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Chapter Summary: AI-Augmented Operations and GTM

Key Takeaways

  1. Hybrid beats full automation: Resolution rates hit 87% for hybrid human-AI systems versus 74% for AI alone. Customer satisfaction averages 8.7 versus 7.4. Klarna learned this the hard way—rehiring human agents after customer satisfaction cratered. Default to augmentation; automate only as confidence builds.

  2. API-first architecture enables AI access: Every dashboard a human uses should expose an API that agents can query. The 80/20 design principle—deterministic logic for routine tasks, LLMs for judgment—delivers 3x faster task completion. GraphQL reduces API calls by 75% for AI implementations.

  3. Start internal before going customer-facing: IT help desk delivers 90% ticket reduction with lowest risk. Customer support gets headlines but higher stakes—visible failures kill momentum. Finance shows 7.5-day month-end close acceleration. Build confidence internally first.

  4. Measure outcomes, not activity: GitHub Copilot's 39x ROI proves measurement matters—but only 51% of organizations can evaluate AI ROI. Zillow's $500M write-down shows what happens when models run on stale data. Track efficiency, quality, AI performance, and business impact—stopping at efficiency misses degradation until it destroys relationships.

  5. Unified data beats fragmented tools: Gong's 481% three-year ROI comes from 3 billion conversations feeding models that improve for all customers. HubSpot's 63% adoption drives 92% data quality improvement. 80-88% of AI projects fail from data quality. The architecture matters more than the algorithm.

Next: Ethics, Governance, and Risk

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