Chuck Yates Got A Job

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:12
Unknown
Hey, Clyde. Colin, I wanted to grab you and have this conversation because I know I've had it a couple of times with, like, board member types. I know you've had it a few times recently with a chief operating officer. And I think what the question we kind of get and I think you got at your coffee the other day, is, what should I be thinking about?

00:00:21:12 - 00:00:23:08
Unknown
I strategy was,

00:00:23:10 - 00:00:45:13
Unknown
Yeah. You know, I had a really good coffee with, CEO the other day, big ENP and he asked me a pretty simple questions like, how do we get started with AI in an organization as big as ours? And so, you know, I don't necessarily think that our people are resistant to AI, but I do think that they struggle to understand what can be done with AI.

00:00:45:15 - 00:01:06:16
Unknown
And recognizing the parts of their workflows that they spend hours, you know, looking for information or copying and pasting data to documents. So, so how do we get started? You know, we have our executive leadership team meeting coming up, and I really want to be able to just get started. So, you know, I hear big Oil talking about AI.

00:01:06:17 - 00:01:23:00
Unknown
He's like, you know, there's so much talk about AI is like, what does that actually mean that you're doing AI? And I started laughing. I told him, you know, I say that all the time. I have a company tells me that they're using AI. I'm like, what does that actually mean? He's like, so, you know, I see, like all of this fluff in the space from some of the bigger companies.

00:01:23:02 - 00:01:39:18
Unknown
He's like, meanwhile, you know, I had pressure from our board on how we need to generate revenue, cut costs. And so we're just trying to find how do we get started with AI and something that's real and material. And you know what I told him is you always have to start small. You know, the hardest part is that catalyst getting started.

00:01:39:19 - 00:02:00:00
Unknown
And that's how you build momentum and inertia. But start small. It's like even if your goal for 2026 is, how can we get $1 million in savings using AI, which $1 million in savings for a company this size doesn't really move the needle, right? But that's how you get started. And you know it can be on automating a workflow.

00:02:00:02 - 00:02:20:05
Unknown
You know, for example, I told him that we're working with another amp and we automated their, regulatory filings with the Texas Railroad Commission just on one filing, say, some 1200 engineering hours annually. When I told him 1200 hours, he's like, are you serious? And so I think people should be really encouraged to look at a small problem.

00:02:20:07 - 00:02:39:15
Unknown
You know, I've heard this from some of the larger oil and gas companies that have AI committees. Their teams will bring, you know, like a regulatory automation to them and like, oh, no, that's not sexy enough. You know, the big oil and companies they want to work on, you know, drilling, you know, automated drilling, they want to work on subsurface seismic interpretation with AI.

00:02:39:16 - 00:02:57:12
Unknown
They want to do all these big, sexy things instead of focusing on the things that can drive real ROI today with where the technology stands. And so that's my advice to him and any other company out there. Just get started and get smart, you know, started with something small and that's how you actually build up inertia and momentum.

00:02:57:12 - 00:03:07:13
Unknown
And once you're people see those quick wins and they see that I can actually move the needle and provide value on day one, it'll start spreading like wildfire.

00:03:07:15 - 00:03:24:10
Unknown
the thing I've seen similar to that is if you start, you just you get a grasp of what the capabilities are. And the next application you do is not necessarily automating a workflow as you're doing it now.

00:03:24:10 - 00:03:48:18
Unknown
It's automating a workflow as you should do it. You're able to eliminate steps, and we're starting to see that with our clients. We've got one client that's up to five applications working with us. And the sophistication from the first application to the application we're building now to the applications we are contemplating with them, are getting dramatically more sophisticated.

00:03:48:18 - 00:03:58:06
Unknown
Yeah, I think that's what's interesting is, you know, you'll go into these companies and they'll have a starting point, which is, hey, there's data over here.

00:03:58:08 - 00:04:19:14
Unknown
Then they have all of these steps in their workflow to get to an output. And what we're seeing is, hey, who cares what happens in that in that middle? All you care about is that output, right? And you're actually able to delete a lot of steps, how to be able to delete a lot of CSV spreadsheets, legacy software.

00:04:19:16 - 00:04:46:22
Unknown
And so it's actually remapping the way people even think about how they're executing a workflow and what work has to be done. All you care about is, is that output as long as that output's 100% accurate and and the way that you need it, who cares how you got to that point. And so there's actually this material mindset shift of of how is work executed and actually remapping the entire way that you do your work within a company.

00:04:47:04 - 00:04:58:19
Unknown
So I'm going to bookend what you just said, because I think the lessons I've learned in terms of being out there selling AI over the last year, you're you're spot on.

00:04:58:23 - 00:05:19:11
Unknown
Find something simple, find an immediate ROI. Let's just have a win and then we'll go to the next one. I think that's spot on. I'm going to bookend that advice. So with two things. And this is if I'm a board member, the things I want to hear my management team talking about before they talk about AI is just data.

00:05:19:13 - 00:05:50:17
Unknown
You got to get data into shape. You got to get it digital. You got to get it into one spot. You got to put in policies and procedures so that you don't have duplicates of data everywhere. So I want to hear a lot of work being done there. But then the other thing I want to at least think about and tease, is once you're hitting these wins with these applications, that ability to recognize a pattern, and that's ultimately what AI does really well.

00:05:50:18 - 00:06:00:07
Unknown
That's going to be where some true home runs are hit. But you got to get there. You got to change user behavior. You got to understand the technology and how it can apply.