Black History Month: The AI experts on improving your workflow and what to avoid

Today, we're bringing you a bonus episode for Black History Month. In it, we ask the simple question, how comfortable are you with using AI in your business? 

We talk with Black leadership at Bavardio to get some tips on what to do to improve your workflow and find out what you should definitely avoid.

Coming Thursday, April 2, 2026:  register for the Virtual Town Hall Meeting 

Recommended links:

Bavardio website
Charles' LinkedIn
Bavardio's LinkedIn

You’re invited to join Connected Nation’s experts on Thursday, April 2 for a special virtual town hall meeting that explores what’s happening with high-speed internet across the country. Register here: bit.ly/BroadbandFutures

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:08):

On this episode of Connected Nation, I ask the simple question, how comfortable are you with using AI in your business? We talk with leadership at Bavardio to get some tips on what to do to improve your workflow and find out what you should definitely avoid. Plus we get to have a little bit of fun. You'll see I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation. 

I am at day two of the Broadband Nation Expo in Orlando, Florida. And I have finally met the famous, the infamous, maybe <laugh>, Charles Thomas, A

Charles Thomas (00:47):

Bavardio, maybe infamous <laugh>. We'll, we'll know after this podcast, won't we?

Jessica Denson (00:52):

Yeah, we will. My, uh, team has been asking me to, to interview you for the last 48 hours. So finally we're getting to it. And you are the Chief Strategy Officer of Bravado, correct?

Charles Thomas (01:03):

Yes. Yeah. But before we get started, I gotta say

Jessica Denson (01:06):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (01:07):

This is one of the coolest things that I've ever seen at a show.

Jessica Denson (01:09):

Really?

Charles Thomas (01:10):

I have never seen a podcast being done at a show like this. And so I walked by there. I was like, what are these guys? No way. They're not doing. I'm like, they're doing a podcast here. That is awesome.

Jessica Denson (01:20):

Yeah. Thank you. You thank you. I've been all over the place, and I can't believe we haven't seen each other. I've been, I roam around sometimes if people don't come to me and talk to me, I pick up my little machine, my little Zoom H six, which is this little handy recorder, this little guy right here.

Charles Thomas (01:33):

Right.

Jessica Denson (01:34):

And I walk around and say, please talk to me. <laugh> <laugh>. Put mics in their faces. Yeah. But it's usually a pretty good hit. Yeah. Thank you for

Charles Thomas (01:40):

Saying that. Well, I can't believe people that don't want us, you know, jump on and kind of, I talk about what they're doing,

Jessica Denson (01:45):

Why would they not?

Charles Thomas (01:46):

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Jessica Denson (01:47):

Exactly. Yeah. So, uh, we got a lot to break down with you, Charles.

Charles Thomas (01:50):

All right, let's do it. Let's do it.

Jessica Denson (01:51):

Let's start, let's start with bravado. Start with the business and get that boring stuff outta Sure, sure. I'm just kidding. Tell, tell us what Bravaria Iio is,

Charles Thomas (02:00):

Is

Jessica Denson (02:00):

What you guys

Charles Thomas (02:01):

Do. Yes. Uhhuh <affirmative>. So, bravado is an enterprise solutions software company. We actually develop task specific AI agents for, uh, operators, or, you know, anyone that wants to start adopting

Jessica Denson (02:14):

Ai. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (02:15):

Um, we're, we're more customized, right? Uhhuh. And so we build agents to help operators be more efficient in their workflows,

Jessica Denson (02:24):

Uhhuh and with, you know, AI for, for the average person, it seems like it's just started, but this has been something that's been a while coming. Has bravado been prepping for this for years, or kind of, where are you in the timeline?

Charles Thomas (02:38):

So, bravado came out of a meeting, Uhhuh actually. Um, a bunch of us were sitting around talking, and we had some AI engineers. We had some operators, and we were just talking about, you know, how can we be more efficient in what, in what we do, uh, and how we serve our clients, how we look at our networks, how we hire, you know, the entire, uh, workflow stack. 

And so from that, about a year ago, we started developing some tools. Um, we got a couple pilots out there with some ISPs. They started loving what we were doing. And so that was really the birth of Barardi.

