A major competitor just announced they are using AI to slash delivery times by 80 percent, and our sales team is panicking that our manual approach will make us obsolete within six months. How do we address this on our V/TO® and run an IDS® session to protect our market share without rushing into a bad tech build?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a competitor claims a massive speed advantage, your immediate threat is panic, not technology. Rushing into a hasty AI build will waste capital and break your core operations. You must run this issue through a disciplined IDS session during your next weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to dissect the actual threat.

Start by separating marketing hype from reality. Have your Integrator assign a short-term Rock or a weekly To-Do to investigate what the competitor is actually delivering. Often, an 80 percent speed increase comes with a corresponding drop in quality or restricted customization that clients value.

Next, look at your V/TO®. If speed is indeed becoming the primary buying criterion in your market, you must decide if you want to compete on speed or double down on high-touch quality. Update your Issues List to track this long-term trend. If speed is critical, do not build custom software yet. Identify point solutions or existing APIs that can automate your heaviest bottleneck, then assign a clear owner on the Accountability Chart to test the workflow.

Your strategic response must be reflected in your 1-Year Plan. Do not let panic dictate your strategy. Define the precise operational bottleneck that holds your delivery back, and create a quarterly Rock to automate that specific step. This keeps your team focused, protects your margins, and ensures you make technology decisions based on real business metrics rather than competitor announcements.