January in review: a quiet month, which was the point

December’s prediction was that nothing significant would be announced between mid-December and mid-January. That held. The month’s two events were a forum and an anniversary, and neither required anyone to do anything.

The month in short

Davos, 19 to 23 January, where the subject turned from model launches to returns, infrastructure and sovereignty. And 20 January, a year to the day since the release that briefly wiped hundreds of billions off technology stocks and changed nothing about a Swiss SME’s Tuesday.

What the two have in common

Both are arguments for the same posture. Davos found that the largest companies in the world are struggling to show returns on very large AI spending. The anniversary showed that the single loudest technology story of the past two years justified no action at all at your scale.

Together they are a reasonably strong case that a Swiss SME spending a few hundred francs a month and improving two processes a year is doing better, proportionally, than most of the organisations that were on stage in the Grisons.

What was actually worth doing this month

All of it internal. Naming the person who decides. Finding out what renewed on 1 January and putting the cancellation window in a calendar. Running the twenty examples now that the field is still. Checking whether your assistant answers questions it should not. Asking what people learned over Christmas.

Five things, none of which required a supplier, a budget or a headline.

Into February

Brussels publishes guidance on Monday and it changes nothing for you. Beyond that, expect the spring release season to begin in earnest around March; the November pattern suggests providers cluster their announcements, and the quiet before them is the useful time.

Use February the way you used January. The advantage of a small company in this field is that the unglamorous work is short enough to actually finish.