Jessica Denson (03:19):

And what was that like in the last three, four years at the kind of,

Charles Thomas (03:23):

It, it's actually in the last, in the last year. I mean, we've been talking about it for a while, but, you know, kind of like, you know, when the guys get together, you know, this would be a great idea. So finally we got serious about it.

Jessica Denson (03:36):

It's gonna happen.

Charles Thomas (03:37):

Yeah. Yeah. It made it happen.

Jessica Denson (03:37):

And what have you heard are people, are ISPs really looking for the help in this sphere? Because I, I mean, for everyone, I think everyone is adopting it in some form, but there has to be, like, especially for a business need for some guidance, right?

Charles Thomas (03:51):

Yeah. And I think you, you hit the nail on top of the head there. Mm-hmm. Right? We, we do as much educating

Jessica Denson (03:58):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (03:58):

Um, as we do anything else, right? Because there's a lot of information out there on ai. What is ai, right? AI is kind of this big,

Jessica Denson (04:06):

This big thing. Yeah.

Charles Thomas (04:07):

Unknown black hole out there that, that everyone's trying to understand. And, and to your point, you mentioned adoption, right? Uhhuh, <affirmative>, it's, it's like any technology, any new technology, you know, how can this actually help my organization? How can this work better for me? Can this help me be more efficient,

Jessica Denson (04:28):

Uhhuh, <affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (04:28):

Can this help me to scale? Um, can this help me to really upscale, upscale rather my, my workforce mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we do, we do a lot of talking with, with CEOs and, and CTOs on how the adoption process can actually work. And as I said earlier, you know, we try to take a small use case, uhhuh, what is your high friction pain point that you really need to get a hold of, right? So we look at those monotonous, everyday manual tasks. 

And so we'll take a small piece and, and I suggest that every company kind of work through this particular workflow. Uhhuh, take a small area, focus on that work through a pilot or, or, you know, whatever company you work with doesn't have to be bravado, although it should be <laugh>. Um, and then see how that adds value. If it adds value, then start adopting more, um, agents into your process.

Jessica Denson (05:33):

Is is it a common mistake where people are like just kind of throwing everything into it instead of taking it step by step and maybe taking a breath before going full on all in?

Charles Thomas (05:44):

Yeah. And we, we tell people don't, don't try to swallow the, the whole ocean.

Jessica Denson (05:47):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (05:47):

Right? You don't, you don't want to get so far over your skis that everything comes crashing down. The other thing that is really, really important is that you really need to have your entire company involved in the process. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right? Bring, bring in all your, your company stakeholders, right? It can't just be one person trying to push it. 

Right? Uhhuh. And so, as long as the entire com and, and don't, don't fear it, right? People say, oh, a AI is coming to take all of our jobs now. I want to be honest, right? There are processes that people do that Yeah. AI will, can replace, uh, a human in that

Jessica Denson (06:26):

Spot, which is why it's important to upskill. Right?

Charles Thomas (06:28):

Which is why it's important to upskill

Jessica Denson (06:30):

Uhhuh.

Charles Thomas (06:30):

Right? And this is not the new uhhuh,

Jessica Denson (06:33):

Right?

Charles Thomas (06:34):

Every industry that goes through a major change, things fall off. People have to learn new skills, they get better,

Jessica Denson (06:41):

Right?

Charles Thomas (06:42):

Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. That there's, there's a saying out there kind of in the industry is that AI is not gonna just replace people, but it's gonna replace people that don't adopt AI into their skillset.

Jessica Denson (06:52):

Yeah. It makes, makes complete sense. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So with Bravaria, what is your footprint? Are you national? Are you global? Are you working in only certain states? Where are you?

