Every CEO is telling their teams to “do something with AI,” so most firms hand out ChatGPT licenses, call it transformation, and move on. Then they ask it to forecast demand or reconcile five years of data, get a generic answer, and decide AI “isn’t ready.”
In this episode, Neal sits down with Ray Hsu, Vice President and General Manager at RapidCanvas, a native-AI company that pairs a secure, agentic platform with human experts in the loop. They explore the gap almost no one in professional services admits: the difference between AI that makes individuals a little faster and AI that changes how an organization actually operates.
They reveal the mindset shift Ray says most companies miss: stop treating AI as a tool, start treating it as a digital worker you hire, train, and trust over time. The conversation also turns to consulting pricing, where AI-driven headcount change will really land, and why leaving an “assistant” behind inside a client can matter more than the project itself.
What You’ll Learn:
- Personal productivity vs. organizational impact: why most firms never escape the first.
- What changes when you train AI like a digital worker and not a tool?
- Why AI cuts offshore roles first, not domestic consulting jobs.
- Why AI makes “outcome-based” pricing harder to design than it sounds.
- Why an AI “assistant” left behind keeps you in the building longer.
- What building real AI differentiation actually takes, and why we chose ‘build’ over ‘buy.’
Ideas Worth Sharing:
- “Don’t use AI as a tool. Treat it as a role or a digital worker in your company.” – Ray Hsu
- “You have to really think about playing offense with AI. How do you reinvent yourself? How do you reinvent your consulting business?” – Ray Hsu
- “Everybody’s blaming the RIFs on AI, as opposed to they’re just not running their businesses as well as they should be… Total lazy excuse.” – Neal McNamara
Resources:
- Ray Hsu: RapidCanvas | LinkedIn
- Neal McNamara: Website | LinkedIn
- Email: nmcnamara@virtaspartners.com
About Ray:
Ray Hsu is the Vice President and General Manager at RapidCanvas, where he orchestrates AI strategies that bring supply chain and manufacturing operations into a new era of efficiency and sophistication. With over 30 years of experience applying advanced technology across manufacturing and supply chain operations, he specializes in bridging applied AI with forecasting, planning, and execution to deliver measurable, real-world business outcomes. Under his leadership, RapidCanvas’s team has built a strong track record of accelerating digital transformation initiatives that deliver ROI and competitive advantage for clients.
Connect with Neal:
If you lead a consulting, finance, or professional services team and want to stay close to how investors and private equity are really thinking about growth and value creation, connect with Neal on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going and share your perspective.
To learn more about how Virtas Partners helps clients navigate major financial transitions from acquisitions and carve‑outs to IPOs, restructurings, and other complex changes, visit the Virtas Partners website.