What seven years of marketing integrations @conversion-science taught me about practical AI implementation

Working with large brands on marketing integration projects, we learned something counterintuitive: their automation ambitions were massive, but their internal development teams and big consulting partners would take years to deliver comprehensive solutions. Meanwhile, practical business problems went unsolved.

We found that providing highly focused solutions – ones that did 80% of the required job – delivered benefits in weeks, not years. These weren’t comprehensive systems with bells and whistles, but they solved the core problem immediately. Many of these “interim” solutions are still running years later because they simply work.

When we started applying AI to business processes, we took this learning to heart. Instead of promising complete transformation, we prioritize small, incremental projects that each show clear value:

A knowledge base that instantly answers client questions. 

An inventory system that prevents stockouts. 

A report generator that saves 6 hours of manual work weekly.

The result? Clients see ROI within weeks, not months. And those small wins build into comprehensive AI capabilities faster than any “big bang” approach ever could. 

Sometimes the best solution isn’t the perfect solution…it’s the one that actually gets implemented and delivers value immediately.

What’s been the biggest blocker for AI projects in your business?