Investing in Our People: Visionary at the 2026 Business Analytics Symposium
Visionary at the 2026 Business Analytics SymposiumQuestion it. Train it. Own it.  |
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At Visionary, we invest in the people who make our work possible. Professional development is one of the perks of being on our team, and that means real opportunities to learn, connect and bring fresh ideas back to the office. This fall, four of our team members spent the day at Iowa State's 2026 Business Analytics Symposium, hosted by the Ivy College of Business. Data and reporting are a growing part of what we build for our clients, so this is one we keep coming back to year after year.
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A Packed HouseOur team joined a full ballroom of analysts, data leaders and business pros from across Iowa. This year's big theme was hard to miss: AI. Not the hype, but what it actually takes to turn it into results. Here's what stuck with them. |
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Mackenzie Knapp Partner & Leader of AI, Credera · Opening Keynote |
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The strongest lever. The least pulled. From What Work Looks Like When AI Has an Operating System Mackenzie opened the day with a reality check: every organization has AI tools, but almost none have AI that carries a workflow all the way from insight to impact. She walked through what doesn't work, like automating processes that have already moved on, and the playbook those lessons produced. She was polished, practical and easily one of our team's favorite speakers of the day. |
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Stats from Mackenzie's keynote. 4 of 33 figure: IDC research with Lenovo, 2025. |
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Our takeaway The value isn't in adding a tool to an old process. It's in rethinking the process. That's the same question we ask before any new website or app: what should this workflow look like, not just how do we digitize what's already there? |
In the Breakouts
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From AI Curiosity to Business Capability Stuart Reoch, AI Solutions Lead & Wade Zimmerman, VP of Business Applications, LCS LCS shared how they're moving employees from AI curiosity to real business outcomes with a mix of training, AI Champions, collaboration communities, governance and early agent development, all while balancing innovation with security. |
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Transforming Business Insights with Agentic AI Rob Kitchen, Senior Business Intelligence Analyst, Principal Financial Group Rob reminded the room that business intelligence is as much art as science. The best analytics projects start at the root of the question: what are we trying to answer, and why? From there, reporting, one-time studies, machine learning and now AI agents are all tools for getting people closer to their data. |
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Bill Schmarzo Assistant Professor of Practice, Iowa State University · The AI Solution Engineer |
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AI is a magnifying glass, not a corrective lens. Kevin's pick for best session of the day. Bill was engaging, funny and refreshingly blunt. His challenge: make AI work for you. Use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini to dig into the areas you want to learn, but embrace your inner Socrates and always question what AI hands back. And never give up ownership of the answer. Critical thinking is still your job. |
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The former middle is the new left Today, average is safe. Most of us sit in the middle of the curve and assume we'll stay there. Bill's warning: generic AI pulls the middle apart. Every generic answer you accept is a step to one side.
Three AI realities, and what to do about them:
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Our takeaway AI is only as good as the expertise and direction behind it. The real advantage comes from people who know their business, ask the right questions and stay accountable for the answer. |
Overheard at the Symposium
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"Embrace your inner Socrates." |
"Choose your metrics like they're laws." |
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"What are we trying to answer, and why?" |
"AI is an amplifier." |
Added to the Visionary PlaybookStart with the question: what are we trying to answer, and why? Rethink the workflow before adding the tool Define outcomes and metrics before we build Question AI, and own the answer Fix the process first, because AI magnifies what's already there These ideas fit how we work with our clients and each other, whether we're building a custom dashboard, cleaning up a reporting process or planning a new website. |
When we invest in our people, the whole team benefits, and so do the clients and community we serve. Thank you to the Iowa State Ivy College of Business for another great day in Des Moines, and to Kevin, Stacey, Krista and Nick for bringing these lessons back to the team.
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Learn more about the Business Analytics Symposium
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