By Andreas Welsch, AI advisor, Intelligence Briefing
If you’ve bought AI tools for your team in the past 18 to 24 months, you might not be ahead of the curve but just keeping pace. Nearly every company in Berks County has some form of AI in place now, from chatbots to copilots. But buying the tool and using it well are two very different things. And that gap is where real money gets made or lost.
The License Isn’t the Investment
PwC found that 56% of CEOs saw zero measurable return from their AI spending last year. That’s not because the technology failed, but rather because their people never learned how to use it well. Think of it like buying a new machine for your plant floor and skipping the operator training. The equipment sits there, half-used, while you keep paying for it every month. Deloitte’s research backs this up: the AI skills gap, not the technology itself, is now the number one barrier to getting real value from AI. And employee access to AI tools has jumped fast—but fewer than 60% of workers who have access use them regularly. That’s a lot of unused licenses on your monthly bill.
Berks County thrives on manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and logistics; industries where efficiency drives productivity, competitiveness and long-term growth. Leadership teams who use AI to achieve better outcomes faster use it to:
- Cut hours out of supply chain and logistics bottlenecks
- Streamline back-office and operations work that used to eat up a full day
- Spot new revenue opportunities before their smaller, faster competitors do
AI is no longer limited to large companies with deep pockets. The differentiator lies in using it without sacrificing quality or trust. Now smaller, nimble teams are catching up quickly, as they’re not constrained by decades of old processes, systems and habits.
It’s Not Just About Cutting Costs
Training your team to use AI effectively isn’t just a cost-saving initiative; it’s a growth strategy. Companies getting this right are developing new products, new markets and new revenue streams their competitors haven’t touched yet. That upside goes to the leadership teams and employees who understand how to use the tools, not just the ones who have access to them.
While business leaders are facing the trade-off between investing in fixed assets and investing in people, you don’t need a massive transformation to see returns. For most roles, AI pays for itself once it saves about one hour of work per month. That is a break-even point companies achieve rapidly. The tools are already capable of that. Your team just needs to know how to do it.
Ford Motor Company’s rehiring of 350 experienced engineers serves as a clear reminder: leaders should approach AI as an enabler, not a replacement for human expertise and judgment or as a method to reduce costs. The organizations succeeding in this transformation are the ones unlocking ten times the growth because of it.
What To Do Next
Every leader from the C-suite to the front line needs a working understanding of AI: where it helps, where it’s risky and how to use it well. That’s not a one-time email or a software license for Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. It’s training, iteration and regular use.
That’s exactly why we are bringing the Certified AI Leader™ program to the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance this October. It’s five sessions, two hours each, fully virtual and more than half of every session is hands-on practice, not a lecture. You’ll leave knowing how to apply AI to real problems in your business right way.
Seats are limited.
Join us from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10 for a Lunch&Learn session to get a sneak peek at the program, and have your top questions answered.
Don’t let your AI investment sit on the shelf. Put it to work today!