Behind the Screens – Presented by the ClearIT® Partner Program
Ever wonder what really drives business success behind the scenes? Behind the Screens explores the systems, tools, and leadership decisions that help growing organizations run smarter, not harder.
Hosted by Tyler Smith and Chris Harp of Matson & Isom Technology Consulting, each episode breaks down real-world tech strategies, business operations, and modern tools like AI, with insights leaders can actually use.
No jargon. No hype. Just honest conversations about what works, and what doesn’t.
Learn more at clearit.partners/Podcast
Behind the Screens – Presented by the ClearIT® Partner Program
From Guesswork to Game Plan: Why the Right Technology Plan Changes Everything
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Technology decisions without a plan feel like guesswork. And when your team is always guessing, momentum stalls, frustration builds, and opportunities slip away.
In this debut episode of Behind the Screens, Tyler Smith and Chris Harp make the case for a better approach: start with a plan. They share how thoughtful technology strategy—done right—gives leaders the clarity to move with confidence, support their teams, and grow without chaos. Along the way, they explore how AI fits into that picture—especially when used to empower people, not replace them.
Watch on YouTube: https://clearit.partners/watchs1ep1
You're listening to Behind the Screens, presented by the ClearIT Partner Program from Mattson & Isom Technology Consulting. If you've ever wondered how confident, forward-thinking businesses make smart technology decisions while others fall behind, you're in the right place. Every episode, we pull back the curtain on the systems, tools, and leadership decisions that keep growing companies running strong, so you can apply them in your own business. Now let's get into it with your hosts, Tyler Smith and Chris Harp.
Tyler Smith:Well, welcome everybody to our debut episode of Behind the Screens. We are here. We are hoping that we can put a new face on technology, technology planning, and go a little bit behind the scenes, behind the screens, to really just open it up and have conversations about topics and subjects that are meaningful to small businesses and nonprofits and organizations all over really the West Coast, but in particular Northern California. So we're really shooting for episodes where we can drive some more clarity in technology and how technology can be used to help you be more successful as a business, what that real world insight looks like and really try to stick to those leadership level conversations because there's enough podcasts out there that dive deep into the nerdy technical detail. That's not what we're here for. >> Not at all.
Chris Harp:We're not the right people for that anyways.
Tyler Smith:>> We are definitely here to have those conversations about how can technology be used in a thoughtful way to help your business be more successful. I'd like to introduce my co-host, Chris Harp. Christopher, right? May I call you Christopher? We can go with Chris. I feel like you're getting yelled at by my parents
Jessica:I feel like you're getting yelled at by my parents
Tyler Smith:I feel like you're getting yelled at by my parents
Chris Harp:I feel like you're getting yelled at by my parents
Tyler Smith:if you use my full name.
Chris Harp:if you use my full name. We've worked together now for-- Since the end of 2008, beginning of 2009. 40 years, that's what I thought. It's 54, but who's counting?
Tyler Smith:It's 54, but who's counting?
Chris Harp:Tastes like it, in a good way.
Tyler Smith:And my name is Tyler Smith, and I am the CEO and a partner here with Mattson & Isom Technology. And again, we're just looking forward to having conversations that dive into some of the reasons why technology might be something that can help your business grow and succeed.
Chris Harp:- Definitely not stand in the way 'cause it tends to do that. I think a lot of people would agree.
Tyler Smith:- Especially when it's falling down, right?
Chris Harp:- Yeah, it's got a big old spotlight on it.
Tyler Smith:- Yeah, it's got a big old spotlight on it. - So Chris, I'd really like to just start off. We've been hearing a ton from our clients, from family, from coworkers around AI And what is it? What's happening here? Should we be afraid of it? Should we be using it for everything? So I really just wanted to start from the perspective of small business, small business owners around AI and kind of what it is. So, I mean, what have you been seeing and hearing from people?
