Real Ava Stories: Why Kobe Wins, Bob Hesitates & Norman Loses

Why Kobe Wins, Bob Hesitates & Norman Loses

Kobe, Bob and Norman may be animated characters, but their stories are not fiction. Each one is inspired by real conversations, real deployments and real decisions we have seen across Consumer Goods organisations over the past year. Together, they reflect three very different realities of frontline execution today, and one very clear message about what drives success.

These are real Ava stories.

Meet Norman

Norman is a tired Sales Rep who works with Bob and has to use his legacy systems

1. Meet Kobe: Confidence in the Moment

The Kobe story is directly inspired by a real sales representative working with an Aforza customer. During an interview, the rep shared something refreshingly honest. As a new starter, meeting customers felt intimidating. Walking into stores, knowing what to prioritise and how to add value in front of experienced retail partners did not come naturally at first.

That changed when he started using Ava.

With Ava, a single photo in store immediately turned into clear next best actions. Kobe knew what mattered, what needed fixing and what conversation to have, right there in the moment. There was no waiting for analysis to come back and no uncertainty about whether he was focusing on the right things. Ava acted like a manager in his pocket, guiding him through each visit with confidence and clarity.

The business impact was obvious. Faster store visits, better execution and more productive customer conversations. What truly stood out, however, was how he described Ava when talking about his role overall. When asked about the best perks of the job, he listed a company car, a gym membership and Ava. In over a decade of enterprise software, we had never heard an AI solution mentioned alongside tangible employee benefits. That moment said everything. Ava was not seen as software. It was seen as support.

2. Meet Bob: The Comfort of Legacy

Bob represents another story we encounter all too often. Bob is the CIO who runs a thorough evaluation, looks at the options and sees clearly that Aforza and Ava deliver stronger outcomes across usability, intelligence and speed. On every meaningful metric, the modern approach wins.

And yet Bob still chooses the legacy incumbent.

The reason is familiar. Legacy feels safe. It is known. It is defensible internally. And most importantly, no one gets fired for going legacy. What often goes unnoticed is that this decision, while comfortable for Bob, creates long term consequences for everyone else.

Teams are left with solutions that look impressive in presentations but struggle in real world execution. Adoption becomes a challenge. Workarounds become normal. The gap between what leadership expects and what the frontline can realistically deliver continues to grow. Bob has optimised for safety rather than impact, and the business pays the price quietly over time.

3. Meet Norman: Living with Old Missed Guesses

Norman works for Bob, and his story came directly from a live prospect conversation. The process they described was staggering in its inefficiency. A merchandiser visits a store on Monday and takes photos using a legacy image recognition provider. Those images are processed later, run through a data lake and eventually shared back with the sales team.

By Wednesday, when the sales rep returns to the store, the insights finally arrive.

In retail terms, that delay is everything. Shelves change. Availability shifts. Promotions end. What Norman receives are not next best actions, but outdated guesses about a moment that has already passed. This is not a failure of effort or talent. It is the result of systems that were never designed for real time decision making.

Compare that to Kobe’s experience. One photo. Instant feedback. Immediate action. Realtime NBA versus Old Missed Guesses.

The Real Difference: Realtime NBA vs Old Missed Guesses

This is the point where all three stories come together. Kobe has Ava. Norman has Bob. One operates with realtime next best actions. The other is stuck with old missed guesses. The difference is not subtle, and it is not theoretical.

Realtime NBA means precision instead of guesswork. It means proactive execution instead of reactive follow ups. It means empowering frontline teams in the moment, rather than asking them to wait for insights that arrive too late to matter.

These stories are not about animation or creative storytelling for its own sake. They are reflections of reality across the Consumer Goods industry today. Every organisation is making a choice, whether consciously or not, between realtime intelligence and delayed compromise. Between empowering their teams or holding them back.

Do not compromise. When the moment matters, realtime next best action is everything.