Jared Peno

I believe technology should serve your mission. Alliance builds mission-first IT solutions. | Founder @ Alliance | Author | Christian

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

What should your business actually do about this?

This week's Think Like a CIO breaks down the Charter breach and the 3 things every leader should review before this happens to them.

https://t.co/QiGGN8UnPI

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Charter Communications lost 40 million customer records in April.

They weren't hacked.

Someone made a phone call.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Here's the part that should concern every business leader:

AI has made this attack nearly free to run. Voice cloning, scraped social profiles, AI-generated audio.

The ransom deadline was May 27. Charter didn't pay. The data went public.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

The best opportunities to capitalize on AI could be vanishing.
Two things happened in the last 30 days that changed how I answer the "is AI actually doing anything yet" question.

OpenAI cracked an 80-year-old math problem. It was a conjecture Paul Erdős posed in 1946 that the best mathematicians on earth couldn't close. The AI found a counterexample nobody had seen. Pretty cool.

Then Microsoft cut its quantum computing timeline in half. Because AI agents helped with the actual physics.

So here's what I want you to hear:

You're still not behind as an ordinary business though.

Nobody in the mid-market is behind, because few have figured out their real opportunity yet.

The big labs are pointing this at quantum chips and number theory.

Meanwhile your industry is sitting on the same three or four unsolved problems it's always had. Messy handoffs or the thing that always slips through cracks.

Those aren't Erdős problems. Way easier. And worth real money to whoever solves them first.

Go solve the boring, expensive problem your industry's been avoiding. There are plenty of those to go around, and if you can figure out how to point AI at them, they could make you rich.

The tools are proving they can handle the hard problems. The only question is whether you'll aim them at something that matters to you.

I am helping companies right now realize their opportunity with AI. I am driving projects, securing data, and delivering real results. If you want your first AI project to succeed - shoot me a message and lets dive in.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Being around successful people acclimates you to the culture of success.

You increase your surface area for opportunities and understanding of the action required to grab success yourself.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

I've been integrating AI tools into my workflow for several months now. Since that time, the models have gotten better, but the biggest unlock has been how it has changed my workflow.

I've dialed-in some aspects of my workflow so we’lll, that I'm able to create client ready documents within minutes.

AI for me is truly becoming a force multiplier. Here's what I have learned thus far:

1. I don't find myself "using AI", meaning it simply works along side me. Many of the functions I use work in the background, they are embedded in my workflow. The tools are not taking my time.

2. The output is me. I am the creative. AI uses my words and my thinking to quickly develop the things I need to get work done. I don't have to "train it" on my voice, because it is my voice.

3. The best results i've received from clear thinking and communication. I am able to produce things that are indistinguishable from my normal output. Contrarily i've seen people try to defend articles or artifacts that they submit that are obviously not their work. When I create artifacts for others, I don't even have to reference the output because all ideas and arguments are mine. AI is helping me focus on my thinking instead of focusing on formatting.

4. I am starting to see a noticeable difference from those who use AI as leverage for their work and those that either don't use it or outsource their thinking to AI. The people that don't use it for leverage are running through sand. Their production speed is starkly slower.
And those who outsource their thinking are becoming lost. The output is noticeably AI written, usually dense, and doesn't represent a clear line of thought. What's worse is that the people submitting this work can't even defend it.

I am pointing these things out to everyone because I consider myself a more advanced user of AI than most. Early on I felt like I was fighting with it. Constantly trying to get the prompts "right".

I also felt like it didn't understand my situation and was constantly producing "meh" content.

That changed for me as I have been able to identify and properly capture relevant data throughout my working day. It has a vast amount of context, it uses my own words in meetings and other writings, and I don't ask it to think for me.

The result is a polished: policy, sales deck, memo, quote, email, task list, or coaching notes - on demand.

For anyone else out there feeling behind or simply wanting to unlock this power, I recommend mapping out what a human assistant would need to be successful and giving AI access to that information. Then it's just a matter of connecting the right tools for the AI to do the job.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Meta is launching subscriptions for its major apps like facebook, instagram, and whatsapp. The paid features will unlock AI tools.

This will be a great test case for other platform providers. I think it even gives mid-market companies a clue on how they can monetize AI features in their own business.

