Randy Yanoshak: Community Banks, $50K Budgets, and the Real Blocker to Enterprise AI

Most organizations are buying AI tools before fixing the underlying problem: their data. Randy Yanoshak, VP of Enterprise Applications at People's Bank, a 150-year-old institution with $4B+ in assets and the largest bank in Western Massachusetts joins host Binny Mathews, to explain why data governance is the real blocker, and how a $50,000 AI budget can still deliver measurable ROI when you pick the right problems first. From cleaning 80% of corrupted ATM address data with a two-hour Claude skill, to why "the problem's not the tool, the problem is data governance," Randy unpacks what enterprise AI adoption actually looks like inside a community bank and why the two skills every professional needs in the AI era aren't technical certifications: they're communication and problem solving. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 01:49 Meet Randy Yanoshak 03:12 Communication as Tech Foundation 05:18 Conversational AI Replacing GUIs 06:59 Will AI Replace My Job? 08:12 Small Bank vs Big Bank AI Budgets 09:26 The ATM Address Cleanup Story 10:33 Building a Claude Skill to Fix It 11:53 Big vs Small Company AI Adoption 14:04 Best AI Use Cases in Banking 16:17 AI for Content Personalization 17:54 Outcome-First vs Explore-First 20:03 Low Code No Code in Banking 21:37 Business Users Building with AI 22:53 The Data Problem Nobody Solves 25:56 The Humanistic Mechanist 31:08 Career Advice for New Grads 33:11 The Internship ATM Challenge 35:03 Closing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/4zAUSXn 🌐 More episodes: https://www.hai.work/podcast 📩 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a review — it helps more enterprise leaders find the show. Visit our Website: https://www.hai.work/ #EnterpriseAI #DataGovernance #AIAdoption #FinancialServicesAI #BankingAI #AIStrategy #FutureOfWork #AIROIStrategy #DataQuality #LowCodeAI #CommunityBankAI #AIAndJobs #HumanisticMechanist #AIToolsVsData #SmallBusinessAI #AIBudget #DataNormalization #HumansOfAI #AIpodcast #HAI ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/ Upbeat Energetic Rock by Infraction / Dynamic Groove