Wendy Kinney

Co-founder and operations lead at Summit Trails

Wendy Kinney is co-founder and operations lead at Summit Trails. She spent more than twenty years in workforce operations and WFO consulting across AT&T, Boeing, AIG, Nationwide, Farmers and the State of California, which is where the problem Summit Trails now solves came from. She writes about AI readiness, headcount mandates and what operations teams can actually measure before they commit to a number.

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The AI Operations Maturity Model: From First Pilot to Scaled Impact, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

The AI Operations Maturity Model: From First Pilot to Scaled Impact

An AI operations maturity model describes the stages an operation moves through as its use of AI matures, from no…

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Why AI Operations Initiatives Fail (and How to De-Risk Yours), Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

Why AI Operations Initiatives Fail (and How to De-Risk Yours)

If you want to know why AI projects fail in operations, the honest answer is not a shortage of good…

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What to Do Before Cutting Headcount for AI: A Pre-Decision Checklist for Operations Leaders, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

What to Do Before Cutting Headcount for AI: A Pre-Decision Checklist for Operations Leaders

Before cutting headcount for AI, an operations leader needs six things verified: an activity-level baseline of what the affected roles…

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Workforce Intelligence for Financial Services: What to Measure Before You Automate, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

Workforce Intelligence for Financial Services: What to Measure Before You Automate

Workforce intelligence for financial services means capturing what your operations workforce actually does, activity by activity, before you commit budget…

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Workforce Automation Analysis: How to Score Which Processes AI Can Actually Replace, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

Workforce Automation Analysis: How to Score Which Processes AI Can Actually Replace

Most automation shortlists are built the same way. Someone names the processes that feel automatable, ranks them by gut or…

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Employee Monitoring Software vs. Workforce Analytics: What Operations Leaders Actually Need, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

Employee Monitoring Software vs. Workforce Analytics: What Operations Leaders Actually Need

Type “employee monitoring vs workforce analytics” into a search bar and you will find the two terms used as if…

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AI Readiness Assessment Checklist: What to Measure Before You Commit to a Platform, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

AI Readiness Assessment Checklist: What to Measure Before You Commit to a Platform

Most AI readiness content hands you a checklist for your own operation. Is your data clean? Is your infrastructure on…

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How to Justify Operations Headcount to the CFO with Data, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

How to Justify Operations Headcount to the CFO with Data

CFOs approve operations headcount when you speak their language: risk, capacity, and unit economics. Not overtime hours. Not workload stress.…

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Best AI Readiness Assessment Tools: An Honest 2026 Buyer’s Guide, Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

Best AI Readiness Assessment Tools: An Honest 2026 Buyer’s Guide

The best AI readiness assessment tool for your operation depends on which question you are actually trying to answer. Most…

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How to Build the Business Case for an AI Readiness Assessment (When Your Board Wants ROI First), Summit Trails

Workforce Intelligence

How to Build the Business Case for an AI Readiness Assessment (When Your Board Wants ROI First)

The business case for an AI readiness assessment is the business case for AI itself. You cannot model ROI accurately…

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