Why most AI plans stall—and how Filipino SMEs and LGUs can move forward
💡 “AI won’t fix your workflows if you don’t know what they are.” — Lewis Gallagher, Netcall
AI is everywhere—but for many organizations, it’s stuck in the pilot stage. You’ve heard of proof-of-concept (POC). Welcome to POC purgatory, where AI demos wow executives but never go live. Why? Because the systems underneath are broken, scattered, or nonexistent.
🛠 What Businesses Get Wrong About AI
Lewis Gallagher calls it out:
- AI needs clean, connected data—not islands of Excel sheets or fragmented legacy systems
- It should be embedded in workflows, not slapped on top after the fact
- Businesses overfocus on automation and ignore AI’s power to augment human decisions
- Deep value lies in probabilistic AI—not just content bots, but tools that recommend, predict, and adapt in real time
- Without process mapping, you’re shooting in the dark. You need to know how your operations actually flow before AI can make them smarter
🇵🇭 Sound Familiar? Filipino Realities
Across the Philippines, especially in LGUs, cooperatives, and micro-enterprises:
- Data is scattered across handwritten logs, Google Sheets, or unintegrated apps
- AI tools are exciting—but without workflow audits, they create more confusion than clarity
- Many organizations are afraid to start small, fearing they’ll look underfunded or unsophisticated
But what if quiet, strategic AI is the real superpower?
⚙️ AI for Kita: Fix One Flow, Then Multiply
What Gallagher proposes aligns with our AI for Kita philosophy:
- 🧹 Organize your room first—clean the data, document the workflow, build a quiet base
- 🧠 Augment real work—give frontline workers better decision tools, not robots to replace them
- 🧵 Start silently—find one critical flow (inventory tracking, appointment scheduling, payment follow-ups) and improve it without public flexing
Use AI like a scalpel, not a billboard.
💭 Quiet but Filthy Mindset Check
Before adopting any AI:
- What decision or workflow causes the most delay or waste?
- Who holds the context—and how can AI support them, not bypass them?
- If you fixed this silently, would revenue or dignity quietly compound over time?
🧒 Explain Like I’m 12
Imagine your business is a messy room. AI is like a robot helper—but it can’t clean if it doesn’t know where things are. So first, you organize the room. Then the robot can help you faster, smarter, and without breaking stuff.