Charles Thomas (07:01):

We are actually global <laugh>. Oh, <laugh>. No, we do have a, a client in

Jessica Denson (07:05):

Europe, Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (07:06):

<affirmative>. And, um, we believe that if we deliver a great product,

Jessica Denson (07:12):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (07:12):

Right? And then it worked. It has to work key. It has to have, yeah. That's the key value, right? If it doesn't work, then it's nothing. Um, we build up to a certain level. Every service provider has kind of workflows that work across the, the board

Jessica Denson (07:27):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (07:27):

Right? Our added value is that we collaborate with our partners so that we can integrate their, their workflows, their business rules, their business processes, so that it works for them. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And not just kind of a generic tool and say, here, go to work. Here's ai. It's great work for, we, we, we wanna work as collaborators with our clients,

Jessica Denson (07:51):

Uh, without giving away any of your proprietary information. 'cause you know, we want people to come to provar and, and learn what they need to learn mm-hmm <affirmative>. But are there any, have there been any surprises or interesting things that have happened during this process that you're like, oh, okay. Or lessons learned that you could share?

Charles Thomas (08:08):

Yeah, I think one of the biggest lessons learned that we've had here at, at this show is that, um, we have to be really, really flexible. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right? Yeah. Because sometimes when you go to a show, you have like a mindset, oh, we just wanna sell, we wanna sell our product. Our product is great. Uhhuh

Jessica Denson (08:29):

<affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (08:30):

Right? We, we, we, we actually have a, a series of five products, um, that really start with the network. Um, excuse me.

Jessica Denson (08:39):

That's all right.

Charles Thomas (08:40):

With the network piece. Um, field service, customer service, um, human os, and then Assurance os uh, right. Uhhuh, we tie those together. Not everyone's ready for that.

Jessica Denson (08:54):

Yeah. Right. Uhhuh, <affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (08:55):

People gonna, people are gonna come to our booth that are really at different levels of adoption mm-hmm <affirmative>. And we've learned that we really have to slow down a bit and really get to know where people are in their process. Mm-hmm

Jessica Denson (09:09):

<affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (09:09):

And so that's, I guess that's been really the lesson learned that's

Jessica Denson (09:12):

We've taken away

Charles Thomas (09:13):

From

Jessica Denson (09:13):

This's. I can imagine that as you go through this, you, you have people at all kinds of levels. Some people who are, have already tried to adopt it, and maybe it's not working for them. And those who are like, I don't even know where to start, right?

Charles Thomas (09:25):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, it's, it's been, been exactly like that

Jessica Denson (09:28):

Said. Um,

Charles Thomas (09:30):

We actually had a guy that came by yesterday and said, ah, this AI doesn't work, you know, <laugh>. And so my question was, you know, how, how was your process? And they really tried to bite off more than they could chew Uhhuh

Jessica Denson (09:39):

<affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (09:40):

Right. And not everyone was on board. And so we helped him to kind of walk back through the process and gave him a, a different way of approaching it.

Jessica Denson (09:49):

Uhhuh <affirmative>. And

Charles Thomas (09:50):

So we're gonna do a small pot with them uhhuh, um, because they really want to adopt AI into their workflows,

Jessica Denson (09:58):

Because it's, but like you said, take it slow it slow take. That's great advice. I

Charles Thomas (10:01):

Think take it one step at a time. Let's get one, let's get one success

Jessica Denson (10:05):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (10:06):

Right? And we tell people, if we can't bring you a success, then we haven't done our job.

Jessica Denson (10:10):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (10:11):

And then, you know, because,

Jessica Denson (10:13):

So does bravado just work with, um, ISPs and the telecom industry? Or are you outside of that as well?

Charles Thomas (10:20):

We work with anyone who wants to adopt AI into their workflows.

Jessica Denson (10:24):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So all kinds of businesses. A

Charles Thomas (10:25):

Workflow is a workflow,

Jessica Denson (10:27):

Right?

Charles Thomas (10:27):

Right.

Jessica Denson (10:27):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (10:28):

Are there, man, are there manual monotonous tasks in every workflow? Probably,

Jessica Denson (10:33):

Yeah. <laugh>,

Charles Thomas (10:34):

Right? So we, and, and, and again, this is why we go back and look at, let's, let's, let's take a small bite.

Jessica Denson (10:40):

Uhhuh <affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (10:41):

Let's evaluate how that process worked.

Jessica Denson (10:44):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (10:44):

Did that bring value to you? Right. Is that helping your ROI, right.

