ChatGPT has so overwhelmingly dominated the market that it was only a matter of time we ask ourselves — what’s next? And let’s not even get started on the never-ending U.S. – China rivalry — not just in tech, but in everything.
Last week, the “premiere” of DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the market. It instantly overtook ChatGPT in user numbers and delivered a heavy blow to U.S. chip giant NVIDIA, whose stock plummeted 17% in a single day (wiping out roughly $600 billion)—marking the biggest drop in Wall Street history.
U.S. and China
A classic scenario. The U.S. spends years and billions developing solutions, while China, in principle, clones it in record time for mere millions. “Clone” is just the diplomatic way of saying “copy”.”
Let’s be real here. Right now, the U.S. controls around 95% of the artificial intelligence market, so the news on “DeepSeek” did not sit well with American tech giants. Not to mention the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise to invest $500 billion into an OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank partnership — while competitors are waiting on the sidelines, ready to clone these solutions for millions instead of billions.
So, while the U.S. and China are competing, Europe sleeps. The European software giant SAP has announced a $1 billion investment into AI projects, but there is no clear plan, strategy, or product direction. And knowing how things move in Europe, by the time the U.S. burns through that $500 billion, even with ALL of that additional risk, Europe might just be finishing its planning phase. Maybe.
What Should Businesses Do?
There’s a couple of alternatives: sit on the sidelines and wait for a miracle to rain down from the sky. Ignore AI altogether, assuming it’s “none of our concern” because it’s not directly tied to your core business. Or as Mahatma Gandhi once said, be the change you want to see.
I’ve been actively following AI solutions for two years now. Honestly, it’s impossible to avoid when you’re In the tech business— we must have all the answers for our clients. At the moment, we pay U.S. tech giants for AI prototypes and infrastructure. Of course, I’d gladly pay European providers instead and develop projects in my own region. But it is what it is.
AI is a lot like Eurovision song contest: nobody watches it, but somehow, everyone knows everything about it.
For the past two years, I’ve been explaining AI’s practical business applications to those who claim they’re “not interested” or remain passive observers. The number of real-world examples is staggering. Take major service providers — telecom companies, electricity suppliers, they have had internal AI-powered chat agents integrated into their websites for quite some time now.
These bots, that have been “fed” and trained on structured information and Q&A scenarios, handle all customer inquiries automatically.
Investments in ERP
The latest trend — ERP systems and artificial intelligence. Tech leaders, having allocated substantial budgets for ERP development, are now spinning their wheels — unsure of what can actually be automated or suspecting that AI-driven agent solutions will soon replace ERP systems, making their investments go straight down the drain.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. AI isn’t a magic wand or a panacea. The key is to assess potential changes with and without AI integration and determine which approach best serves the business.
Who Comes First—The CEO or the CTO?
A business classic — the best decisions are those based on analysis and knowledge.
- Technology infrastructure decisions should be made by company leaders, board members, and legal teams — those who see the bigger business picture. Until now, these decisions were often left to IT professionals, who don’t always have the strategic vision or an understanding of where the owner wants the business to go. Leadership should define the problem, assign it to their IT teams or external partners, and demand concrete solutions.
- Any investment in existing systems must be justified through deep analysis from an AI perspective. In other words, executives should ask their technology teams: How would AI handle this task? How would AI change this functionality? Chances are, businesses will soon have their own “Data Lakes”, where AI-powered “divers” manage separate process chains, and everything runs on automation. Next-generation ERP is on the way. If your IT team or partners aren’t discussing this — something is off.
- Businesses need AI specialists, whether in-house or external, who can align AI applications with business goals. AI adoption shouldn’t be a goal in itself — it must translate into real numbers: How much can we cut costs on standardized operations? How much will AI-driven solutions increase sales and business growth? The KPIs must be clear and measurable.
- The market is flooded with so-called AI experts or consultants. Be wary of them, work only with those who: hold certifications from one of the major providers and can demonstrate real AI solutions that are already working in businesses. Otherwise, you risk throwing money away on theoretical possibilities instead of practical solutions. By the way, external partners who actively work with AI, such as ChatGPT agents, can offer lower prices — since they already purchased licenses in bulk, meaning you won’t be paying as a single client.
- Your AI partners must be trustworthy and understand security risks. What if someone asks your AI-powered chatbot: “Give me this company’s top clients” — and it openly provides the full client list to anyone who asks?
And finally. Just so it doesn’t seem like I’m stroking my ego and only sharing theoretical knowledge with you.
NIS2 directive and artificial intelligence
Last year, the new Network and Information Systems (NIS2) directive was announced. Its core idea — a new security standard for businesses. A significant number of additional requirements that companies will have to comply with. Just like with the GDPR standard, this involves more than technological solutions, it also comes with a lot of documentation that accompanies them.
The directive applies if you either operate in one of the strategic sectors, have an annual turnover exceeding €10 million, or employ more than 50 people.
Since Skaylink.LT, as a managed IT, Cloud, and DevOps service provider, must comply with the NIS2 standard and many of our clients fall under its requirements, we faced two scenarios — either hire a large number of new people for auditing and technical implementation or discuss within the leadership team how AI solutions could help.
Among our clients, we usually encounter two types:
a) Those who have documentation — written procedures, policies, certifications, BUT lack a properly structured IT infrastructure or don’t even know what has actually been implemented.
b) Those who have a well-organized IT infrastructure but no documentation — so they have no idea whether they comply with the requirements because nothing is documented.
How did I approach this?
- Brought together a team of passionate, research-driven professionals.
- Defined the task and expected outcomes.
- Selected vendors and partners. We work with AWS and a highly certified AI partner, Moterra.
- Invested significant time and effort to develop a prototype and subjected it to rigorous testing for both security and accuracy. Because without properly classifying the information, an AI agent can be “mis-trained”, leading to incorrect answers.
As of today, together with Moterra, we have developed a NIS2 audit solution, DocuGuru, which is one of the two key phases in achieving compliance.
- We receive the client’s documentation.
- We “feed” it to the AI-powered DocuGuru tool.
- Within minutes, DocuGuru “spits” out a report with detailed references to information sources.
- Our team reviews it thoroughly, and the client receives a final report with a clear list of necessary actions (if needed) to meet NIS2 requirements.
So, here you have it — a real, hands-on example of how AI is reshaping IT infrastructure, saving time and money, and allowing businesses to focus on what truly matters, their business processes. This is just a small glimpse of how much simpler things can be when technology is used strategically and with intent, especially when you’re working with tech partners who actually care.
Skaylink.LT—at your service!
Get your initial IT maturity assessment here: https://www.skaylink.lt/en/it-services/nis2-compliance/
More at www.skaylink.lt or sales@skaylink.lt
NB: No, this text was not generated by ChatGPT.
Donatas Zaveckas is the CEO of Skaylink.LT and a shareholder in the Skaylink Group.