successful AI pilots begin with initiatives that directly improve customer engagement.
Data creates opportunity. Scattered data is wasted potential. Even imperfect data can be organized and used to drive meaningful pilots.
Marketing offers fastest wins. From building personas to tailoring campaigns, AI creates competitive advantage when aligned with business fundamentals.
Modernization requires clarity. Companies don't need every answer to start. They need one pilot, one KPI, and one accountable leader.
One participant captured this: "This course really helped me clear up confusion I had about AI agents. I have some actionable tools and actions for next week."
That shift—from confusion to confidence—is the first step in transforming AI into a tool for real business growth.
Where Will You Begin?
The Vancouver workshop reinforced that AI is not about complexity. It's about clarity, ownership, and customer focus. Companies don't need to overhaul everything overnight. They need to take one focused step forward—anchored in their positioning and tied to measurable results.
The question is: If revenue growth and customer experience are your top goals, what is the first process you will automate, and who on your team will own it?
Where GPS Summit Creates Internal AI Leaders
This workshop revealed something critical: leaders don't just want AI exposure. They want internal capability they can install inside their companies. They want AI leadership that moves work from confusion to confidence, from pilots to production.
That's what GPS Summit delivers.
GPS Summit transforms high-potential employees into AI Systems Generalists in three days—faster than MIT's 8-week program, more practical than Stanford's $18K certificate, designed for companies that need internal capability, not consultant dependence.
Your designated leader learns to identify bottlenecks, build solutions, and drive measurable efficiency gains within a 90-day roadmap. Applied learning that creates force multipliers.
The result: internal leaders who turn your organization's AI initiatives from scattered experiments into repeatable competitive advantage.
Ready to develop your internal AI leader?Enroll your high-potential employee in GPS Summit
Next Steps
The organizations that answer "who will own our AI strategy" with structural clarity will not just adopt AI—they will use it to drive measurable growth while competitors remain confused.
Comments