South African companies risk wasting time and money on artificial intelligence (AI) projects if they adopt the technology before identifying the business problem they are trying to solve.
That's according to Dion Nair, CEO of South African software development company Retro Rabbit, who believes too many companies remain caught up in the AI hype cycle instead of focusing on measurable business outcomes.
Speaking to ITWeb on the sidelines of a Retro Rabbit event in Johannesburg last week – which explored how technology, data and AI are transforming performance and decision-making – Nair said AI should be viewed as another business tool, not a strategy in itself.
"I think organisations are starting with the technology instead of the business outcome," he said. "AI is like any other technology. You can't start with the technology first. You have to define the business outcome and then determine where technology can best help achieve it."
The event brought together business leaders and former football player Shaun Bartlett to explore how companies can apply the same data-driven principles used in elite sport to improve operational performance and decision-making.
Companies have largely moved beyond asking whether AI has business value, said Nair.
"The only people still debating whether AI is going to impact business are the same people who thought streaming wasn't going to affect television."
Instead, executives are increasingly asking how to move AI from experimentation into production.
"Nobody gets promoted for running an AI pilot forever," he said. At some point, the board will ask what was actually achieved.
He believes companies that deliver successful AI projects are not necessarily those with the largest budgets or the newest models, but those that begin with clearly defined business challenges.
"The questions should be: How do we improve 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.
"If AI is the only tool you have, every problem starts looking like a nail. Sometimes the answer isn't AI. It might be better design, process re-engineering or another technology."
While AI models continue to evolve rapidly, Nair said the real differentiator remains data quality. Many companies still hold fragmented customer information across multiple systems, making it difficult to generate trustworthy AI outputs.
"To properly utilise AI, you need good data. You want customers and employees to trust what AI produces. You can't build trustworthy AI on bad data," he said.
He added that companies struggling to extract value from large volumes of information should first develop a comprehensive data strategy.
"Isolated pockets of data do not constitute a data strategy."
Trust, he argued, 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."
Learning from elite sport
Nair said sport offers a useful blueprint for business because elite teams use technology to improve hundreds of small decisions rather than searching for one breakthrough advantage.
"Athletes still rely on talent and experience, but they also rely on performance analytics, recovery metrics, video analysis and predictive insights. The objective isn't to replace the coach or the player – it's to help them make better decisions faster."
Business leaders should adopt the same mindset, he said.
"Sometimes improving hundreds of decisions by 1% or 2% creates far greater value than one massive change."
Former Bafana Bafana striker Bartlett echoed that message, arguing that South African football has been slow to embrace technology compared to leading sporting nations.
Reflecting on his playing career abroad and his subsequent coaching experience, Bartlett said performance analysis, fitness monitoring and video analytics have become essential tools for modern sport.
"When I got into coaching, I really understood what technology can bring to the game," he said.
He believes many football teams still focus almost exclusively on training and match preparation while overlooking nutrition, performance analysis and data.
"I've always loved analysis because you want to know what your opponents are doing. Sport is about getting results, and analysis helps you expose weaknesses while making sure your own team performs at its peak."
Turning AI into business value
During the event, Retro Rabbit also showcased Smartboxx, an AI deployment framework that helps companies build AI solutions around specific business problems while keeping deployments within customers' own environments.
According to Nair, the company deliberately avoids a one-size-fits-all approach.
"Every company's journey is different. Smartboxx isn't a product – it's a framework that allows us to solve a customer's specific business challenge."
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