AI success starts with business outcomes, not technology

South African companies[–>risk wasting time and money[–>artificial intelligence ([–>AI) Projects may introduce technology before identifying the business problem they are trying to solve.

Dion Nair, CEO of South African software developer Retro Rabbit, believes that too many companies remain caught up in the AI ​​hype cycle without focusing on tangible business outcomes.

Speaking to ITWeb on the sidelines of the Retro Rabbit event in Johannesburg last week, which explores how technology, data and AI are transforming performance and decision-making, Nair said AI should be seen as another business tool rather than a strategy in itself.

“I think organizations start with technology rather than business outcomes,” he said. “AI is like any other technology. You can’t start with the technology first. You have to define the business outcomes and then decide where the technology is best suited to achieve them.”

The event brought together business leaders and former football player Sean Bartlett to explore how companies can apply the same data-driven principles used in elite sport to improve operational performance and decision-making.

Companies are almost past the point of asking whether AI has business value, Nair said.

“The only people still debating whether AI will impact business are those who thought streaming wouldn’t impact TV.”

Instead, executives are increasingly asking how to move AI from experimentation to production.

“Nobody gets promoted just by running AI pilots forever,” he says. At some point, the board will ask what was actually accomplished.

He believes that the companies that run successful AI projects are not necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the latest models, but those that start with a clearly defined business problem.

“The questions have to be: How do we improve the customer experience? How do we reduce friction? How do we make better decisions? That’s where meaningful AI adoption begins.”

Nair cautioned against viewing AI as a universal solution.

“When AI is the only tool, every problem starts to look like a nail in the coffin. Sometimes the answer isn’t in AI. It could be better design, process re-engineering, or another technology.”

While AI models continue to evolve rapidly, the real differentiator is the quality of the data, Nair said. Many businesses still maintain fragmented customer information across multiple systems, making it difficult to generate reliable AI output.

“To use AI properly, we need good data. We want our customers and employees to trust what AI is producing. You can’t build trustworthy AI with bad data,” he said.

He added that companies struggling to extract value from large amounts of information must first develop a comprehensive data strategy.

“Isolated pockets of data do not constitute a data strategy.”

He argued that trust is becoming one of the most valuable assets in the AI ​​era. “When employees interact with AI, they need confidence that the information is accurate. Technology alone doesn’t create trust. Trust comes from governance, transparency, and accountability.”

Nile said sports provides a useful blueprint for business because elite teams leverage technology to improve hundreds of small decisions, rather than looking for one breakthrough advantage.

“Athletes still rely on talent and experience, but they also rely on performance analytics, recovery metrics, video analytics, and predictive insights. The goal is not to replace coaches or players, but to enable them to make better decisions faster.”

Business leaders should have the same mindset, he said.

“Sometimes improving hundreds of decisions by 1% or 2% creates much more value than one large change.”

Former Bafana Bafana striker Bartlett echoed that message, arguing that South African football has lagged behind other major sporting nations in adopting technology.

Reflecting on his playing career overseas and subsequent coaching experience, Bartlett said performance analysis, fitness monitoring and video analysis have become essential tools in modern sport.

“When I started coaching, I really understood what technology could bring to the game,” he said.

He believes many soccer teams still focus almost exclusively on training and match preparation, ignoring nutrition, performance analysis and data.

“I’ve always loved analytics because you want to know what your opponents are doing. Sports is about getting results. Analytics helps you expose your weaknesses while ensuring your team performs at its best.”

During the event, Retro Rabbit also introduced Smartboxx, an AI deployment framework that helps enterprises build AI solutions that address specific business problems while maintaining deployment within the customer’s own environment.

Nair said the company intentionally avoids a one-size-fits-all approach.

“Every company’s journey is different. Smartboxx is not a product. It’s a framework that enables customers to solve their specific business challenges.”