Jessica Denson (10:48):

Okay.

Charles Thomas (10:49):

Now let's take the next step. We want to go step by step by step.

Jessica Denson (10:53):

And, uh, just one more question on ai. Am I wrong in this or am I right? It kind of part of it, part of the challenge is,

Charles Thomas (11:01):

Well, you're always right.

Jessica Denson (11:02):

I just wanna get that out. Thanks, Charles. Thanks. Uh, I would like it my dad and my family, everybody who knows me to, to listen to that, I'm gonna clip that and send it to people, send it to my boyfriend. Um, anyway, um, oh, now you've got me all flustered, Charles. 

Oh, I can't think that it's that deep voice in that. I can't, I can't. Um, anyway, uh, what I was gonna say was that the different, depending on how you even layer questions to ai mm-hmm <affirmative>. Will can change that matters, doesn't it? How you ask the questions or what questions you ask AI to solve even matters, doesn't it?

Charles Thomas (11:39):

So here's, here's a, uh, here's a tip.

Jessica Denson (11:41):

Uhhuh <affirmative>, right?

Charles Thomas (11:42):

Oh,

Jessica Denson (11:42):

Yeah. I'll take it.

Charles Thomas (11:43):

Whenever you, let's say you go out to an element, you know, chat, GBT or Gemini or any

Jessica Denson (11:48):

Of this Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (11:49):

Whenever you get an answer, ask AI how it came up with that answer.

Jessica Denson (11:54):

Oh, that is, yeah.

Charles Thomas (11:57):

Or if you create a picture, ask it to describe that picture, and it will actually show you that entire process. It will show you how it came up with that answer. AI hallucinates, it gets things wrong. Yeah, it does.

Jessica Denson (12:12):

It's not

Charles Thomas (12:12):

Perfect. Right. Uhhuh, <affirmative>. But if you kind of do, uh, reverse engineering on it and have it go through its process, then it helps you to ask better questions and maybe

Jessica Denson (12:23):

Way

Charles Thomas (12:23):

And more context, a different way and more context to help you get the answer that you can really

Jessica Denson (12:28):

Use. Got it. Okay. All, so I won't ask you to give away any more secrets at this moment, <laugh>, uh, maybe after we turn off the podcast, but let's talk about you a little bit. What's your

Charles Thomas (12:39):

Background? Wait a minute. I have a lot of secrets.

Jessica Denson (12:40):

<laugh> <laugh>. We'll have to talk about 'em. Um, talk about, you told me that you've, you've done public access and, uh, your own podcast. Talk about some of that.

Charles Thomas (12:49):

Well, this is what attracted me over

Jessica Denson (12:51):

Here,

Charles Thomas (12:51):

Right? Uhhuh <affirmative>, because, um, I have a PA podcast that I've been doing called Closing the Digital Divide,

Jessica Denson (12:56):

Uhhuh <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (12:56):

And it start, I was an operator. Oh. And it started because as, as an operator specifically in rural areas, Uhhuh <affirmative>, you kind of see the plight of

Jessica Denson (13:05):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (13:06):

The challenges that people have in rural areas and how they've been overlooked over, over the years,

Jessica Denson (13:11):

Right? Yes. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And

Charles Thomas (13:12):

So part of the reasoning for doing that is that I wanted to bring some attention to what was happening in, in rural areas,

Jessica Denson (13:20):

Uhhuh <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (13:20):

And so we started that and we've been having a lot of fun with it. It's, it's not a every week podcast, Uhhuh, <affirmative>. But, um, I've had a lot of fun with it, and I've learned a

Jessica Denson (13:28):

Lot. Well, send me a link and we'll include a link so our audience can check it out. We, in the description of this podcast. Yeah,

Charles Thomas (13:34):

Absolutely. We will do that.

Jessica Denson (13:35):

Definitely.

Charles Thomas (13:36):

And so,

Jessica Denson (13:36):

What's it called? What's it,

Charles Thomas (13:37):

It's called Closing the Digital Divide.

