Ep091: The Business of Better Decisions: PDI's Journey in Retail and Energy Tech

PDI's COO/CTO discussing generative AI implementation

Practical step-by-step approach to AI integration

Testing in real-world settings with customer feedback

AWS Bedrock and Nova models exceeded expectations

Early adoption phase with huge potential

Fuel/retail industry processes many in-person transactions

PDI began in 1983 as ERP provider

Grew through 33+ acquisitions

Provides end-to-end fuel industry solutions

Owns GasBuddy and Shell Fuel Rewards

Processes millions of transactions daily

Generative AI fits into their intelligence plane architecture

AWS Bedrock integrates well with existing infrastructure

Focus on trusted, controlled, accountable AI

Productizing AI features harder than traditional features

Created entrepreneurial structure alongside regular product teams

Team designed to fail fast but stay customer-focused

AI features can access databases without disrupting applications

Customers want summarization across different business areas

AI provides insights and actionable recommendations

Conversational AI replaces traditional reporting limitations

Working closely with customers to solve problems together

Beyond prototyping phase, now in implementation

AWS Nova provides excellent cost-to-value ratio

Focus on measuring customer value over immediate profitability

RFP use case saved half a million dollars

Early prompts were massive, now more structured

Setting realistic customer expectations is important

Data security approach same as other applications

Treating AI outputs with same data classification standards