What Aldea Digital Claro 2026 Left Behind: "AI Is Not Your Competitor, Obsolescence Is"

Two days after Aldea Digital Claro 2026 opened its doors at Quito's Metropolitan Convention Center, press coverage offers a more useful reading than the agenda: the phrases that sum up where the technology conversation in the country is heading. According to IT ahora and El Universo, the event brought together companies, entrepreneurs and academic representatives around artificial intelligence, automation, cloud, cybersecurity and 5G, focusing on how digital transformation optimizes processes, strengthens productivity and opens business opportunities.

Three phrases worth taking home

"AI is not your competitor. Obsolescence is. Learning fast is no longer an advantage, it is a necessity." That is J. J. Delgado, a digital transformation and AI expert, and probably the line that best sums up the event. It changes the question a business owner asks: no longer "will AI replace me?" but "what happens if my competition learns to use it before I do?"

"When we connect, we go further. Technology advances and the human being guides." That is Alfredo Escobar, Claro's executive president. Behind the phrase lies a practical principle: technology does not replace human decision-making, it amplifies it. The person still decides what to automate, with which data and within which limits.

And from academia, Katia Passerini, president of Gonzaga University, stressed that technology lets people connect and prepare for the future of work, tying together access, digital education, responsible use and sustainable development. The message: the bottleneck is not only the tool, it is the training of those who use it — something we already saw in the AI talent gap.

From phrase to decision: what to do on Monday

An event is worth it if it changes something in the operation. Three concrete decisions that follow from what was said on stage:

• Pick a process, not a tool. If learning fast is a necessity, start with a small, measurable flow (scheduling, quoting, answering inquiries) and learn with it instead of waiting for the perfect "AI plan."
• Define who guides. "The human being guides" means assigning owners: who reviews what the AI does, what it can decide on its own and when it escalates to a person.
• Invest in people. One hour a week of team practice with the tools you already pay for is worth more than a new license nobody opens.

What an event does not solve

Conferences inspire, but the hard work comes afterwards: connecting AI to your real data, your ERP, your WhatsApp Business and your electronic invoicing, and doing it securely. That is where many initiatives stall, because a brilliant demo on stage is not the same as an integration that works on an ordinary Tuesday with real customers.

How We Approach It at SimCodec

At SimCodec we work that stretch after the event. We start from your business process, decide whether an AI agent is the right tool — or whether traditional automation, better infrastructure or simply an orderly workflow is — and leave it running: voice, WhatsApp and Telegram AI agents connected to your data, custom software, automation with SRI invoicing and the network and cabling that support it.

If you saw something at Aldea Digital you want to try in your company, or want to compare it with someone who implements it in Ecuador, let's talk or call Cyntia, our AI assistant, at +593 99 726 6838.