Key Takeaways:
- Businesses must shift from collecting vast amounts of data to extracting precise, actionable insights that drive competitive advantage.
- Measuring AI’s impact means tracking engagement, conversion, retention, and breakthrough "magical moments" that drive unexpected value.
- Effective AI implementation requires clear objectives, solid data governance, and cross-functional collaboration.
A McKinsey Global Survey on AI reports that 65% of organizations now use generative AI regularly — nearly double the percentage from its previous report.
The challenge now is turning AI-driven data into actionable insights — the key to establishing a competitive advantage.
Daniel R. Odio (DROdio), the CEO and co-founder of Storytell.ai, has seen this struggle firsthand. With a winning track record in strategy and execution, he explains how businesses can leverage AI to stay competitive.
Who is Daniel R. Odio?
Daniel R. Odio (DROdio) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Storytell.ai, where he leads the development of AI-driven solutions that help knowledge workers transform structured and unstructured data into actionable insights. Previously, he was the founding CEO of Armory.io, acquired by Harness.io. With a deep passion for using AI to enhance organizational efficiency, he is dedicated to empowering teams with smarter, more seamless workflows. In addition to his work at Storytell.ai, DROdio leads FounderCulture, where he supports entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures.
Emails, sales calls, surveys, and social media are full of information that can potentially transform a company’s approach to its product and marketing strategies.
But manually sifting through this data is impractical.
“We believe knowledge should be a shared asset, not a siloed burden. Businesses today generate massive amounts of unstructured data — customer calls, meeting recordings, internal reports — but extracting meaningful insights has traditionally been a slow, manual process,” Daniel says.
This is why AI-powered tools like Storytell.ai exist — to extract insights almost instantly.
“Instead of spending months combing through documents or relying on tribal knowledge, teams get critical answers in as fast as seconds.”
That is the power of “collaborative intelligence” — converting raw, complex data into actionable insights that drive product innovation and revenue growth.
Overcoming the AI Insight Challenge
Despite the promise of AI, many businesses still struggle to fully access customer insights.
This is mostly due to generic results that lack context or a failure to focus on the most important parts.
“Customer conversations — whether from support tickets, sales calls, or user feedback — are often scattered across multiple platforms. Most AI tools struggle to organize, contextualize, and extract meaningful insights from this fragmented data,” Daniel says.
However, AI solutions can help users narrow the scope of their queries to get precise insights instead of generic summaries.
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This includes feedback on a new feature, a better understanding of customer pain points, or a snapshot of emerging trends.
Other common mistakes businesses make when using AI for customer insights include:
- Relying too heavily on AI without human oversight
- Failing to set clear objectives
- Overlooking data quality
So, how can businesses avoid these pitfalls?
Daniel believes it starts with setting clear objectives that align with business goals, investing in solid data governance, and promoting cross-functional collaboration:
“Balance AI with human expertise — AI should augment, not replace, human intuition and experience.”
Measuring Real Business Impact
When it comes to turning AI insights into actionable business strategies, the proof is in the results. Daniel points to several success stories where AI-driven insights led to significant business impact.
“One of our users put it best: Storytell does in 20 seconds what took a team of product managers months to accomplish: Answer questions like 'what cloud targets do our customers deploy to?'
Now I have those answers, whether I was in the customer meeting or not. This not only impacts our product roadmap, but also creates deal expansion opportunities for the sales team.”
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For executives looking to measure the effectiveness of AI tools in uncovering valuable customer insights, Daniel recommends tracking the following key metrics:
- Engagement metrics: Are users actively interacting with AI-generated insights, or are they being overlooked?
- Conversion rates: Are these insights driving tangible business outcomes, or are they just interesting data points?
- Retention rates: Are customers who benefit from these insights more likely to stay engaged long-term?
On top of that, Daniel believes in also tracking “magical moments” — the breakthrough experiences that enable users to drive unexpected value from Storytell’s platform.
“These moments reveal how users truly engage with Storytell, highlighting features that resonate most and guiding product improvements that enhance satisfaction.
By tracking these, we gained a clearer picture of what was working, what wasn’t, and — most importantly — how to move faster and deliver greater value.”
How Agencies Can Drive Business Impact
Above all, Daniel says the key to staying ahead lies in understanding how to leverage AI effectively.
With these insights in mind, agencies aiming to work with big brands need to consider how they can differentiate themselves and deliver real value through AI.
According to Daniel, agencies should:
- Show business value by speaking executive language — not just analytics, but strategic impact.
- Build custom AI strategies, not one-size-fits-all solutions.
- Align AI insights with marketing, sales, and product strategies.
- Turn AI insights into actionable playbooks.
- Provide interactive strategy documents, not just dashboards.
- Offer AI that’s secure and scalable.
- Ensure enterprise-level security and compliance.
- Deliver scalable solutions that integrate into existing workflows.
“AI isn’t just about innovation—it’s about shaping the way we live, work, and connect. Technology is never neutral; it influences behaviors, perceptions, and even the values we uphold as a society.
That’s why AI leaders must go beyond just pushing boundaries — they need to engage in critical conversations about building responsible, human-first AI that prioritizes well-being, fairness, and meaningful connection,” Daniel adds.
On the other hand, Storytell is also focused on driving business impact by using AI responsibly.
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Leading this charge is Chief Customer Officer Erika Anderson through her Building Humane Tech initiative, which works to ensure that AI development aligns with ethical standards.
“She’s developing resources, hosting meetups, and speaking at industry events to foster conversations on responsible AI. Her website, Building Humane Tech, is a growing hub for leaders who want to ensure AI works with humanity, not against it.
The future of AI isn’t just about what we can build — it’s about what we should build,” Daniel concludes.
As AI continues to redefine how businesses operate, brands and agencies must realize that success won’t come from amassing endless data.
Success boils down to knowing what to look for, drawing out the most valuable insights, and acting on them with precision.