Chris Harp:- What a loaded question. It's so open-ended though. Like every time anyone from my family, my friends, I cannot have a conversation about AI without somebody bringing up, that's like, I robot the movie, you know, it's going to take everything over. And I mean, really, there's a huge misconception. It's very interesting, you know, with the shift in the, in where things are going, and they're using a lot of those cloud technologies to drive kind of the AI and the AI is kind of driving a lot of the cloud technologies, you know, and there's a vast amount of misconceptions out there, but you want to use it correctly. You wanna make sure that it's channeled in a way, right? And it's extremely powerful, but if channeled correctly, it's just, it's extremely valuable. - It's exciting on the one hand.
Tyler Smith:- It's exciting on the one hand.
Chris Harp:- It's exciting on the one hand. - Yeah. - It's terrifying on the other.
Jessica:- It's terrifying on the other.
Chris Harp:- It's terrifying on the other.
Tyler Smith:I agree with you there, because I feel like, one, it's generating a ton of buzz. It is definitely something that everyone knows about. It's a word, it comes with its own punchy little acronym, right? You're seeing every major vendor talk about it. Microsoft's talking about it. Google's talking about it. Apple's talking about it. Facebook is talking about it. Amazon is talking about it. All of the big, big players have their own solutions. And so it's confusing. And, but it's definitely, it's something that is coming like a freight train, right?
Chris Harp:And so- - Faster than anything
Tyler Smith:And so- - Faster than anything we've seen. - Yeah, we, you and I talk about this all the time is, I feel like it's one of the most important advances in technology since the internet. - Oh, absolutely. - Which is what, 1994, '95? - Date self there, but yeah. - That's true, yeah.
Chris Harp:- Date self there, but yeah. - That's true, yeah. (laughing)
Tyler Smith:Just a few decades back.
Chris Harp:- I think one of the, speaking of the confusion and the misconceptions, is I think when you're looking at, I think people are possibly confusing AI with automation. While they do play a part with each other, they're not a one-for-one replacement. - They're not the same. So people, you know, there's that misconception out there and that frankly, that confusion, like you're talking about of like, it's gonna replace us. It's gonna replace us. - Right. - And I think later on, we'll get into a lot of the, a little bit more details on that. And like I mentioned before, if you do it right and you use it right, it's not a replacement. It's an augmentation. It's an add on, it's a value add. If used correctly, you know, and if it can save you time doing a task, then you can redirect to more valuable things maybe, right? Or kind of next level things. So it's definitely something to add. You know, I watch my 14 year old and he was a freshman in high school and the way he uses it is way different than how I use it. We're still putting in the work, you know, and we're still driving it. But it's definitely something that is, it's here to stay, it's not going anywhere and it's lightning fast. - Yeah, and it's changing literally week by week. - Yep.
Tyler Smith:- And I like what you said around, I feel strongly too about the way a small business should think about AI is it's another tool in the technology toolbox. It is something that is incredibly powerful and because it's moving so fast and it's so powerful, it does drive a little bit of fear, uncertainty and doubt. And so the immediate knee-jerk reaction, I think, from small businesses is to either embrace it fully if you're a little bit on the more risk-tolerant side, or reject it entirely if you don't want to see it and you have these kind of push-pull situations. And on either side of that, there's danger, right? If you just jump in whole hog and you don't do any planning and you just let everybody in your business use whatever tool they want, then there's some risk associated with data loss or somebody who leaves the job now having information that they shouldn't or, you know, worse scenario, people using tools in ways they shouldn't to maybe try to shortcut things that are part of your core value as a business or as an organization. And then on the other side of it, of just clamping the doors shut and saying, "Don't use it. Don't use it. You can't use it." and hearing and finding from a lot of our small business clients is that people are finding ways to bring it in. It's the acronym I heard most recently, BYOAI.
Chris Harp:Bring your own AI to your job.
