Startup says understanding the business is the real advantage, not AI

MANILA — Artificial intelligence can now help produce software faster, but that does not automatically mean businesses will get the right solutions. 

For Michael Manago, chief executive and co-founder of BossLabs AI, the harder part is understanding how a company operates, identifying what slows it down, and building systems that fit its actual needs.

That shift is central to the Filipino startup’s approach to business software. Rather than simply offering another chatbot or automation tool, BossLabs AI studies a client’s workflows before designing customized systems for its operations.

“Before, the bottleneck would be in the development, right, the technology. Because in order for you to make the computer do what it is that you like it to do, you need developers, right? But now, since we use AI as the developers who write the code and talk with the computer, the bottleneck now goes to the analysis of the business, right?” 

Manago said the company relies on industrial engineers to map business processes and systems before using AI to help develop the appropriate software.

The distinction matters for businesses that have accumulated disconnected applications, multiple messaging groups, and manual processes that employees have simply learned to live with.

Manago cited inventory management as an example. Instead of recording stocks by hand, BossLabs AI can integrate hardware and software so that scanning an item automatically updates the company’s platform.

The aim is to eliminate repetitive work while allowing business owners to spend more time on sales, customer relationships and growth.

Manago also cautioned against adopting AI simply because it has become fashionable.

“AI and automation, it’s not really going to get you so far if you do not have a platform where this AI and this automation stand on, right?” 

In his view, the underlying platform organizes the business data and processes that AI and automation need to work with. Without that foundation, businesses risk adding more tools without addressing the operational problems underneath.

Global data show why implementation matters. In its 2025 State of AI survey, McKinsey found that 88 percent of respondents said their organizations regularly used AI in at least one business function. Yet nearly two-thirds said their companies had not begun scaling AI across the enterprise, and only 39 percent reported any enterprise-level earnings impact from AI. The survey covered 1,993 respondents across 105 countries. 

The same research found that organizations identified as AI high performers were nearly three times as likely as others to report fundamentally redesigning individual workflows. That points to a broader lesson for companies adopting AI: technology alone is not the whole solution.

For BossLabs AI, understanding those workflows is part of the product itself.

But translating that approach into a repeatable business model presents its own challenge. Manago said the company must secure paying customers, demonstrate measurable results, and prove it can deliver without relying on him personally in every engagement.