Jessica Denson (13:38):

Uhhuh. <affirmative>. Very straightforward. <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what else to go. I, my, we called ours Connected Nation, and that's the name of our organization. So, you know, points for creativity, <laugh> for both of us. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And then you used to work in public access?

Charles Thomas (13:52):

Um, yeah. I ran a, uh, public access channel for about 10 years. So, uh, that was fun.

Jessica Denson (13:56):

That's interesting. Why did you do that? What was behind that?

Charles Thomas (13:59):

I was in between jobs. I had worked as a contractor at the federal government for about 20 years,

Jessica Denson (14:07):

Uhhuh.

Charles Thomas (14:07):

And I was like, okay, I'm kind of done with that.

Jessica Denson (14:10):

Burnt out a little. Yeah.

Charles Thomas (14:11):

And I just, and I was doing some, um, stage acting.

Jessica Denson (14:16):

Oh, cool.

Charles Thomas (14:17):

Um, keep busy, you know,

Jessica Denson (14:18):

Uhhuh.

Charles Thomas (14:19):

And so I had a lady came to the show and she goes, you know, we're really trying to put a public access channel together. Would you be interested? I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing anything

Jessica Denson (14:27):

<laugh>. Wow.

Charles Thomas (14:28):

So, got involved with that. Did that for 10, about 10 years, had a great time doing it. Is a lot of work.

Jessica Denson (14:33):

Iss a lot of work. I found

Charles Thomas (14:34):

Out, oh my

Jessica Denson (14:35):

Gosh. I, I used to work in television. Holy cow. I was a broadcast journalist. So, yeah. It's a lot of work. People do not realize how much work it is they

Charles Thomas (14:41):

Do. Not, especially in public access.

Jessica Denson (14:43):

Yeah. 'cause you skeleton, our goal,

Charles Thomas (14:46):

Our goal was always to make our programming look like national programming.

Jessica Denson (14:50):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (14:51):

Uhhuh, <affirmative>. Right. So that's a lot of work behind

Jessica Denson (14:52):

That. Yeah. <laugh>.

Charles Thomas (14:53):

Um, but in public access, you know, you don't,

Jessica Denson (14:57):

You don't have all the dollars. You don't

Charles Thomas (14:58):

Have all the dollars

Jessica Denson (14:59):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (14:59):

To spend. Right. You're always be real. You're always fundraising. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. You're hoping that your, your, your guest and your host will show up to

Jessica Denson (15:07):

The

Charles Thomas (15:07):

Event. And sometimes, you know, you went from behind the camera to in front of the camera. Yeah. And so

Jessica Denson (15:12):

I would think you do a great job in front of the camera.

Charles Thomas (15:14):

It was, it was fun. I had a, I had a lot of fun doing.

Jessica Denson (15:17):

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Charles Thomas (15:17):

Absolutely.

Jessica Denson (15:18):

And where, where are you based at?

Charles Thomas (15:20):

Um, Bovar is based outta San Francisco.

Jessica Denson (15:23):

Uhhuh. <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (15:24):

Um, but we we're, we're all over the place. We have, uh, you

Jessica Denson (15:27):

Did a lot of remote workers.

Charles Thomas (15:28):

We have remote workers that,

Jessica Denson (15:30):

And what about about you, Charles? I was trying to find out where you live, <laugh>.

Charles Thomas (15:32):

I am in the great city of Fredericksburg. Uh, Virginia.

Jessica Denson (15:37):

Oh, cool.

Charles Thomas (15:37):

Which is right in the middle between Washington, DC and

Jessica Denson (15:40):

Richmond. Oh, yeah. It's right there, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a really cool area though, isn't it? It, isn't it really hilly and pretty, am I imagining? Am I, do I have the right place?

Charles Thomas (15:48):

Well, Virginia has everything.

Jessica Denson (15:49):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (15:49):

Right. We have mountains,

Jessica Denson (15:51):

Uhhuh, <affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (15:51):

Um, we have valleys, we have rivers, we have lakes, Uhhuh, we have, uh, all the way out to the Ocean Uhhuh in

Jessica Denson (15:58):

Virginia Beach, so Oh, oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah.

