Kevin Dean - Gen AI Readiness: Preparing Your Business for the Next Wave of Innovation

I'm joined today by Kevin Dean, CEO and founder of the HubSpot Elite Solution Partner Agency, Manobyte. Our topic of discussion in today's episode will be how we can make sure that we're ready for all the impacts that the innovation in generative AI is bringing to the table. Hey Kevin, welcome to the podcast.

Very happy to have you here and to get to speak with you today. Want to add anything?

Kevin Dean: Hey, I am super excited to chat and talk. This is going to be a very fun discussion and we're just glad to be here with you today. Okay.

Tim Butara: Awesome. Awesome. So Kevin, to, to start off the conversation, we're talking about gen AI readiness and what does true gen AI readiness constitute?

What does this, what does it look like?

Kevin Dean: Yeah, that, that's a great question and I'll start by putting it in this context. Well, and I think about G and AI readiness. I think about it from the enterprise perspective. Mm-Hmm. . So I'm gonna take the look and a glance. And a perspective at it from the enterprise level, because what we are seeing and what we're hearing is actually a lot of hype.

So we hear a lot of hype that is about, Oh, I can use a gen AI to create content, my email and create these pretty images and do all these other fun things and make this video. And, and that's all true, right? And the hype. Behind Gen AI is definitely transformative, but we've got to take the look and the perspective at it from the enterprise perspective.

And so when you look at it from an enterprise perspective, what is needed from a readiness standpoint is completely different from a personal perspective. It's completely different from a small business perspective. So when you think of it from that lens, I think of it at. With a couple categories. One, you have to have strategic alignment within your organization.

You have to ensure that you have the right data infrastructure. You have to ensure that you have the right technology infrastructure. You need to make sure that you have the right use cases. And then you've got to make sure that you've got the right talent who can help you execute on AI initiatives.

And then last but not least. is ensuring that you've got the right guardrails in place from an ethical and regulatory perspective. So there's a lot to dig in with those topics, but those really are the categories that you've got to be thinking about when it comes to AI. readiness from an enterprise perspective.

Tim Butara: And which one of those are you seeing to be kind of the biggest challenge to, to proper gen AI readiness and why maybe?

Kevin Dean: Yeah, that, that's a great question. And it's hard to pick just one out of those because we're so early on. And I think that all of them really play A major factor, but I'll I'll pick two instead of one if that's okay.

Tim Butara: Yeah. Sure. That's a great compromise

Kevin Dean: Number one, I believe that strategic alignment is the absolute most important thing There's a lot of hype. So we don't want anybody jumping on the bandwagon without Thinking about why they're jumping on the bandwagon, you know, just because everybody else is doing it.

You got to understand why you are doing it and you should be doing it, but you've got to understand how should you be thinking about it for your organization? So strategic alignment, I believe is very important. Businesses need to consider how and why am I going to integrate GNI into my organization to get the biggest value?

Number one. Number two, I think there is. A major issue as it relates to security. And so while we're definitely big, you know, advocates of gen AI, I mean, that's what ManaByte does. We have enterprises implement gen AI solutions, and we've been actually working in AI, the AI space for many years because AI isn't new, but right now there is a big problem is that everybody wants to open the doors of gen AI.

But that's a big risk for companies, right? So you can't don't just go and start feeding, you know One of the open ai tools with all your company data Just you just gave away everything right? And the challenges that organizations have today is that there's a big security risk and threat within their organizations Because you have employees Who are inadvertently giving away company secrets right now, and they're not doing it out of malice.

It's a lack of understanding. So I believe that organizations need to lock down and lock out at the enterprise level, gen AI tools quickly, but then open it up to give them the tools that they need to be able to do the right thing. So give them the tools to be successful. But let's lock down and block out all the tools that are, you know, compromising organizations.

Tim Butara: And also training, you know, it's, it's also if people are better trained and informed on the risks that, that, you know, stuff that they do poses to the entire organization, then those risks are, you know, much less prominent, obviously.

Kevin Dean: That is very true. Training is another.

Tim Butara: Big issue, but I said I could only give you two Yeah But as you said in the beginning all of those that you mentioned I mean Because it's so early on true gen ai readiness basically means Getting through the main hurdles to true gen ai readiness.

It's a bit of a circular logic there, I guess

Kevin Dean: Yes,

Tim Butara: for sure. And what about, you know, there's, there's this, often there's, there has to be some kind of trade off between being sustainable and resilient and being innovative on the other hand. So what can businesses do to kind of balance these two as much as possible during this era of innovation?

Kevin Dean: That I love that. I love that topic. And if you don't mind, I might be just a little controversial there. Okay. Go ahead. So, first, first, before anybody gets mad at me, all right, before anybody gets mad at me. So Manobite, mano is the Hawaiian word for shark. So sharkbite is kind of, if you think about it, that's the name of our company.

And our company was formed out of my love for the ocean, my love for, you know, sharks. I love whales. I love our planet, right? And I want to live in a world where, you know, we've got these beautiful creatures that we see in the ocean just thriving and surviving, right? So that's how I'd like to start. Okay.

Sustainability and technology. Give me a break. Okay. So, so the, the problem isn't technology. The problem is a human problem. It's not a technology problem. And the truth is that things like GNI can help. solve the sustainability issues that the entire globe faces. And so let's be, let's be factual. Let's be truthful.