Tyler Smith:Bring your own AI to your job. And so people are, they're bringing it and they see the utility. They know it's powerful. It's helping them save time and do things faster. And like you said, augmenting their ability to do their job. So for those businesses that are just like bringing down the gavel and saying, absolutely not, you cannot, you must not, um, you know, that side of the equation means that you're forcing people to maybe go underground with their use
Chris Harp:case. So thinking ahead, and this is really a theme for
Tyler Smith:So thinking ahead, and this is really a theme for us in general, right? When we're going to be talking in this, in this podcast overall is like technology as a tool should be used and planned to help the business succeed. So if, if people see this and they understand it, uh, as either a risk or a threat or an opportunity, either side of that equation, you need to sit down and think through, okay, what's appropriate use, what's not, um, work with a, a business like us to help you plan it. Or if you have an internal team to do it, like 100% have those conversations, because if you're not having those conversations, they're happening without you. Yep. Well, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think there's like,
Chris Harp:they're happening without you. Yep. Well, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think there's like, to kind of bring a full circle is we're talking about strategic, you know, strategic alignment, right? That's across the board, very broad term. But it's one of those things that, like I mentioned, it's here, right? Not going anywhere. Yeah. On the same token, we're business owners, right? It's, frankly, it's change. And that's scary. Some people view it as an opportunity and some people view it as a threat. But most likely, if you don't plan for it, you don't strategize around it and, you know, I'm not saying build it around that, but at least plan for it. Like, what are the fail safes? What are we, What are the ideas we can use to embrace this? Again, not as a replacement, but an augmentation. >>Yeah. Help them be more successful. If there's low hanging fruit in the organization>>Yeah. Help them be more successful. If there's low hanging fruit in the organization>>Yeah. Help them be more successful. If there's low hanging fruit in the organization
Tyler Smith:for tasks that people do right now that are repeatable and very structured, and you can implement some of these tools to make that way faster to do without sacrificing any of the conversations to people right now. It is still super early, but like you said, it's not going anywhere. This is coming.
Chris Harp:but like you said, it's not going anywhere. This is coming.
Tyler Smith:Microsoft is investing a ton of money in it. Their whole platform with copilot is just literally week by week, month by month, adding more and more and more functionality and features and value. And so I'm, I'm excited about it. I know we're bullish on the technology overall. But like any new technology, it needs to be thought through and planned
Jessica:- Strategically planned.
Tyler Smith:- Strategically planned. - If you just drop it in with no plan, it might work, it might not, and it might create chaos where it wasn't before.
Chris Harp:and it might create chaos where it wasn't before. - Well, with it not being planned out, like anything, you drop it in there, if it's not fully embraced and built out, and there's a lot of strategy behind it, it may be implemented incorrectly, it may be used incorrectly. To the broader idea of this podcast is to basically strategic alignment and allowing it and embracing it and finding out how you can make, like it does nothing out of the box, essentially. You are whatever you put into it, right? And then pumps into that engine, and then you get all this great feedback and everything. So I think it's-
Tyler Smith:So I think it's- - I hope this podcast finds you well.
Chris Harp:- Yeah. The number one way to spot an AI driven email is I hope this finds you well. Which has become a kind of a funny inside joke around our entire office. spot the AI.
Tyler Smith:spot the AI. And I feel like that's one of the main dangers and it connects, I think, really well to that point we're making of, if you don't have a plan, then you probably aren't training. And if you're not training, then you're not telling people what the tool is good at and what it's not good at. And you're also not having those thoughtful conversations around how do we adopt this technology without giving up our soul? If you have people and their job is to communicate with other people, that's part of the value you're delivering. So you're not going to replace that with a bot or with AI. And if you don't plan it out and people just start using it, then you get a bunch of emails written with, "I hope that this email finds you well," or the dead giveaway, the other dead giveaway, the emojis that are dropped into the bullet points, right? That are just like, it's no regular human being would ever painstakingly find exactly the right emoji for the bullet point in a message, you know?
