Use AI to improve productivity and enhance customer relationships

The yearbook and volume photography world runs on speed, consistency, and repeatable processes, which is why AI for photography business operations is suddenly more than hype. In a recent episode of The Dead Pixels Society Podcast, Gary Pageau talked with Elias Jo, CEO of Entourage Yearbooks, about how yearbook production has shifted from a slow, high-friction craft into a workflow problem that software can solve. Entourage sits between local printers and national giants by pairing competitive pricing with a technology layer that reduces “red tape” for schools and studios. That layer includes a yearbook builder, online sales tools, and production coordination across a distributed print network built for redundancy after COVID and supply chain shocks.

The conversation turned to a practical warning: If you treat ChatGPT like a glorified search engine, you miss the real value of artificial intelligence. AI is strongest when it helps you start building, testing, and improving systems, even if you are not a developer. Jo argues that simply attempting small builds creates confidence and “crystallizes your thinking” about how your business should run, from where buttons belong to how data should move. For larger studios with internal teams, he frames AI as an expectation reset: many shops should see 20% to 30% productivity gains, shrinking timelines from weeks to days and from six months to four months.

For mid-size studios, the biggest wins are often buried in workflow automation: retouching steps, file handling, data cleanup, and the endless handoffs between CRM, email marketing, and production tools. Instead of accepting disconnected SaaS subscriptions, Jo urges operators to push vendors for better integrations and built-in automations, because “software should be talking to each other” now. He shares a concrete approach using ChatGPT plus app-building tools like Lovable: Describe the pain, upload the messy spreadsheet, let ChatGPT generate a Lovable prompt, and have Lovable build a simple internal app that cleans and normalizes data. Even if the result is 80% correct, that prototype can save time immediately and make the remaining 20% cheaper to finish.

AI also changes content and communication work, which matters for photographers and suppliers who rely on marketing. Jo uses AI to draft and edit weekly blog posts, not because it replaces his voice, but because it fixes the bottleneck of editing and speeds up publishing. Looking ahead, Pageau and Jo explored an “AI-first” future where tools like Photoshop, Word, and Excel become optional front ends, replaced by prompts that deliver results. The key takeaway is strategic: Use reclaimed time to improve products, create new offerings, and deepen human relationships with customers. That mindset pairs well with the next growth frontier for print: yearbooks beyond high school, including preschool, daycare, sports teams, and family memory books, supported by AI-driven personalization and easier book creation.