Astute Technology Management

Are autonomous factories the answer to rising labor costs and workers who are less excited about to hard labor?

For warehouse owners who want to embrace autonomy but are unsure, let’s fill you in on a key fact: A truly autonomous facility isn’t just about hardware or investments, it's about the data infrastructure underneath it.

Facilities that see the best outcomes have mature, automation-ready data that’s clean and ready to work in real time. Without it, autonomous systems can’t perform intelligently; they’re just expensive hardware following static instructions.

Smarter robots are only part of the answer. The infrastructure supporting them is the other half, and you can lay that foundation before any major new investments with some simple steps today.

Do you think your IT company is a strategic business partner?

There’s a value gap in IT. Research shows a huge divide between how well IT teams think they’re performing and how executives perceive their impact.

When a business owner asks, "What are we actually getting from IT?" The honest answer is often: operational stability. Not growth. Not a strategic advantage.

The difference between an IT vendor and a strategic partner comes down to one thing: whether you're measuring your work in technical outputs or business outcomes.

Are you making faster decisions? Are you capturing new revenue opportunities because you have the right tools? Are employees more productive in ways that you can feel and measure?

Growth-oriented businesses need more than a team that keeps things running; they need an external IT partner who understands their business model, asks hard questions, and connects technology decisions to growth.

If your MSP doesn’t have those conversations with you, it may be time to find a new partner.

AI adoption is making insurance companies rethink their coverage.

According to insiders, several large insurance carriers have stopped providing cybersecurity and other insurance to companies that are using AI to run internal processes.

Concerns about AI workloads first surfaced in November 2025, when Financial Times reported that three major carriers, AIG, Great American, and W.R. Berkley, filed requests with US regulators to offer insurance policies that exclude liabilities tied to AI tools such as chatbots and agents.

The irony is that the insurance industry is enthusiastic about AI adoption itself. According to Nationwide, up to half of them are increasing the pace of their AI adoption within the next year.

While we think AI is a powerful technology, businesses need to be clear about how they use it to avoid serious issues.