Chris Harp:for the bullet point in a message, you know? But by God, AI does it really well. I still cannot find the quick key and I'm big on quick keys, you know, like to send emails or anything like that or highlight everything. And I still can't find one for a rocket ship. But you know what? - If there's a way. - I look for it every time. - Yeah, write it to your computer,
Tyler Smith:- Yeah, write it to your computer, then go to your phone, then copy and paste it. And it was like, nobody ever is gonna do that.
Chris Harp:And it was like, nobody ever is gonna do that. - Right, yeah.
Tyler Smith:- But it just circles back around to the point, like be intentional, be thoughtful. If you see the potential in the technology, whether it's AI or anything else, plan ahead, right? like have a plan and think about how it might be able to help and try to leverage it as a strategic asset to the business, which, I mean, that's our drumbeat. We talk about that all the time.
Chris Harp:We talk about that all the time.
Tyler Smith:Technology as a strategic investment, it's something that will help the business be more successful, will help you grow, will help you address problems or solve challenges faster, more efficiently, with better data. And that's always the promise. but I feel like too often, especially in the small business scale, you know, the investment thought is, I'm just gonna put some money in it and then it'll run for a long time. And then when it stops running, maybe I'll put some more money in it again then. And the problem with that frame of thinking is then what happens in the meantime?
Chris Harp:Are you leveraging that? - Well, you talked about like calculate an ROI, right? Like any business owner is gonna look at that and be like, "Okay, well, how am I getting my money back on that?" - Yeah. - That's a very challenging conversation to have when it comes to AI because it's somewhat quantifiable, but it's more of a qualitative type, right? It help you format things and assist in rewording something, but definitely if used correctly, and frankly planned for. - Right.
Jessica:- This episode of "Behind the Screens" is brought to you by the ClearIT Partner Program from Mattson & Isom Technology Consulting. If you've ever had that sinking feeling that your tech just isn't doing what it's supposed to, you're not alone. Maybe it's the constant tickets. Maybe it's the security risks. Or maybe you just don't know what you're paying for half the time. That's where ClearIT comes in. We built it for leaders who wanna stop firefighting and start planning. With the ClearIT Partner Program, you get a dedicated team, real strategy, and systems that just work. No more waiting, no more guessing. Imagine your IT actually helping your team get more done and your business feeling more in control. That's the whole point. Wanna see how it would work for your business? Schedule a free consultation today at MITCS.com/hello. Now, back to the show.
Tyler Smith:- So that kind of takes us into the next general conversation. will be a theme for us ongoing in this is tech guesswork, right? So I feel like most businesses we talk to, they're very good at what they do, whether that's a nonprofit delivering on a mission or a construction business, building things or manufacturing. Yeah. Look at us. We're insane.
Chris Harp:>>Hey, hello. We didn't even rehearse that.
Tyler Smith:>>Hey, hello. We didn't even rehearse that. >>They are focused on what they do and rightly so, because that's what they are in business to to deliver. And a lot of small businesses have this kind of-- this challenge or problem around technology that it's kind of-- you mentioned earlier, it's in the way. They are trying to get whatever it is done that makes them valuable to their customers or their clients or whatever. And technology is often treated as kind of either a necessary evil or an afterthought. It's just something that has been set up, and I just want it to work. I don't want to have to think about it. I don't want to worry about it. And what we find is very often talking with people, they know what the problems are. They're very aware. - They're feeling them.
Chris Harp:- Yeah, they feel the pain of unreliable technology
Tyler Smith:- Yeah, they feel the pain of unreliable technology or slow technology or stuff that you just can't quite find it, right, like poorly organized or duplicative, you know, people doing the same thing across three or four different systems. And so, you know, most small businesses feel like they're just constantly putting out fires. You know, it's, again, I think you put it perfectly at the beginning, it's in the way. Rather than it being something that's helping them get their job done, instead it's actually standing right square in the way and they're having to fight it instead of have it work with them. And, you know, that's a problem that we work with clients all the time to try to overcome. And it really starts with being super aware of what those challenges are and how you might be able to make investments to overcome those.
