AI Can Do the Work. Who Checks the Answer?
What makes an AI or data project worth funding? In this episode of the Enterprise Data Podcast, Billy Thomas talks with Edward Chenard about connecting technology investments to business outcomes, improving everyday work, and using data as a tool for innovation.
Edward shares practical lessons from manufacturing, supply chain, and retail, including why understanding the people and processes behind data matters as much as analyzing it. He explains his Break Even, Breakthrough, and Breakaway framework for evaluating projects, discusses how to build a business case around leadership priorities, and recounts a situation where a half-hour vendor call solved a problem that others wanted to automate.
The conversation also explores AI-assisted analysis, the importance of checking numbers and assumptions, and why foundational knowledge still matters when AI can write code or create presentations. For executives, data leaders, technology teams, SAP professionals, and consultants, this episode offers a practical perspective on using AI to accelerate work while keeping people responsible for decisions.
Chapters
- 0:00 Meet Edward Chenard: Data, Innovation, and AI
- 1:54 Using AI to Improve Work and Accelerate Ideas
- 4:59 Manufacturing Data Challenges and an SAP Downtime Story
- 7:47 Why Data Needs Human Context
- 9:32 Start With the Business Problem, Not the Technology
- 13:44 Break Even, Breakthrough, and Breakaway
- 18:20 Productive AI Use Requires Human Judgment
- 26:02 Building an AI Business Case for Leadership
- 30:29 AI, Career Development, and Programming Fundamentals
- 36:04 Getting Started With AI: Spreadsheets and Presentations
Related: The B1/B2/B3 Framework (Break Even, Break Through, Break Away) · The Break Away Advantage guide · AI Pilot to Production Checklist