Focus Area IV

AI &
Automation

What actually works when you bring AI into operational workflows — from ticket triage to scoring models to the GenAI tools landing in every ops team’s inbox.

$200KSaved, one AI deployment
89%Triage accuracy achieved
54,821AI predictions made
The perspective

AI in Ops Is a Data Problem
Before It’s a Model Problem

In February 2022 I led one of the earlier enterprise AI deployments in a CX operation — a Forethought triage model that replaced the manual classification work of 6 FTEs at 89% accuracy, saving $200K annually. The model worked. But it worked because the data infrastructure was right first.

Most AI implementations in ops fail for the same reason most BI implementations fail: the data going in is wrong, the metric definitions are inconsistent, and nobody has done the governance work that makes outputs trustworthy.

This pillar covers AI from the practitioner seat — what to evaluate, what to build before the model, and how to measure whether it’s actually working.

“The AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on. Fix the data problem first, then the model problem.”

AI ImplementationTicket TriageForethought GenAI ToolingAutomation DesignModel Evaluation
Three subcategories

What’s Covered

i.
AI Implementation

What an enterprise AI deployment actually looks like from the inside — vendor evaluation, data preparation, rollout, and the metrics that tell you if it’s working.

What I Learned Implementing AI Ticket Triage Before It Was Cool
How to Evaluate an AI Vendor Without Getting Sold a DemoComing soon
Measuring AI ROI in an Ops Context: The Metrics That MatterComing soon
ii.
Automation Design

Building automation into operational workflows — ticket routing, alert thresholds, report generation, and the governance layer that keeps automated outputs trustworthy.

Why We Rebuilt Support Training Before Touching AI
Automating Ticket Routing: What Works and What Doesn’tComing soon
Building Guardrails for Automated Ops WorkflowsComing soon
iii.
GenAI in the Backoffice

What GenAI tools actually change for ops teams — documentation, knowledge base management, report summarisation, and the governance questions nobody is asking yet.

GenAI for Ops Leaders: What’s Actually Useful Right NowComing soon
Using LLMs for Knowledge Base ManagementComing soon
Why LLMs Make Data Governance Non-NegotiableComing soon

All Posts

2 published · 7 coming
AI Implementation
What I Learned Implementing AI Ticket Triage Before It Was Cool
In February 2022 we deployed an AI triage model that replaced the manual classification work of 6 FTEs, saving $200K annually at 89% accuracy.
Automation Design
Why We Rebuilt Our Support Training Into 7 Tiers Before Touching AI
Before an AI model could intelligently distribute tickets, we needed to know what intelligent distribution actually meant.
AI Implementation
How to Evaluate an AI Vendor Without Getting Sold a Demo
The questions to ask before signing, the red flags in vendor demos, and the proof-of-concept structure that separates real capability from impressive slides.
AI Implementation
Measuring AI ROI in an Ops Context: The Metrics That Matter
FTE replacement and accuracy are the obvious metrics. Here’s what else to track.
Automation Design
Automating Ticket Routing: What Works and What Doesn’t
Category prediction, priority assignment, agent routing — which of these actually improves with automation, and which creates new problems.
Automation Design
Building Guardrails for Automated Ops Workflows
Automation without oversight is how you get confident errors at scale. Here’s the governance layer.
GenAI
GenAI for Ops Leaders: What’s Actually Useful Right Now
Cutting through the noise — the GenAI applications that actually reduce work for ops teams vs. the ones that create it.
GenAI
Using LLMs for Knowledge Base Management
Summarising tickets, drafting KB articles, flagging gaps — where LLMs actually add value in a knowledge management workflow.
GenAI
Why LLMs Make Data Governance Non-Negotiable
Garbage in, garbage out gets a lot more expensive when an LLM is generating the garbage at scale.