Let's put the cards out on the table and call it what it is. Yes. 100% There is going to be a significant increase of electricity consumption because of GNI and the power that it requires, 100%. There's going to be an increase compared to what there is today. However, the increase that will come from Gen ai and that warfs in comparison to things like Everybody switching over to electric cars, right?

So that's a much bigger issue than hey There's going to be more power suck on the infrastructure because of gen ai yes, there will be But that is kind of one of the smallest issues that we need to think about from a sustainability perspective Okay, that's my controversial But there are things that We should all be doing to be good citizens of the planet, right?

And I think that a lot of technology companies are doing this. You know, we need to invest in green technology and make sure that we're using sustainable best practices and we need to make sure that, you know, we're reporting and we're staying on top of regulations and right. We're being good citizens. I think that that's important.

And the truth is. AI and automation really can solve these big, bigger than the technology issues, right? I think they can help us to solve the bigger picture.

Tim Butara: So what, like what, for you personally, what are you most excited about when it comes to the potential that AI has? Oh man,

Kevin Dean: so endless possibilities that I am super excited.

So let me, let me just tell you kind of how we got started with, with AI. I'll say AI first, right? So I started the company the year after that movie Minority Report. You remember that movie with Tom, Tom?

Tim Butara: Is is that the one is that the one when they can predict future crimes or something like that?

Kevin Dean: Yes.

Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that movie. And all the things that I saw on that movie were fascinating. Like, so he had, you know, this one screen where, you know, he would just like kind of move around and they were predicting the future. And they were doing all these cool things, you know, personalization of your clothing, cars that were self driving before we have them now.

All the things that were in that movie were super, super exciting of what the future could look like, and now we're almost there, or we are there, honestly. We're there with almost everything that was in there. So, that's how long I've been in this space. I'm excited about the unseen things that are going to come out of what Gen AI can do for us.

There, there's so many things that we don't know that are going to happen. We are literally at the ground level. I think about when the internet, you know, took off. Now look where we are today. I'm excited for what the future will bring for things that I don't know that are going to come. That to me is the most exciting thing.

Tim Butara: Yeah, it's, it's all, it's always the, you know, I don't know who said it, but it's like a common phrase that you find on the internet. It's the unknown unknowns are those that we should be most worried about. And here it's the unknown possibilities that we maybe haven't even conceived of yet. And also, I'm also wondering how obviously technology, while it solves some problems, it also introduces new unexpected problems.

And it will be interesting to see how that plays out as well.

Kevin Dean: Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, we can talk about, you know, the unintended impacts that social media has had on children. Okay, yeah, we know that there is negative impacts. What will we do for future generations to ensure that those impacts are not negatively continuing?

Right, we have to think through those things. They're going to be negative. There's a lot of negative outcomes with GNI, right? We've got a lot of deep fakes. We have a lot of fraud and scams and things of that nature. Recently, I just created my own digital twin where now I've got a voice and something that looks like me, right?

And when I did that, I was super excited about it. Went down and told my wife, she said, okay, I'm a little freaked out right now. We need to come up with a family password that only the four of us know so that we can understand, Oh, this really is dad, right? Or this really is mom. This isn't a deep fake, right?

Which is what we did. And I think that everybody needs to be thinking about security and those types of impacts on a different level, because you know, those that's the reality, right?

Tim Butara: So to kind of start wrapping this up, what would be your top tips? To prepare for this impact that we just discussed and that's already seen and that's also still to come So how should on the one hand business owners and business leaders and people managing?

Prepare for this and on the other how should just you know individuals and employees prepare? I know that we're talking about the enterprise, but you know, it's people that make up enterprises So we need to dedicate at least a little bit to that.

Kevin Dean: Yes, people do make up the enterprise 100 and so let's start with The employees that work within organizations, you've got two camps of people.

You've got people who are excited about it and people who are literally freaking out. There has to be a middle ground. So as you were saying earlier, education is the key. Those who are excited. Need to kind of take that excitement and bring it down a couple of notches and put it within the context of the environment.

And those who are afraid need to realize that this is not going away, right? And I think that when you get that balance and people start to understand it, take away the fear, take away the anxiety, then I think that's going to help individuals at that one level. And I think that the answer at the senior leadership level, Perspective is the same, right?

They also have to bring down their excitement and bring up their knowledge level and if they do that Then then they're going to be okay that they're going to be able to start making good responsible Decisions for their organizations that will help to drive good results in the long term

Tim Butara: Now we're reaching some kind of Taoist lessons about just balance being the key to everything.

Kevin Dean: Yes, that's right. That is so true.

Tim Butara: And well, Kevin, I couldn't think of a better way to finish this great conversation off. Just before we do, if anybody listening right now would like to learn more about you, learn more from you, or learn more about Manabyte, what's the best way to do all that?

Kevin Dean: Yeah, the best way that you can get in touch with me is follow me on LinkedIn.

KJ Dean is my handle on LinkedIn. You can go to my website, kjdean. com. And then our company's website is manobyte. com. And you can please reach out to us there as well.

Tim Butara: Great. We'll make sure to put everything in the show notes for easy access. And Kevin, thank you again for joining us today. Thank you for your insights and for the awesome conversation.

Kevin Dean: Yeah, this was a great conversation. Love chatting with you and we'll talk to you again soon.

Tim Butara: Yep. Have a great day. And to our listeners, have a great day, everyone, and stay safe.

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