Chris Harp:Right. Yeah. And partnering with the right people. Right. And in that may be people within your organization that may be, you know, outside influences to get some sort of a strategy in place. I think, you know, every business owner has gotten a surprise expense. Right. Like no one's that.
Jessica:Right. Like no one's that.
Chris Harp:Nobody wants a surprise expense where it's like, hey, we've got to, Nobody wants a surprise expense where it's like, hey, we've got to, Nobody wants a surprise expense where it's like, hey, we've got to, you know, replace these five computers. we've got a, um, I don't know, we're going to buy this piece of software or something like that that we didn't know it's reactive. Right. Um, and, and that's a challenge, you know, and, um, it comes back to the, the strategic planning, the, the committing to some sort of level of engagement and embracing like planning, the, the committing to some sort of level of engagement and embracing like some of that change. And otherwise it's just going to be one of those things that just shows up one day and you know, it's, oh, you know, here it is, right? - Right. - It's not going anywhere. Technology, it's pretty interesting to look at, you know, everything from public sector, police departments, to manufacturing, to agriculture, right? How much technology is intertwined through all of that? You know, technology is, you know, it's very interesting after being in this industry for what, 67 years now. It's like, you still drive by an agricultural place and you see a truck weighing in and weighing out or something that's like, that's not just they get on the scale and the number pops up. It's they're creating the weight master certs. They're logging that, the load that came, empty load that came in, load that went out.
Tyler Smith:empty load that came in, load that went out.
Chris Harp:empty load that came in, load that went out. - Testing the humidity of the product,
Tyler Smith:- Testing the humidity of the product, all of those things. - Yep.
Chris Harp:It's just everywhere. And it's very interesting. It doesn't even matter. I'm trying to think of like any, any industry that doesn't use some form of technology. Um, and the key differentiator, I feel like for those
Tyler Smith:businesses that use it to good effect are when they think of it as something to invest in, right. When they think of it as, you know, this isn't just a, an appliance to buy and shove in and hope it keeps the food cold forever.
Chris Harp:keeps the food cold forever.
Tyler Smith:Right. But rather something that is going to be a system that will help them get more trucks through if they can?
Chris Harp:Is there a way to optimize that?
Tyler Smith:Is there a way to optimize that? Is there a way to speed that up at all? Is when it's rice harvesting season, we have a lot of clients in that industry, and they've got 30 trucks stacked up, and each individual truck takes a certain amount of time to get through, is that time partially due to systems that are taking measurements, or is it processes, or some combination in there? And is it something that can help make that faster, make it better, spot things quicker, or make decisions around whether or not to take that product and put it in tank A or silo B or whatever. And yeah, getting in there and thinking of it as how can this technology help us do what we do better. And that's-- I mean, obviously, we believe in that deeply. Yeah, of course. But we've definitely seen those success stories where those people who kind of lean in and say, okay, I'm ready to make these investments to make help my processes and my business work better because of this technology that helps us do that.
Chris Harp:- Sure, and it's, I mean, it's not, the technology piece is not just dropping something into your point, right? Drop it in and just, oh, now it should just work. No, it's a steam engine. No, it's a steam engine. - It's thoughtful.- Yep, you continue to feed it, continue to invest in it, right? I think, you know, growing up, born and raised in Wisconsin for 27 years, right? I think, you know, we shared an office for the first couple of few years, you know, once I moved out here and got the job at Matson Isom. 67 years ago. 67, 72, yeah. And I remember you saying, I can't remember, you know, who you're talking to, but I was, you know, just eavesdropping. And you were saying you never see a roofer replacing the roof or replacing a roof in the middle of winter. It's thought of ahead of time, right? It's in Wisconsin. I definitely didn't see that.
