field notes — 16 entries

What we learn in the field.

Notes from real engagements. No predictions, no hype — just what worked and what did not.

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A 2027 AI budget for 50 to 100 people

Section put a 2027 AI budget for 1,000 people at $6.6 million. On the seat plans most smaller companies buy, 50 people comes to about $52,000 a year and 100 people about $99,000.

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017 Human review in an automated finance workflowHow the Genesco Sports Enterprises close keeps the judgment calls with the finance team: a two-pass build, pre-filled figures, and controls written in code. practical guide 6 min 015 Which process to automate first: how we chooseHow we pick the first process to automate. The tests we run, the three questions we ask, and the Genesco Sports Enterprises month-end close scored against them. practical guide 6 min 014 Replacing software subscriptions at Blue Sky FarmsBlue Sky Farms replaced annually licensed software with software the farm owns, one product at a time. $300,000 a year saved so far, and what it took. case study 6 min 013 Farm software the farm owns at Blue Sky FarmsBlue Sky Farms replaced annually licensed farm software with software it owns. $300,000 a year saved on software costs so far. Here is the record of that work. case study 6 min 012 Custom EHR for a Medical Practice: McHur CareMcHur Care replaced a subscription EHR with one the practice owns. What the SaaS product cost them, what we built, and the savings the COO confirmed. case study 5 min 011 Month-end reconciliation, 4 days to 60 secondsGenesco rebuilt job-profitability numbers from Sage by hand. A month-end reconciliation that took the CFO about 4 days by hand now runs in about 60 seconds. case study 6 min 010 AI Readiness Assessment for Small Business: Consolidating What WorksA practical AI readiness assessment for small businesses: the four things to check before you hand a process to AI, a 10-question checklist, and the free audit that scores each process for you. the hub 14 min 009 3 overlooked prerequisites before your small business AI pilotMost AI pilots fail because businesses skip the groundwork. Here are the 3 prerequisites that determine success before you start testing AI tools. thought leadership 8 min 008 How to calculate ROI on AI tools for small businessMost AI ROI calculations miss the real value. Here's a 30-minute framework to measure direct savings, time recovery, and opportunity gains accurately. practical guide 8 min 007 The hidden costs of not adopting AI in your small businessMost small businesses focus on AI adoption costs but ignore the mounting expenses of staying manual. Here's what delay actually costs you. thought leadership 8 min 006 Why most AI pilots failMost small business AI pilots don't fail because the technology doesn't work. They fail because nobody planned what happens after the demo. Here's what goes wrong. thought leadership 5 min 005 The 3-question test: replace this task or assist it?Before automating anything with AI, three questions will tell you whether to replace the task entirely or keep a human in the loop. practical guide 5 min 004 What Anthropic's AI Fluency Index means for your businessAnthropic studied nearly 10,000 AI conversations and found that how people use AI matters more than whether they use it. Here's what that means for your team. thought leadership 5 min 003 How to run your first AI audit in an afternoon.You don't need a consultant or a data team to figure out where AI fits in your small business. You need an afternoon and five honest questions — here's how. practical guide 4 min 002 AI adoption for small professional services firms.AI adoption for small professional services firms doesn't mean replacing expertise — it means reclaiming time. Here's where to start and what actually sticks. industry lens 4 min 001 AI isn't your problem. Adoption is.Most businesses already have access to AI. What they're missing is someone to help them actually adopt it. Here's why adoption — not technology — is the real challenge. thought leadership 4 min

// 15 notes below + 1 featured above · newest first. Every one is a real engagement, written up after the fact.

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