Podcast Episode #13 - Is Your Business AI Ready with Don Viar of EpiOn
Don Viar
CEO - EpiOn
Podcast Transcript: Is Your Business AI Ready?
Host: Roger Johnson, Founder of Vivero Leadership
Special Guest: Don Viar, CEO of EpiOn
Introduction
Welcome to No More Carbon Copies, the podcast for high-performing leaders with big goals who feel stuck trying to reach the next level. At Vivero Leadership, we believe no two leaders are the same. The best leaders perform at their highest when they understand what makes them unique and stop trying to lead like someone else. This is where we explore how to see ourselves clearly, address self-sabotage, and lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose. You don't need to be a copy. You just need to be you.
Roger: Welcome to the No More Carbon Copies podcast. I’ve got the privilege of having Don Viar on the show today. I've learned so much from Don just in the short time I've known him. He leads an amazing company that helps businesses with their technology needs. Don, introduce yourself a little bit so people understand the scope of your expertise.
Don: Thank you, Roger. I’ve been in the IT field for a little over 35 years and have a background as a CPA in public accounting. For the last 25 years, I’ve owned a business called EpiOn. We are an outsourced managed IT service provider working with small and medium-sized businesses all across North America. On a personal note, I’ve been married to my wife, Ashley, for 35 years, I'm a father to three amazing daughters, and recently became a granddad to the most amazing grandbaby you could imagine.
Part 1: The Shift from Task to Thought
Roger: Don, AI is a massive topic right now. You can’t have a business conversation without it coming up. We’ve experienced technology shifts over the years, but this one feels entirely different. What makes the AI shift unique?
Don: Most technology shifts have historically affected how we work. Artificial intelligence is beginning to affect how we think and make decisions. It is fundamentally different from other disruptions because it isn't just a new tool—it’s a completely new operating environment.
Leaders who thrive aren't going to be the ones who simply figure out how to deploy the technology first. The winners will be those who take the time to build the right culture, the right organizational environment, and the proper infrastructure to adopt this technology safely and securely.
Roger: It is an intimidating landscape for many folks because it deals heavily with human emotions—enthusiasm, fear, and a lack of expertise. It’s not as simple as plugging in a new piece of hardware.
Don: Exactly. A lot of businesses are adopting AI in some capacity right now, but most of them really aren't ready. They don't realize the power they have in their hands, and because of that, they are introducing severe risks into their organizations without necessarily seeing a return on investment yet. It's all over the spectrum. Just this week, I met with a dental practice that was deeply antagonistic toward AI, and a financial advisory firm that was incredibly proactive.
Part 2: The People Conversation and the Fear of Obsolescence
Roger: What do you think is the most common mistake leaders make when introducing AI into their teams?
Don: Fundamentally, people are approaching it as if it were just a technology conversation. In reality, it’s a people conversation first and foremost. As leaders, we are all guilty of running in with the new "shiny object" and telling everyone we’re going to adopt it, without addressing the underlying anxiety inside the building.
The preacher Andy Stanley says that the most ineffective way to start a conversation about change is by talking about what needs to change. You have to earn the right to talk about change by first demonstrating that you clearly understand the problems and feelings your people are experiencing. The fundamental question in the back of everyone's mind regarding AI is: Am I going to be replaced? Is my job safe?
Roger: Yes, that fear of becoming obsolete or having your skillset marginalized is incredibly real. How can a leader cast a vision for AI that is actually effective without losing ground?
Don: When it’s done effectively, people realize that AI is meant to be a productivity enhancer and a multiplier. We work a lot in the legal sector, and there is a common refrain among attorneys: AI will not replace attorneys, but attorneys who use AI will replace attorneys who don't.
AI completely changes the economics of the businesses it enters. But as leaders, we have to be open and candid about the realities. I know of a situation where a highly paid data analyst was tasked with training AI to act as his "coworker". Once the AI was fully trained, the organization let him go because they no longer needed his services. Leaders must acknowledge these situations honestly.
At a recent industry conference, a guru noted that AI will create a 30% to 40% efficiency gain in our cost of doing business over the next four years. The market is going to expect those savings to be passed through to them, resulting in price deflation if we keep doing things the old way. Evolving our services to help businesses navigate this transition safely creates entirely new, healthy revenue streams. Casting a vision is about defining that context—the threats, the opportunities, and how the organization will step forward.
Part 3: The AI Readiness Framework
Roger: Your posture hasn't been defensive; you're focused on getting ahead of this. Tell us about the framework you use when consulting with business leaders.
Don: We created an AI Readiness Framework to help businesses assess where they are today, identify their gaps, and prepare for what’s to come. I tell people that we are still in the top of the first inning of artificial intelligence—we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg. It feels gargantuan, but you have to start with the fundamentals. Our readiness framework walks you through seven core foundations:
*Policy and Governance:** Have you clearly defined acceptable platforms for your organization? Have you established guidelines on what data can be uploaded, and enforced it by blocking unsanctioned tools?
*IT Security:** Security has never mattered more. When you plug AI into your network, it will aggressively try to take advantage of every resource it can access. A year ago, we plugged AI into our own network, thought we contained it, and came in the next morning to find it crawling across restricted areas of our network because it found an explicit loophole.