Tyler Smith:Right. Very true. Yeah. Weather, right? Well, yeah, exactly.
Chris Harp:Well, yeah, exactly. But that's that's planned for, right? There's a reason that, you know, roofing and construction is really busy during certain times of the month and or throughout the year. And it's the planning ahead on that. And it, I know it sounds weird to say in a way, planning doesn't cost anything. It doesn't. It's a, it's something that you strategically do and you, whether that planning doesn't have any sort of, um, takeaway or outcome, at least you're having the conversations, have any sort of, um, takeaway or outcome, at least you're having the conversations, you know? Um, and I think that that's very important, especially taking this back to like AI, when things are coming out, you know, that are, that are coming out and they're faster and fancy and they're just flying through the industry. And it's like, at least let's start talking about that. You know? - Yeah, so the only thing it costs is time. - Right, which some would argue time is money. I get it, I understand that.
Tyler Smith:- But I totally agree with you. It costs a lot less to plan ahead, especially when it comes to the problems and being clear about where those deficiencies are, what's holding you back. You know, I bet everybody who's listening to this right now could stop right now and think, what are the top three things that are holding my business back when it comes to technology? And they might think something like, well, this slow computers, right? Like literally I click on something and it takes 10 seconds. And you know, speaking of my gray stripes,
Chris Harp:30 years ago, right,
Tyler Smith:30 years ago, right, clicking on something and having to take 10 seconds was like- - I mean fast, you're in the future. - Yeah, that was- - Bernie McFly. - I'm living in the 2000s, man. But now, having something take 10 seconds feels like eternity, especially if you have to do it five times a minute or whatever. Now it's taking way too long. So everyone can think of those three things that, okay, yeah, maybe my line of business application, that system that we use every day is slow. Or maybe we have to take data out of it and do a bunch of work and then put it into another system. And that literally requires a full-time person on my team to do that. Or the network drops out, or our Wi-Fi isn't very good, I take my laptop around the corner over here and then everything stops working. So I got to work it back. And even if they're not that dramatic and it's just the little tiny paper cuts that happen over and over again, being aware of what those problems are, to your point, having a simple plan that just says, here are the top three issues that if we could solve these, if we could invest some time, effort or energy or money or any of those things toward solving these problems, that will have an impact on my business. organization could be more efficient, we could get more done and technology, to your point, would not be standing in the way, it'd be actually helping us succeed. That little bit of forethought, that little bit of reflection will pay dividends because now you can say, okay, those are things that are holding us back. What would be the benefit of us actually investing in solving them? And then if you can do that thought exercise ahead of time, then you're already going into having a conversation with an expert around technology, understanding what you think you need to move the needle for the business. And that is so valuable. That is incredibly valuable, because most people totally get it. You're just trying to stay alive. You're just trying to put out fires. You're just trying to run your business. You know, payroll didn't work today. Did anybody call the bank yet? Or it submitted twice. Now you gotta draw that money back.
Chris Harp:Now you gotta draw that money back.
Tyler Smith:Now you gotta draw that money back. Or, you know, these accounts receivable are late. So who's calling them? You know, the last thing you want is another hurdle slowing you down in the technology layer. And so it can be very difficult to find that time to do that planning, but it is so worth it.
Chris Harp:- And further to your point, if you're working, if you are a business leader, you're a business owner and you can't think of anything, I bet if you ask some of the employees, they will have a real quick hit list of their pain points, they will have a real quick hit list of their pain points, they will have a real quick hit list of their pain points, they will have a real quick hit list of their pain points, what doesn't work for them. But again, it goes back to having those conversations. - Yeah, being intentional. - Yep, yep, exactly. - Which is a big part of our core philosophy, right?
