Our service business relies on proprietary regional logistics data, but open-source AI models are getting better at predicting supply chain shifts. How do we run a Thinking Time session to identify our true defense moat before our data is commoditized?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When technology threatens your core value proposition, you must step back from the daily grind and think. To find your true defensive moat, schedule a dedicated, thirty-minute Thinking Time session using Keith Cunningham's framework. Sit in a quiet room with a blank pad of paper and a high-value question. Do not ask a passive question like, what do we do about AI? Instead, frame your question using the active format: how might we leverage our local, boots-on-the-ground relationships so that our clients view our logistics advice as irreplaceable, even if open-source AI models can predict general market trends? As you write, you will likely realize that your defense moat is not the raw data itself. The data is a commodity. Your true moat is the contextual interpretation of that data and the trust you have built with local distributors. An LLM can predict a shipping delay, but it cannot pick up the phone, call a local warehouse manager, and negotiate a last-minute slot because of a ten-year personal relationship. Once your Thinking Time session is complete, bring your insights to your next quarterly meeting. Use the IDS process to translate your realizations into actionable quarterly Rocks. Your focus must shift from selling data reports to selling guaranteed delivery outcomes. By moving up the value chain from information to execution, you render the open-source threat irrelevant.