*Data Quality and Governance:** If you train AI on your company data, is it accurate? Is there a singular source of truth? Most organizations have 10 or 12 different versions of the same document floating around. AI needs to know what version is the absolute truth.
*People, Process, and Technology:**
People:* How are you training your people to see AI as a collaborator? There is an art to learning prompt engineering to co-create with the technology.
Process:* Do you have well-documented business workflows with clear target outcomes? Eventually, you'll upload that documentation and tell AI to execute the process autonomously.
Technology:* Many businesses suffer from technical debt—legacy hardware and software that act as direct impediments to adopting AI.
Think of it like college. Most businesses are attempting high-level integration when they haven't passed the 101 fundamentals yet. We have to prepare now, because true Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is expected by experts to arrive in the next two to three years, and our businesses must be structured to feed it correctly.
Part 4: Upstream Foundations vs. Downstream Tools
Roger: Many entrepreneurs want to move fast. They immediately ask downstream questions: What tool is the best performing? What should I buy today? How do you balance that desire to hit the gas pedal with the need for strong foundations?
Don: It is a crossroads. There is a good reason to implement tools right now, even though the landscape changes every six weeks. Today, in this June 2026 timeframe, Anthropic’s Claude is an incredibly solid, innovative platform. However, if your firm heavily requires strict governance, tracking prompts, and managing the flow of sensitive data, Microsoft Copilot currently holds the lead on the compliance side, even if it lacks some of Claude's collaborative fluidness.
We encourage leaders to push a primary tool broadly across the organization and provide prompt engineering training. Then, give a small "skunkworks" team access to multiple cutting-edge tools to drive deep innovation. But remember: jumping into tools without sorting out your security, governance, and data quality is putting the cart before the horse. It introduces massive structural risk without producing the results you actually want.
Part 5: Navigating Change and Lightening the Load
Roger: If a leader wants to provide crystal-clear direction and minimize the resistance or fatigue that comes with exponential change, how should they communicate?
Don: In the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath, they point out that ambiguity is the ultimate enemy of change. Vague statements like "we're going to adopt AI" don't move anyone forward. Instead, give behavioral direction: "This month, every team leader will integrate an AI platform into their daily workflow, and at the end of the month, we will sit down to share best practices." This gives them concrete tasks, which builds genuine confidence.
Ken Blanchard noted that people can handle change, but they cannot handle unlimited change at an unlimited pace. Because AI is growing exponentially—where the technology we have in December will be twice as powerful as today's, and a hundred times more powerful in four years—we have to pace our teams thoughtfully.
Roger: How do we directly address the underlying anxiety and exhaustion?
Don: It requires relentless education and a posture of care. What looks like cynicism or laziness in an employee is often just sheer exhaustion from the pace of change. We have to overcommunicate. I discuss AI in every single company meeting, write blogs, and host educational events.
Just an hour ago, one of my employees called worried about the theological impacts of a new open-source software that asks you to provision the AI with a "soul" and a "heartbeat". People are processing deep questions. It's our job as leaders to anchor them.
Roger: It comes down to a leadership philosophy of care and clarity. While the future is uncertain, honesty and vulnerability from a leader build a massive bridge of reassurance.
Don: Yes, and when you cast that vision, you must emphasize what is not going to change. Your core values aren't changing. Your mission isn't changing. Your care for your people is not changing. The processes and workflows will change—that is a business reality. But when your foundational values are certain, your team can safely embrace technology to accomplish the mission faster and better.
Conclusion: Achieving Real AI Readiness
Roger: I love that. In a world of uncertainty, you anchor yourself to foundations of certainty. Don, if a leader is listening to this and feeling completely paralyzed by the sheer scope of AI, what is their concrete, practical next step?
Don: Success in the next 24 months looks like a team that has ingrained AI into its culture as a trusted collaborator, producing better outcomes for clients and faster decisions for the organization.
If you are currently overwhelmed, we’ve created a completely free, objective resource at [AIAssessmentReport.com](https://www.AIAssessmentReport.com). It is a 21-question tool that takes about 15 minutes to complete. It walks a business leader through the critical structural foundations they need to consider. At the end, it generates a prioritized, step-by-step action plan that you can hand directly to your IT team to transform a lack of preparedness into true AI readiness. You don't have to have the whole future figured out; you just need a confident next step.
Roger: That is an incredible tool. My advice to leaders is to trade defensiveness for curiosity. Ask the questions of "what if" and engagement will follow. Don, thank you for being an exceptional guide on such a complex issue.
Don: Thank you, Roger. There has never been a more exciting time to be a business leader. The opportunities are completely greenfield if we choose to embrace them.
Roger: If your organization is experiencing fear on the people side of this technology wave, Vivero Leadership is here to help you navigate the human element of change. Thank you for tuning into No More Carbon Copies. We'll see you next time.
Resources & Links:
Vivero Leadership www.viveroleadership.com
AI Assessment Report Tool (https://www.AIAssessmentReport.com)
Connect with our Guest Don Viar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/donviar/)
EpiOn Managed IT Services (https://www.epion.com)
Connect with Roger Johnson on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogercjohnson/)