Tyler Smith:Like just, I feel like most people expect of their technology partner, their quote unquote IT guy,
Chris Harp:is put on the cape, you know, put on the eye band
Tyler Smith:is put on the cape, you know, put on the eye band
Jessica:is put on the cape, you know, put on the eye band
Tyler Smith:and fly in, save the day and fly away. And that has its place, right? And sometimes that's absolutely necessary 'cause unexpected things happen and you just gotta get it solved quick. But part of what we believe deeply in is this whole idea of ongoing proactive support, being there to, we've talked a lot about strategic planning, right? So being there to help you plan before touching anything. And then moving into, okay, now let's build out the foundation, let's make sure that there's enough in place here to keep your, your people working well, keep your business running. And then because printers still exist, right? Uh, there's the support side of it that says, okay, great. I don't care how many printers have been manufactured in the last 60 years. All of them always fail at the worst possible moment. It could be a $10,000 printer. And it still doesn't work exactly when you need it to before a very important event and meeting, having those people available to call and just provide that kind of immediate support is obviously always going to be a part of what we do too.
Chris Harp:always going to be a part of what we do too. Huge part.
Tyler Smith:Huge part. And because at the end of the day, right, business owners are not, nor should they be technical. Right. Most business owners don't get into business because they love working with computers or Most business owners don't get into business because they love working with computers or Most business owners don't get into business because they love working with computers or networks or systems or services. get into it because they're really good at what they do. And it just so happens that along the way, the tools that they need to, to execute whatever it is they're trying to do are technical, their laptops, their, their tablets, their servers,
Chris Harp:laptops, their, their tablets, their servers,
Tyler Smith:their cloud, their, any of those kinds of things. So, you know, we, we firmly believe that, you know, the, the people that run the businesses don't need to be experts, right. They're tech experts. They, they need to be experts in whatever they're doing. Um, but they do need a plan. They do need a basic idea of how can I leverage these tools and technology to do what I do better. And if the technology is more often than not getting in the way and not actually supporting that mission or plan, then that's a problem, right? And that's something that everybody should be leaning into. And at the very minimum, like you said, if they think as the business owner, actually, I think it's great. Go talk to your top three employees, right? And ask them that same question. I love that strategy because that's, you're going to find out real quick.
Chris Harp:I love that strategy because that's, you're going to find out real quick.
Tyler Smith:I love that strategy because that's, you're going to find out real quick. You're going to say, well, actually, every morning when I come in here and I turn this thing on, it takes me 15 minutes to get to do my actual job because all these things are in the way. This doesn't work right. This pops up. This goes away. And we haven't even spoken at all about risk or cybersecurity or any of that kind of stuff.
Chris Harp:And we haven't even spoken at all about risk or cybersecurity or any of that kind of stuff.
Tyler Smith:We can save that for a future episode.
Chris Harp:We can save that for a future episode.
Tyler Smith:But yeah, I think this is a good place to start because it all starts with planning
Chris Harp:and it's never too late to plan.
Tyler Smith:and it's never too late to plan. You know, I feel like people do this well when it comes to their core business and they understand the trends, they understand the industry, they understand what their challenges are in whatever it is that they do, but they relegate sometimes technology to this kind of necessary evil like, well, I just have to have this stuff here so that we can get by. if they change that mindset or adapt that thinking to, how could I leverage this to actually do what I do better, faster, you know, cleaner, with better data, with less duplicated effort, then that makes all the difference, right? That's where they'll actually start to get those force multipliers of being better than their competition, you know, or stand out in their industry providing non-profit services or if they're in local government or anything like that.
Chris Harp:government or anything like that. - Or fix something that they didn't know was broken. - Right. - I mean, that's another part, right? You're having the conversation. You don't know that it takes that person 15 minutes, maybe in the morning because you're- - All you know is they're not doing all everything
Tyler Smith:- All you know is they're not doing all everything they're supposed to be doing. So what is that? And then, yeah, having those qualitative conversations
Chris Harp:is like, oh, all of a sudden there's a thing
Tyler Smith:is like, oh, all of a sudden there's a thing I didn't even know was a problem.