Charles Thomas (16:00):

You can, you know, within

Jessica Denson (16:01):

A little bit of everything,

Charles Thomas (16:01):

Within four hours, you can have a little bit of everything

Jessica Denson (16:04):

In Virginia.

Charles Thomas (16:05):

And we have a fantastic, uh, wine country out

Jessica Denson (16:09):

There. Oh, really?

Charles Thomas (16:10):

Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. Yeah. We, we rival California in our, in our

Jessica Denson (16:13):

Wines. What about New Zealand? I love their sa the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. <laugh>.

Charles Thomas (16:17):

We, we rival everyone. <laugh> all. So

Jessica Denson (16:20):

It's hands down rivals. That's right. Yeah. Stop asking Jess. It's rivaled.

Charles Thomas (16:25):

Um, come to Virginia, drink wine. We'll have a blah blast.

Jessica Denson (16:27):

Blast. Oh, yeah. Hey, I'm, I'm taking that in invite. So one more, one

Charles Thomas (16:31):

More Uhhuh real quick note about Virginia. Right.

Jessica Denson (16:32):

Uhhuh <affirmative> that

Charles Thomas (16:33):

People don't know.

Jessica Denson (16:34):

Oh yeah.

Charles Thomas (16:35):

Virginia is the home of barbecue.

Jessica Denson (16:37):

What? Come on, I'm a Texan. Your challenge be there.

Charles Thomas (16:41):

I'm tell you. I'm gonna tell you

Jessica Denson (16:41):

What. Okay.

Charles Thomas (16:42):

Where did the settlers come in?

Jessica Denson (16:45):

Okay. When

Charles Thomas (16:46):

They first came to, to this, this country.

Jessica Denson (16:49):

Uhhuh. <affirmative>. Okay. Yeah, I'm following you.

Charles Thomas (16:51):

They were, they were in on the east coast. Right. So who were the first people that barbecued,

Jessica Denson (16:57):

Who was it?

Charles Thomas (16:59):

Okay, let me, let me, lemme rephrase it.

Jessica Denson (17:01):

I'm getting the history.

Charles Thomas (17:01):

Who was the first people that slow cooked meat?

Jessica Denson (17:04):

Oh, Virginians.

Charles Thomas (17:06):

It was the, the, the indigenous people that were here.

Jessica Denson (17:11):

Oh, the, the natives already

Charles Thomas (17:11):

Were doing it. The natives already here. They were slow cook. Right.

Jessica Denson (17:14):

Uhhuh <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (17:14):

So back when, um, uh, the slaves were, were, were, were brought in, right. Uhhuh <affirmative>. They would bring in their spices and everything. Oh, right. So they took those spices and that slow cook meek here in Virginia, there's actually a couple books out.

Jessica Denson (17:34):

Oh, really?

Charles Thomas (17:34):

On this. You have a friend of mine that wrote a book about this.

Jessica Denson (17:37):

So you link to that. I'll include that too. 'cause everybody's gonna be like, what? We gotta look at that.

Charles Thomas (17:40):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's, that's was the original barbecue.

Jessica Denson (17:44):

No. Oh.

Charles Thomas (17:45):

As people migrated

Jessica Denson (17:47):

And Texas perfected to Texas

Charles Thomas (17:49):

And North Carolina. Well, okay, we'll we'll go there. <laugh>. But as other as, as

Jessica Denson (17:55):

People

Charles Thomas (17:55):

Started moving up and down, so they took all those,

Jessica Denson (17:57):

The spices and those spices way of doing it. Oh, that's interesting.

Charles Thomas (18:00):

Cooking skills

Jessica Denson (18:00):

With me. Absolutely. Yeah. I, I'd be interested in reading that book. I love history. So I think that's cool. Yeah. Charles, Charles has given us a history lesson today, <laugh>. I love it. So what do you want people before you, um, we've already talked about you're gonna like smooth jazz us out of here. Right? You're gonna be like, Jessica's podcast connected. 'cause you got that Deep voice,

Charles Thomas (18:18):

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

Jessica Denson (18:20):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (18:20):

Now it's time for easy listening with Connected Nation.

Jessica Denson (18:23):

Yeah. Hi everybody. How you doing? And today we have Charles Thomas <laugh>. I love it.

