Artificial intelligence is here. How do we budget for it? Welcome to The Marketing Accelerator Podcast, featuring three insights in about three minutes. I'm true Drew Dinkelacker. And today, I'm speaking with Sabrina Donley. She's the Practice Leader of Secure AI at CybrCastle - that's an organization that helps their clients accelerate with AI and mitigate the risks. Sabrina, there are so many new AI tools out there, it's a challenge to figure out which ones to use, much less the budget for them. How do we do that?

Sabrina Donley: Great question, Drew. So many leaders are wondering how to budget for AI tools, and I've seen some companies that have gone and implemented tools without really defining the problem they wanted to solve. For example, they implemented Microsoft co-pilot and they're like, "Hmm, what problem are we actually trying to get this to solve?" So, it starts with defining the problem, identifying the number of users that are experiencing that challenge, and then purchasing AI tools that will go along and solve that problem for those users. If you can define the problem and then look at the tools, that helps. But there's so much more to AI than just budgeting for tools.

Drew: Everyone is talking about tools. I bet there's a lot more to consider.

Sabrina: There is. When you are using a technology, if you put garbage in, you're going to get garbage out. And so, what AI needs to work well is data. You have to use data to get the outputs you want, it has to follow your organization's processes as well, and it has to align with your technology too. So, when you're any kind of AI initiative, you've got to make sure that your data, your processes, and your technology are ready.

Drew: It seems like the final variable always comes down to people, how do we deal with them in the budget?

Sabrina: AI must serve people. It's not the other way around. People collaborating with AI and understanding it and knowing how to use it, is the number one most important part of AI Initiatives. So, let's say you had eight gold coins and you were trying to budget for AI Initiatives, you should be putting probably five gold coins in data, process technology, readiness, two gold coins and upscaling your people, and one in AI tools. If you invest in your people, process technology, and data, then put your investment in those tools, that's where you're going to get that return on investment exponentially that you're looking for.

Drew: So, when budgeting for AI, consider the tools, the process and infrastructure, and your people. The Marketing Accelerator Podcast is a production of MarketingAccelerator.com, where business leaders gain confidence in their marketing efforts, and marketers turn into high performing leaders. I'm Drew Dinkelacker.

To learn more about budgeting for AI watch the 15 minute video with Sabrina Donley and Kendra Ramirez at https://www.cybrcastle.com/ai-for-organization-leaders/video-ai-budget-strategy-2025