Chris Harp:I didn't even know was a problem. - Yep. Yeah. And, you know, to your point, like you had mentioned, some of the, you know, conversations that we have clients, sometimes they are just conversations when we're talking about the strategic planning and the next level planning is where do you see the business in three to five years? You know, and I, I have yet to find a business owner that doesn't know that, or at least You know, and I, I have yet to find a business owner that doesn't know that, or at least have an answer for that. Right. And then you plan that and then you can reverse engineer that back. Okay. So if, you know, we want to be, have a second office opened up and, you know, in another city or, um, you know, we have all of our stuff on prem. We want to go up to, you know, put everything up at, at, at Microsoft Azure, AWS, um, yeah, in the cloud, right? in the cloud, right? Yeah.
Jessica:Yeah.
Chris Harp:Full circle. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, and then you can reverse engineer from there. Okay. Every year we got to hit some milestones. Let's, let's do that. Let's build a budget around that. Let's, you know, and to my earlier point, it's change, you know, and change is scary.
Tyler Smith:Let's, you know, and to my earlier point, it's change, you know, and change is scary. Yeah.
Chris Harp:those conversations, the change isn't as scary as what you think, especially when partnering with somebody who can take that burden in a way for you, right? And that's a really big thing is making sure you have the right people. For us at the end of the day, it comes down to the people, our clients, it comes down to our employees. It's just having the right people in the right seats and partnering with the right people to make sure that you can plan, build, and support You know, going forward. >>And yeah, and empowering those people, right? Giving them the tools they need to get their job done.
Tyler Smith:Giving them the tools they need to get their job done.
Chris Harp:So we talked a lot about AI, and I think that a very interesting thing for us to continue
Tyler Smith:So we talked a lot about AI, and I think that a very interesting thing for us to continue to talk about in future episodes is some specific use cases. You know, like where can a small business or a nonprofit or local government, where can they responsibly use AI in a way that is going to help them actually do what they do better, faster, smarter? And so we'll get into some of those use cases because there are absolutely scenarios right now with tools that don't cost a ton of money that will help.
Chris Harp:now with tools that don't cost a ton of money that will help.
Tyler Smith:now with tools that don't cost a ton of money that will help. And so we definitely want to talk about that in future episodes because this is super exciting because it is a little bit scary, but it's one of those things that if you start to reduce the fear, reduce the uncertainty, reduce the doubt, get a little bit of training in these platforms to understand what they do well, what they don't do well, then you start to understand what those practical use cases are for small businesses. I think this is exciting. Yeah. Yeah, me too. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. I think that if people want to join us for future episodes, they should go to our website, go to MITCS.com/podcast, and you can follow it there so that you won't miss a future episode. We're going to talk a lot about all of the different subjects when it comes to small business technology and staying at the high level, staying at the impacts. We are going to talk about how it's going to impact small businesses and what to lean into, what to invest in, and what to maybe stay away from.
Chris Harp:Change is scary. I mean, I look at changes.
Tyler Smith:I mean, I look at changes. Yeah, exactly.
Chris Harp:Like I look at change as like an opportunity. It doesn't have to be all the way in. You're not jumping into the deep end of shark infested waters.
Tyler Smith:You're not jumping into the deep end of shark infested waters. There's a responsible way to do it. a responsible way to do it as long as it's planned and it's executed correctly, you can
Chris Harp:a responsible way to do it as long as it's planned and it's executed correctly, you can really be an exciting change or opportunity.
Tyler Smith:As long as you plan.
Chris Harp:Yep, that's exactly right. All right. Well, thank you, everybody.
Tyler Smith:Well, thank you, everybody. Thanks for listening to Behind the Screens. For more information on how to plan, build, and support technology that actually works
Chris Harp:for your business, please visit us at mitcs.com/clearit and we will see you next time. Thank you.