Charles Thomas (18:30):

America's Top 40.

Jessica Denson (18:32):

<laugh>. You love it. <laugh>. Uh, we can just vibe like that back and forth. <laugh>, what do you want people to take away about a conversation about bravado?

Charles Thomas (18:45):

AI is not a bubble.

Jessica Denson (18:47):

Um,

Charles Thomas (18:47):

Right. You need to educate yourself on ai. And when we say ai, it kind of, AI is this big thing, right?

Jessica Denson (18:55):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (18:56):

But there's, there's definitely, um, a need to understand how you can use it in your organization.

Jessica Denson (19:09):

Mm-hmm

Charles Thomas (19:09):

<affirmative>. Right? Um, like I said, there's a ton of information out there. Read as much as you can

Jessica Denson (19:15):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (19:15):

Um, look at your specific use cases, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. How can I implement this into this specific use case that's going to create efficiencies in what we do that's gonna help us to deliver a better product, a better service to our customers. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Right? You gotta kind of answer those questions first, right? If you did, if, if what you're trying to implement doesn't answer those questions, then you're probably not implementing it. Right. Or you may not have the right collaborator to work with.

Jessica Denson (19:50):

Yeah. Which bravado can really help you with.

Charles Thomas (19:54):

Absolutely.

Jessica Denson (19:54):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (19:55):

That's why we were born.

Jessica Denson (19:56):

Yeah. That's why we were born. You know, I, I said that was gonna be my last question, but I do have one more. Um, how important is it that America really embrace AI and move this forward?

Charles Thomas (20:10):

So I will tell you that America's probably a little bit behind

Jessica Denson (20:15):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (20:16):

Right? When you look at how other nations are adopting, um, ai, IOT, you know, kind of that next level technology,

Jessica Denson (20:28):

Uhhuh, <affirmative>,

Charles Thomas (20:29):

Um, you look at, you know, countries like China Yeah. When you, when you go there, they are few years ahead of us

Jessica Denson (20:37):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Charles Thomas (20:38):

Right? Yeah. Other European countries are, are a little bit ahead of us, right? 'cause they're, I think there's just an easy adoption

Jessica Denson (20:45):

Uhhuh,

Charles Thomas (20:46):

Um, in, in some of those, some of those places. Um, we want to, we want to stay on the, as a technology leader here in, in America, right?

Jessica Denson (20:57):

Yeah. Keep our foot on the accelerator, right? Yeah. Keep

Charles Thomas (20:59):

Your foot on the accelerator. Right. Do it, do it smartly.

Jessica Denson (21:03):

Right.

Charles Thomas (21:04):

Right. We don't, we don't want people out there trying to sell vaporware.

Jessica Denson (21:09):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (21:09):

Which I call it, right? <laugh>. Um, educate yourself, do it. Educate yourself, do it smartly and, uh, have a good time with it. Okay. Right.

Jessica Denson (21:19):

We'll leave it there then. Charles, send me off. Charles Thomas, chief Strategy Officer with bravado. Thank you so much for joining us on Connected

Charles Thomas (21:29):

Nation. Ladies and gentlemen, we want to thank you for joining us here at Connected Nation.

Jessica Denson (21:33):

Yeah.

Charles Thomas (21:34):

Make sure that you look up Connected Nation Podcasts because

Jessica Denson (21:40):

We're all major platforms

Charles Thomas (21:41):

For all information. Oh,

Jessica Denson (21:43):

Yes.

Charles Thomas (21:43):

That's going on in our country.

Jessica Denson (21:45):

I'll listen to this tonight when I go to falling asleep.

Charles Thomas (21:47):

<laugh>, expanding high speed internet access adoption.

Jessica Denson (21:50):

Yes. And

Charles Thomas (21:51):

Use Everyone belongs.

Jessica Denson (21:53):

Everyone belongs

Charles Thomas (21:53):

Connected Nation.

Jessica Denson (21:54):

Thank you Charles <laugh>. We'll continue our coverage from the Broadband Nation Expo on future episodes of Connected Nation. Until then, I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation.