AI creates value differently across business models.

Key constraints

• outcomes depend on specific people, and their hours are finite
• the sales cycle is long, and losses in the middle of it are nearly invisible
• margin leaks into unbilled preparation: proposals, reports, approvals

Key constraints

• renewal depends on whether the customer reached value in the first weeks
• churn signals are scattered across the product, support and correspondence
• the buyer is not the user, but the person who pays

Key constraints

• an application has a life measured in hours: miss it today and tomorrow is too late
• the decision involves more than the student, and the conversation is long
• churn shows up in the report later than the point where it could be prevented

Key constraints

• an error in a document costs more than the operation itself
• regulation decides what may be automated and what may not
• customers send documents any way they like: photo, scan, e-mail, messenger

Key constraints

• the deal cycle runs for weeks or months: a mistake surfaces late, and a quarter cannot be replayed
• more than one person decides, and the rep never reaches some of them
• specifications and quotes are prepared by hand, from scratch every time

Key constraints

• margin per item is thin: what saves money is cost per operation, not markup
• orders arrive any way at all — e-mail, messenger, spreadsheet, over the phone
• the catalogue and stock change faster than the customer's price list is updated

Key constraints

• presales is paid for only by the projects you win
• effort estimation depends on knowledge held by three people in the company
• accumulated experience sits in project folders rather than in a usable form

Key constraints

• quality control is sampled: a few per cent of the volume gets listened to
• operators turn over faster than they reach stable quality
• the client judges the work by a report assembled by hand

Key constraints

• the expensive resource is engineering time, and it does not go only into code
• knowledge is spread across tickets, chats and people's heads rather than documentation
• each team has its own process, and off-the-shelf tools do not fit it

Key constraints

• the team spends unbilled hours on reporting
• performance data lives in other people's systems, different for every client
• the renewal decision runs on the feel of the relationship rather than data

Key constraints

• patient data is a special category: processing is limited by law, not only by contract
• an empty slot in the schedule cannot be sold after the fact
• the clinical decision belongs to the doctor and cannot be automated under any circumstances

Key constraints

• a purchase decision takes weeks, while an enquiry lives for hours
• a service visit repeats, and losing a customer costs not one visit but every future one
• the price of work depends on model, mileage and parts availability at once

Key constraints

• demand is seasonal: the load varies several times over while the team stays the same
• an enquiry lives for hours — the customer writes to several agencies at once
• the cost of putting an option together barely depends on the price of the trip

Key constraints

• a decision matures over months, while an enquiry needs an answer within the hour
• one lost buyer costs more than a manager's monthly salary
• the contact database accumulates for years and is barely used

Key constraints

• load arrives in spikes: season, sale, a collection launch
• margin per order is thin, and every extra touch eats into it
• part of the data sits with carriers and marketplaces, not with you