Would you consider charging for AI features in your offerings?

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

People who get an unusual amount of work done are maniacal about removing things from their lives that others tolerate.

We are all equal with the amount of hours we have in a day. The people that know what they want and use their time to the fullest are the people that enjoy a traditional marker of success.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

$4,023 was the lowest-priced upper-deck ticket available for Game 3 of the NBA Finals in NY

Who’s paying that?

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

I’d love to know your take on this. A well known developer and writer just posted this about the state of software companies that are enjoying the power of AI.

“The software industry has shifted its entire value proposition from 'we make tools that help you make or save money' to using political clout and the dollar hegemony to capture, control, and loot entire sectors of the various economies of the world.”

Do you think disruption and market share is the now the motivating factor for software companies?

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

If you're a mid-market CEO right now, you're probably thinking about AI the way most people are. Which tool. Which vendor. Who owns it internally. Maybe a pilot or two.

I think it's time to put a stake in the ground.

Micron's stock surging over 700% in one-year suggests that compute decisions have been made and the market wants intelligence.

Micron is already sold out of their 2026 memory supply. So they follow a growing trend of chip makers and memory suppliers that can't meet demand.

Their new trillion dollar valuation is a receipt. Companies are in the spending phase and orders are being placed. Mid-market should be finding their use case and developing a plan to ensure they can also secure the compute they need.

These big frontier models are trying to make intelligence cheap and available, but it could be a rocky couple of years.

This is an indicator that your competition is deploying intelligence solutions. Demand for it is driving this economy. If you're not currently in the building phase, you might be behind.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

I’ve never met a business owner that was against using modern technology. They’re just against frivolous spending on tech.

If you work with Alliance Technologies, you get a team that is about more than just installing tech.

We are guided by one question...

Does the technology support YOUR mission?

It forces us to do two things.

1. Know your mission
2. Take care in every technology decision we recommend.

This filter ensures we are good stewards of your resources.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

With over 16 years in business, there is one thing that that is still the most difficult to overcome in a service-based firm. I like to call it Feedback Theater.

Those of you in the service industry will probably relate. Feedback Theater is all of the account management surveys, 5-star reviews, and NPS data that you collect that can give you a false sense of security.

I definitely think these measurements have there place and I am not advocating to bypass them - I just think they don’t tell the most important story.

A big piece of communication is lost in these metrics - proximity. Real customer intelligence doesn’t come through a scheduled channel. It happens organically when the customer is experiencing your service or using your product.

As a service provider, that level of live feedback is gold. If you have proximity, you get to pick-up nuance like non-verbal frustrations, mis-use, or mis-communication.

The classic feedback approach is still relevant, but don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s the whole story. You’re only going to get the whole story from being close to your customer. And getting that close, is what sets top service providers apart from the others.

I expand further in this week’s Think Like a CIO newsletter.
Visit:
https://t.co/MMoDgPlzqI

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Nobody pays for a product. What they pay for is satisfaction.

- Peter Drucker

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

“Make Me Look Prepared”

Life isn’t getting any slower. Here’s a Copilot prompt you can use to jump into that meeting you forgot about.

Based on this topic “_____”, give me:

* the 5 smartest questions to ask,
* likely objections,
* hidden risks,
* industry assumptions,
* and a 2-minute briefing so I sound well-prepared in the meeting

Simple AI for everyday.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Hey, just a reminder. If you're consistently improving your skils, you'll be happier than chasing money.

And if you're using those skills and getting joy from helping people, you'll make money.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Here's my contrarian take on the state of IT right now.

More tech and more expensive tech, doesn't equal better results.

I guess it's kind of like golf. Better clubs, shoes, golf balls, and swing analyzers aren't going to make you an elite golfer. And for the average person probably won't even consistently take a few strokes off your game.

I feel like business technology is like that now.

I focus my clients on simplifying their technology, maximizing what they have and providing expert guidance when they shank one in the woods.

A slow, steady, and safe strategy will provide maturity and consistently give you better results.

Focus on the fundamentals and just hit the ball straight. If you invest in those things you'll have the advantage of predictability.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

Unless you want this outcome, you better start with AI governance.

[Jared Peno @jaredpeno]

I wake up every morning at 3am, ready for the day.

I hate it and don't know why.