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Fenestra lands in Calgary

Don’t call it speed dating. The Fenestra speed NETWORKING event was once again a great chance for members and suppliers to catch up and share information about their businesses. Suppliers sit at tables and members rotate through the room having 15-minute meetings at each station.

Fenestra honoured loyal members and suppliers with attractive trophies. Frederick Gauthier (left) presented Christan Guerard of Adfast and Sam Van Seters of Bethel Windows and Doors with Supplier and Member of the Year, respectively.

The education sessions included a keynote talk by John Galbraith of The Data Integrators and a panel discussion with Van Seters, Adriano Iannetti of Auroral Portes et Fenetres, Matthew Denniston of Modern Windows and moderator Patrick Flannery of Fenestration Review.  The panel talked about the industry experiences of the three Millennial-aged leaders and how they saw Fenestra benefitting their businesses now and into the future. They all pointed enthusiastically to the chance to have close relationships with other members and the suppliers – to get together at events like Advantage or to be able to have their call taken any time, sometimes by managers of much larger companies.

Galbraith pointed to the fast pace of change in the software world today where hundreds of new products are launched each day, mostly because of access to powerful open source AI tools. He said AI has made upgrading ERP systems a poor investment. “Everyone’s telling us we need an ERP,” Galbraith said. “I’m going to say, well, the good news is you have one. It’s all right here. It’s just that the databases live on your employees’ computers and the algorithms live in their heads. And this, my friends, is the opportunity for AI. We will be far more successful, we will spend far less money, we will do things in a far more agile manner, if we look at operationalizing the system that we already have instead of going down those ERP roads.” Galbraith clarified that ERP systems are still needed but that the greatest productivity benefit to them was already realized in the wave of adoption in the ’90s and early 2000s, so further investment delivers diminishing returns. He sees the next advance to be using AI tools to become “data makers” instead of “data takers,” where companies mine the large store of information they already have to gain insights and efficiencies. “I’m a consultant and I’m telling you, you no longer need me,” Galbraith added. “You have everything you need inside your walls.”

Galbraith said the correct way to think about AI is as a “junior employee” who may be talented at certain tasks but lacks any industry understanding, judgement or broader perspective. Its best applications are in doing things that customers don’t pay the company to do, such as preparing reports and scheduling production. “Sometimes when we digitize things, we actually impede the operator experience and it makes them a little bit slower,” he cautioned. “So I’m not saying don’t digitize, but I’d say next is to automate that.”

Galbraith also said AI promises to get information and expertise out of the heads of key employees and into general circulation in the organization. “We all have that key employee that we worry about what will happen if they win the lottery or they retire,” he said. “They’ve got a bit of institutional knowledge and they’re bad communicators. That’s what’s wrong with it, is that they just don’t know how to communicate their stuff. So this is a great opportunity for AI, and it removes all the risk of having your institutional knowledge living in one brain.”

Aside from the official proceedings, there was ample opportunity for good food, drink and conversation in breaks and after hours. More than ample opportunity for some, as flights back to Ontario and Quebec were cancelled by a winter storm and many attendees had to stay another day. That worked out well as it gave them a chance to watch Team Canada play Sweden in the Four Nations Cup at a local craft brewery, The Tool Shed.