Artificial Intelligence has moved from hype to inevitability. But for most mid market organisations, the real question is not “Should we use AI?” it is:
“Where do we start, and how do we make sure it actually delivers value?”
That is exactly why we launched the First Focus $100k AI Investment Fund.
The AI Investment Fund was designed to help five forward thinking organisations move beyond experimentation and into real, measurable AI implementation with clear commercial outcomes.
Instead of simply discussing AI strategy, we co invest time, expertise and capability into practical use cases that:
Each investment focuses on solving a real business problem with measurable ROI, not simply deploying technology for its own sake.
What if every frontline employee had instant access to accurate, validated, business specific intelligence at the exact moment a customer needed an answer?
At Seafolly, the objective was clear:
This initiative is not framed as a technology experiment or a back office efficiency play.
It is a revenue strategy.
The logic is straightforward. When employees can access accurate information instantly, they serve customers better. When customers are served better, conversion increases. When conversion increases, margin expands.
AI is the enabler. Commercial performance is the outcome.
Seafolly is an Australian swimwear brand founded in 1975, now selling into 54 countries with more than 30 stores globally.
Like many mid-market organisations, Seafolly operates with:
Retail store employees frequently need to access process documentation, fulfilment steps, promotions, policies and escalation pathways. The information exists, but it lives across SharePoint, ERP systems, dashboards and internal communications.
The friction is not a lack of data.
The friction is speed, certainty and execution at the point of customer interaction.
Retail teams are heavily casual. Institutional knowledge is limited and constantly rotating.
When a customer stands in front of an employee and asks:
“Can I get this in black delivered by Friday?”
The employee must:
Today, that often requires navigating multiple systems or searching through lengthy documentation, some of which may be outdated.
In a customer facing moment, hesitation reduces confidence.
Reduced confidence reduces conversion.
For technology and business leaders, this is the key insight:
Operational friction at the frontline creates measurable revenue leakage.
Seafolly proposed building a prompt-based AI agent embedded directly into the retail and support environment.
Not another dashboard.
Not another portal.
A natural language assistant that allows staff to ask:
The AI connects to validated internal sources including SharePoint, Apparel 21, Power BI, Kepler Analytics and related systems.
It provides:
Rather than sending employees to find information, the system brings the information to them
Seafolly designed the initiative around commercial outcomes, not technical features.
More confident staff. Faster execution of omnichannel fulfilment. Less hesitation during transactions.
The expected impact:
With a heavily casual workforce, onboarding is continuous.
Seafolly estimates a potential 15 to 25 percent reduction in onboarding time through AI assisted access to knowledge.
That translates into:
The same operational questions are asked repeatedly across stores and support teams.
By centralising validated answers through an AI layer, Seafolly aims to:
When staff can answer questions immediately and accurately, customers feel the difference.
Improved speed, clarity and certainty at the point of interaction drives:
A critical enabler of the project is documentation discipline.
To avoid garbage in, garbage out, Seafolly is validating and updating process documentation as part of its SharePoint transformation.
For technology decision makers, this is an important lesson. AI does not replace governance. It forces better governance.
The initiative becomes a catalyst for:
Seafolly is approaching this as a controlled commercial experiment.
The plan includes:
Metrics will include:
This structure ensures that the investment decision is based on measurable impact, not enthusiasm.
Usage is not assumed. It is measured.
Seafolly plans to track:
Insights from pilot stores will be shared across the network to generate demand and build internal momentum.
Adoption becomes both a KPI and a signal of value.
The Broader Strategic Insight
This initiative is not about replacing people.
It is about elevating them.
In environments where customer expectations are rising and workforce fluidity is increasing, mid-market organisations face a choice:
Seafolly’s model demonstrates that when AI is positioned at the frontline, it can:
Key Takeaway for Mid-Market and Technology Decision Makers
The opportunity is not simply deploying AI.
It is redesigning how your organisation accesses, governs and activates its own knowledge.
If your frontline teams are:
Then the commercial upside is already visible.
AI, applied deliberately and measured rigorously, can transform internal knowledge into a frontline sales engine.
Like all AI Investment Fund initiatives, this project is designed to move quickly from concept to measurable results.
Seafolly is currently progressing through the build and pilot phase, with an initial rollout planned across a small group of stores to test real world usage, adoption and commercial impact.
Over the coming months, the focus will be on answering a few critical questions:
We’ll be checking back in with the Seafolly team once the pilot has had time to run its course to see how the rollout is progressing, what insights have emerged, and whether the results match the original hypothesis.
Stay tuned for the follow up case study where we explore what worked, what surprised the team, and what the data reveals about AI’s role in frontline customer experience.
AI projects don’t finish when the initial build is delivered. The real returns come from ongoing support, iteration, and ownership as the model matures, data grows, and business needs shift.
That’s exactly the problem CORE was built to solve. CORE is our managed AI and automation service, designed to help organisations turn projects like this into long-term productivity gains.
With CORE, we help clients operate and improve AI systems safely in production, lift accuracy and adoption over time, adapt workflows as teams and priorities change, and maintain the governance and security that keeps everything running responsibly.
If you’re investing in AI to deliver real, measurable outcomes, CORE provides the structure and continuity to make that investment compound, month after month.
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