Earlier this week, Galvia was proud to co-host “AI for Leaders: Make it Work for Your Business” alongside Byrne Wallace Shields LLP. The event brought together top minds in law, technology, and AI for business leaders, featuring Elaine Burke (journalist, broadcaster, and tech expert), Victor Timon (Partner and Head of Technology at Byrne Wallace Shields), and John Clancy (CEO and Co-Founder of Galvia).
Together, they offered practical insights to help Irish businesses cut through the AI hype and adopt the technology in a way that is both strategic and sustainable.
Here are our five key takeaways from the event:
1. AI Is Everywhere — But So Is the Hype
Journalist and broadcaster Elaine Burke kicked off the session with a clear message: not all that glitters is gold in AI. “Snake oil is essentially a solution that you’re sold that ultimately doesn’t live up to its promise,” she warned. And with AI, the promises are bigger than ever.
Burke urged leaders to be critical of headlines and sales pitches, especially those promising Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). “AGI is still theoretical. No one has so far even come close to building this, no matter what their press releases might say.”
Her advice? “Start with the problem, not the product. Don’t use AI just to say you’re using AI.”
2. Strong AI Starts with Strong Data
Before AI can deliver value, your data needs to be accurate, connected, and accessible. As Galvia CEO John Clancy put it, “AI has to fit into today’s world — a world of legacy systems and siloed departments.” The cleaner and more structured your data, the more effective your AI solution will be.
When Galvia began working with Petstop, Ireland’s largest pet store chain, the business had a wealth of valuable data — but it was scattered across 14 stores and multiple disconnected systems. Galvia’s Connected Intelligence Platform brought that data together into a single, unified, real-time view, enabling Petstop to analyse key metrics across operations, uncover hidden trends, and make smarter decisions — from inventory planning to targeting high-value customer segments.
“AI has to fit into today’s world — a world of legacy systems, siloed departments, and messy data,” said Galvia CEO John Clancy. “The challenge is, how do I get a connected view of what’s happening in my business right now? Not just in sales or finance — but everywhere, from logistics to customer service.”
Galvia’s platform sits across all of a client’s systems to build a secure, compliant, and fully custom machine learning model — one that’s trained exclusively on their data.
3. AI Isn’t a Replacement — It’s an Enhancement
A recurring theme throughout the seminar was that AI should support human expertise, not replace it. Elaine Burke cautioned against the idea that junior staff armed with AI could suddenly perform like seasoned professionals: “Your top-level employees were probably needed to train that AI in the first place.”
John Clancy added, “AI is just Excel at superscale — it’s another tool. It works best when paired with the people who understand your business.” For AI to drive value, it must enhance decision-making, not automate it blindly. Keeping the “expert in the loop” ensures both better outcomes and long-term skill retention.
Petstop’s Smart Pivot Pays Off
Petstop is a clear example of how AI-powered insights can guide better human decisions. With Galvia’s platform unifying data from all 14 of its retail locations and digital systems, Petstop was able to identify a key trend: returning customers were generating significantly more revenue than newly acquired ones.
Armed with this insight, the team shifted focus away from expensive acquisition campaigns and instead doubled down on personalised, retention-driven marketing, supported by Galvia’s AI-powered segmentation and decision prompts. The result? A 2% revenue increase — without spending a cent more on advertising. This level of cohort analysis and intelligent prompting is just one of the many benefits unlocked through a truly connected data strategy.
4. Narrow, Domain-Specific AI Delivers Real Value
There’s a lot of noise about general-purpose tools like ChatGPT, but both Burke and Clancy agreed that domain-specific AI is where real enterprise value lies.
“You can’t have a chatbot that runs wild and loose and says just about anything,” Burke said. “You have to have a service agent that only tells customers what you want it to say — and nothing more.”
Clancy echoed this sentiment with real-world use cases: “We’ve seen how even small and mid-sized companies can benefit from machine learning models built on their own data. You don’t need vast data sets — you need clean, relevant data and a clear business case.”
He pointed to Galvia clients like Petstop and NTT Data Business Solutions, who are now using AI to proactively identify business risks and predict outcomes, with measurable ROI in under a year.
5. Responsible AI Must Be More Than a Buzzword
As the discussion turned toward ethics, Burke didn’t hold back: “There’s a lot of bullshit out there — and it’s not just coming from the chatbots.”
She warned against the environmental cost of overpowered, general-purpose systems: “Don’t take a private jet to drop the kids off at school. You may not need AI at all. Maybe you just need automation. Take the bike.”
Clancy agreed: “Responsible AI isn’t just about compliance. It’s about transparency, explainability, and how your AI was built. Who labelled the data? Where’s the infrastructure? That should matter to your business.”
Victor Timon, a legal expert in AI governance and regulation, outlined the legal roadmap for responsible use, covering everything from stakeholder governance to procurement and audit. His parting advice? “AI literacy is now a requirement. If your system rejects a candidate, a human needs to be able to explain why.”
Final Thoughts On AI For Business Leaders
At Galvia, we believe AI should serve your business — not the other way around. Whether you’re a global enterprise or just beginning your AI journey, success starts with asking the right questions:
- What problem am I trying to solve?
- What data do I have — and is it in good shape?
- Who’s responsible for how AI is used across my organisation?
When it comes to data, many businesses don’t realise how fragmented or unfit their information is for AI until they take a closer look. That’s why we offer a quick and practical data audit designed to help you understand what data you already have, where it lives, and what needs to be cleaned or connected before AI can start delivering real value.
Want to know how AI could work for your business? Get in touch with our team and book a demo today.
