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AI in Action Helps Distributor Prioritize AI Use Cases

How the AI in Action Program helped a regional beverage distributor identify, prioritize, and execute transformational AI use cases.

About Del Papa Distributing

Del Papa Distributing Company has been delivering high quality brands and service along the Gulf Coast of Texas for over 100 years. Committed to community, stylistic diversity, and quality, Del Papa represents a wide range of over 500 brands and styles from over 20 different breweries ranging from global suppliers to some of your favorite local Texas brewers.

Moving Beyond Basic AI: Transformational AI Solutions 

AI is the great equalizing opportunity for organizations to pursue truly transformational use cases. Initiatives that redefine entire business models, unlock new revenue streams, and enable strategic decision-making at a scale and speed that was previously unimaginable.  

Beyond simple task automation and generative AI, truly transformational AI revolutionizes operations by uncovering hidden patterns in business data, predicting market shifts, and empowering leaders to make profound, high-impact choices with confidence.  

This deeper level of value creation moves organizations from the low-value, incremental AI improvements of yesterday to game-changing transformation of today. 

Transformational AI sets the stage for sustainable competitive advantages and long-term growth. 

The Challenge: Avoiding DOA AI Use Cases  

Even the most promising AI use cases had failure rates ranging between 70-90% last year [1] [2]. Use cases not aligned with a substantial financial driver or a critical business imperative are often dead-on-arrival. 

For Del Papa, embracing AI was a rallying call to lead from the front. 

Their approach was defined by ambition and resolve to turn every AI initiative into a calculated, winning move. Rather than settling for safe bets or half-measures, Del Papa wanted to approach AI adoption as a strategic imperative where success was the only acceptable outcome.  

The mindset: play to win, with the drive and commitment to transform every AI opportunity into lasting business impact.

The Solution: AI in Action Workshop

Blending Gamified AI with Strategic Business Impacts 

AI in Action” is a unique, programmatic approach that leverages a gamified AI experience and closely aligns learning with strategic business priorities. AI in Action shifts and accelerates AI ideation from talk to traction.  The takeaway? A series of highly defined and prioritized AI use cases taking you from ideation to feasible application. 

Here’s what winning the AI game with AI in Action looked like for Del Papa. 

The AI in Action Program Approach

The 5-day AI in Action program, co-led by Fresche Solutions and our partners see6, is a team-based simulation that put Del Papa’s business leaders in the driver’s seat of a Le Mans race team.  

The mission: move from AI talk to AI traction 

No static slides or generic training. It was an immersive, hands-on, cross-functional game to activate AI knowledge, drive insights, gain buy-in, and align business decisions, mapped to specific high-value outcomes. 

The program is split into 2 parts, with the first two days spent learning and strategizing in a gamified format, with the second half of the program spent aligning these learnings to business impacts: 

Day 1 & 2: The Simulation

AI in Action Workshop - The Simulation

AI in Action Workshop – The Simulation

  • Introduction to AI: Reintroduction to both myths and truths of AI, emphasizing its practical applications in day-to-day operations. This included explaining how AI handles large datasets for actionable insights. 
  • Current State Analysis & Understanding: Participants were guided to understand common operational challenges within the industry, such as time-consuming and repetitive manual tasks. For example, spending a significant amount of time counting inventory and calculating 
  • AI Capability Development: The next step involved demonstrating how AI could transform these tasks. For example, AI can forecast inventory needs, eliminating the need for manual counting, allowing for more strategic customer interactions.
  • Use Case Prioritization: Armed with the AI knowledge gained in previous steps, participants identified and prioritized transformational AI use cases specific to Del Papa. These use cases were then voted for based on perceived business impact. 

Days 3-5: Deep Dive Practical Application 

This wasn’t just another fun team building activity. Following the completion of phase one, members of the Fresche Analytics team, (embedded in the scenarios from day one), led a series of strategic follow-up sessions to map the knowledge and use cases gathered in the game to a tailored enterprise AI execution plan: 

Use Case Deep Dive Sessions: Del Papa business leaders engaged in deep dive sessions with the Fresche team to further explore and refine the identified use cases. This involved detailed discussions and analysis to understand the feasibility and potential impact of each use case.  

Technical Feasibility Analysis: This determined the practicality of implementing the identified use cases: 

  • Technical requirements 
  • Data availability 
  • Potential challenges 

Reporting and Documentation: The outcomes of the deep dive sessions and technical feasibility analysis were then documented in a comprehensive report. This report included all the background, business context, and detailed substantiation for the selected use case.  

Prioritization of Use Cases: A second round of prioritizations was completed based on the findings from the deep dive session and the technical feasibility analysis. This helped to identify which use case should be pursued further based on their recognized benefits. 

Presentation and Feedback: The findings and proposed solutions were then presented to the stakeholders for feedback. This ensured that the proposed approach aligned with the business goals and addressed the identified challenges effectively.  Unanimous agreement on which use case to bring to production was reached based on the presentation and feedback. 

Detailed Project Solution Approach: For the highest priority use case, a detailed project solution approach and cost model were developed. This included:  

  • Technical architecture 
  • Data ingestion 
  • Data storage 
  • Data visualizations 
  • UI design 

This comprehensive approach ensured the right use cases were prioritized and analyzed based on Del Papa’s business goals, not overhyped ambitions championed by the strongest opinion in the boardroom.  

AI in Action Outcomes 

The AI in Action workshop for Del Papa paved the way for the implementation of transformational AI use cases.  

They left with more than ideas; they gained a strong foundational understanding of AI’s real business impact, cross-functional buy-in, and detailed technical documentation to guide implementation. The meticulous and comprehensive process identified 16 use cases and ultimately narrowed them down to one top priority, focusing resources on what would drive the most business impact.  

By zeroing in on the most impactful use case, the team emerged with a powerful, actionable roadmap and a unified vision for harnessing AI’s potential. 

With a clear execution roadmap and technical alignment in hand, Del Papa is positioned to accelerate from strategy to results. Every future AI initiative is mapped to real value, business priorities, and measurable impact.  

This is what it means to play to win with AI: clarity, alignment, and unstoppable momentum. 

Is Your AI Strategy Playing to Win?  

Join the ranks of successful companies like Del Papa and turn every AI initiative into a calculated winning move to achieve lasting business impact. AI in Action workshops are designed to move you from AI talk to AI traction, ensuring that every AI initiative delivers real impact.  

Take the first step towards transforming your business with AI.  

Book an AI in Action Workshop Today.