In this conversation, Mykel Salomon, founder of the Human Protocol Group and a global customer support leader, discusses how organizations can adopt AI without losing sight of the people behind the work. He explains why AI should be treated as a business transformation rather than a simple technology upgrade, and why companies need clear goals before choosing tools or automating workflows. Mykel and Hunter also explore the challenges of measuring AI ROI, managing rising AI costs, selecting the right models for each task, and increasing employee adoption. The conversation also looks at the future of customer support, where AI could automate much of the routine work while helping teams predict problems, reduce friction, and focus human talent on higher-value work.

Takeaways

AI adoption should begin with a clear business problem, not with selecting a tool.

AI should be treated as a business transformation rather than only a technology project.

Companies need to consider how automation will change roles, skills, and responsibilities across their workforce.

Employee adoption depends on clear communication about how AI will affect their work and future opportunities.

Measuring AI ROI remains difficult because implementation costs, adoption, and usage can change over time.

Model routing can help control AI costs by matching each task with the level of AI capability it actually needs.

Giving employees AI licenses without a clear strategy often leads to low usage and wasted spending.

Public-sector organizations face barriers to AI adoption that include budget limits, data concerns, outdated infrastructure, and lack of clear strategy.

AI could allow customer support teams to identify patterns and prevent problems before customers need to contact support.

The long-term value of AI may come from helping people build, create, solve problems, and spend less time on low-value repetitive tasks.

Today's guest, Mykel Salomon, can be found at:

Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/

Your host, Hunter Jensen, can be found online at:

Website: https://www.barefootsolutions.com/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterjensen/

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence, AI Adoption, Business Transformation, Customer Experience, Customer Support, Automation, Human-Centered AI, AI Strategy, AI ROI, Model Routing, Workforce Transformation, Upskilling, AI Implementation, Generative AI