Inside AI Readiness: How Three CX Leaders Are Guiding Smarter AI Investments An Interview with Christa Heibel (CH Consulting Group), Fred Stacey (Cloud Tech Gurus), and Eben Hall (VertexC3) Hosted by: Jessica Alston, Head of Marketing at CH Consulting Group
Welcome, everyone. Today we’re talking with the three executives behind the AI Readiness Assessment: Christa Heibel from CH Consulting Group, Fred Stacey from Cloud Tech Gurus, and Eben Hall from VertexC3. These three leaders came together to launch something many organizations desperately need: a practical, honest, and strategy-driven approach to AI readiness.
Jessica: What inspired the creation of the AI Readiness Assessment?
Fred: We kept seeing companies jumping into AI with no real foundation, no clear strategy, no data prep, and no roadmap. Tools were being bought, but customers weren’t getting the return they expected. It reminded me of the early CCaaS days. It was chaos. AI’s no different if you don’t structure your approach.
Christa: Exactly. This isn’t about hype. It’s about operations. We wanted to offer a structured path so organizations could adopt AI without it becoming a failed investment. You need real business use cases, real data, and a plan that actually aligns with how your company runs.
Jessica: What makes this different from other AI evaluations or vendor assessments?
Eben: This isn’t about pushing a tool. It’s about figuring out what’s actually needed. We’ve built something comprehensive that looks at your operations, IT, systems, and business goals all together. That’s not common in today’s AI conversations. Most people skip right to tech.
Christa: It’s also vendor-agnostic. We don’t care what tool you choose. We care that you’re ready to use it effectively. We built this from experience across hundreds of deployments.
Jessica: Where are companies struggling the most when it comes to AI?
Fred: Misaligned expectations. Companies think AI means instant results. They expect automation to save 50 percent of labor costs in 90 days. That’s just not real. Some organizations are succeeding, but it’s because they’ve done the work: data quality, internal training, integration, and change management.
Christa: Another big one is trying to apply AI in isolation. You can’t plug in a tool without thinking about how it interacts with your people and your processes. AI is not a magic fix. It’s a strategic capability. And if you’re missing a proper knowledge management system, that alone can derail everything.
Jessica: So, who is this assessment really for?
Eben: We designed this with mid-market to enterprise CX operations in mind. It works well whether you’re scaling up or needing to streamline. That said, even Fortune 500 companies benefit from it, especially when they’re siloed or stuck in outdated processes.
Christa: It’s really for any business that knows AI is on the table but doesn’t want to throw money at it without a clear plan. If you’ve been burned by technology before, or you’ve got fragmented systems, we can help get your house in order.
Jessica: What’s one misconception you wish more companies understood?
Fred: That a single AI tool is all you need. That’s a big one. AI isn’t a point solution. It’s an ecosystem. You have to think about integrations, data flow, governance, and what your human team is doing alongside it.
Christa: Or that you can skip the internal prep work. AI can absolutely improve CX and cut costs, but only if your foundation is solid. That’s what we’re here to help with.
Jessica: Final thoughts. Are we closer to full automation?
Eben: We’re definitely getting closer, but I don’t think full automation will ever fully replace human interaction. There’s always going to be a need for emotional intelligence, empathy, and judgment in customer experience.
Fred: We’re in a hybrid era. Companies that succeed are the ones investing in both their tech stack and their people. You need both to win.
Ready to find out if your organization is truly AI-ready? Start with a guided assessment that cuts through the noise and gives you a clear roadmap to real ROI. Schedule Your AI Readiness Assessment here
