We’ve talked to a lot of guests about AI. But this conversation with Sidney Madison Prescott clarified something we’ve been feeling for months:

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The hype is loud. The execution is chaotic. And most companies are missing the point.

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Sidney has spent the last decade inside the enterprise leading automation, AI, and intelligent systems teams at Spotify, BNY Mellon, Fiserv, and E*TRADE. She’s been in the room for the evolution from robotic process automation to the rise of “agentic AI.” And she’s got the scar tissue to prove it.

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Here’s what we took away from the conversation:

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1. “Agentic AI” is just rebranded RPA with a few upgrades and a better marketing team.

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We started with Sidney’s hot take: most of what’s being called “agentic AI” today is really just attended automation, an evolution of the bots and scripts enterprises have been building for years.

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The difference is that these agents are more cognitive. They can handle ambiguity. But the mechanics (triggering workflows, passing tasks between humans and machines) aren’t new.

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If you’ve invested in automation over the past decade, you’ve already built a foundation. The real question is whether your company is ready to scale beyond it.

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2. The biggest barrier to enterprise AI adoption isn’t technical. It’s strategic.

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Every exec wants AI. But most can’t explain why.

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Sidney described a common pattern: senior leaders declare “we need to do AI,” and suddenly thousands of employees are experimenting with tools that have no connection to business outcomes.

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The result? Chaos. Redundancy. Shadow projects. And no way to measure success.

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The solution is simple, but not easy: Start with real business needs. Pick one. Define the outcome. Then apply the right tool.

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If you’re deploying AI without a clear KPI or operational target, you’re not innovating. You’re just burning resources.

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3. Finance might be the best place to start.

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We expected Sidney to say something like marketing, sales, or dev teams. Instead, she said finance.

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Why?

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• The work is rules-based and document-heavy
• The ROI is measurable
• The pain is real
• The processes are still incredibly manual

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This is where you can prove value fast. If you’re a Chief Innovation Officer struggling to get buy-in, show the CFO how to cut reporting time in half. Then ask for budget.

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4. AI won’t replace people. It will reshape what companies look like.

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Sidney’s prediction: in the next few years, we’ll see fully hybrid teams (humans + agents) working side by side.

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You won’t just get an AI assistant. You’ll get an AI teammate. “Andy,” the bot that preps your weekly reporting. “Sally,” the one who runs legal risk scans in the background.

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But that’s not the scary part.

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The scary part is that most leaders don’t know how to talk about it. They know change is coming, but they haven’t figured out how to bring their employees along.

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According to Sidney, the answer is positioning: AI isn’t here to replace you. It’s here to give you leverage. And the people who know how to work with it (not against it) will win.

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5. If you don’t have a plan for AI, your competitors will write it for you.

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The technology is moving fast. But the companies who win won’t be the ones who adopt the most tools. They’ll be the ones who build the clearest systems.

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That starts with visionary leadership. Not hype. Not headlines. Not panic. Vision.

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As Sidney said, “Even a one-month delay could put you drastically behind.”

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We’re grateful to Sidney for joining us and for saying what so many teams inside the enterprise already feel:

• AI is real.
• The window is open.
• And it’s time to stop experimenting for the sake of it—and start executing with purpose.

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Until next time.

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—Ben & Marcus

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