AI implementation · Little Rock, Arkansas

I help businesses put AI to work in the tools they already use.

Set up in your email, booking or CRM. Your team trained on their real work. Supported for 90 days, until it runs without me.

Corey Boelkens
Corey Boelkens20+ years leading marketing technology and data programs for Fortune 500 brands at Acxiom, Merkle and Acoustic.Full profile →
25+

Fortune 500 transformation programs led, $2.5M–$8M each

20%

revenue lift for Harley-Davidson within seven months

$7M+

database expansion from an audit presented to Dell's CMO

30K+

users on RaftUp, the app I founded and scaled

What you can hire me for

Three ways to work together.

AI setup for your business

For owners of service businesses with 5–50 people.

  • Two workflows that eat your week, like answering inquiries and follow-up, running in tools you already pay for.
  • Your team trained on their own inbox, plus a runbook.
  • Nothing reaches a customer without a person's yes.

90 days · about 2–3 hours a week of your time

See the week-by-week plan →

Fractional AI and MarTech lead

For marketing and operations leaders with a team and a stack.

  • An audit of your CRM, data and automation, and a ranked list of AI use cases.
  • Two to four use cases in production with approval gates and logging.
  • A leadership readout and next-quarter roadmap.

One quarter · embedded in your existing meetings

See the quarter plan →

Workshops and design sprints

For leadership teams, staff and communities.

  • Executive sprints that turn competing priorities into a sequenced roadmap.
  • Hands-on team training on the AI tools you already have.
  • Talks for owners and operators, not engineers.

Half day to three sessions

Request a workshop →

How we work

Five stages.

What each stage includes
  1. 01

    Assess

    Where time leaks. What you already own.

  2. 02

    Implement

    Inside your stack. A person signs off on what AI does.

  3. 03

    Onboard and train

    On your team's real work. No slides.

  4. 04

    Run and support

    Until it's boring. You get a runbook.

  5. 05

    Improve

    Read the numbers. Adjust. Repeat.

What you get

A 90-day engagement, week by week.

For a shop, clinic, salon, or service business with 5–50 people. We pick two workflows that eat your week and make AI handle the first draft of each.

  1. Weeks 1–2Assess

    Find the two workflows

    • Half-day on site watching how work moves
    • Inventory of tools you already pay for
    • Pick two workflows: usually inquiries and follow-up

    You get: one-page plan with the two workflows, the tools, and what stays manual

  2. Weeks 3–4Implement

    Build it in your tools

    • Draft-and-approve set up in your booking, email, or CRM
    • A person named as owner for each workflow
    • Nothing goes out without a human yes

    You get: both workflows live, in test mode, with the owner trained to approve

  3. Weeks 5–6Train

    Train on real work

    • Two 90-minute sessions with your team, on their own inbox
    • Cheat sheets per role
    • Switch from test to live

    You get: team running it; one-page cheat sheet per role

  4. Weeks 7–10Run

    Run it with you

    • Weekly review of what AI drafted and what got changed
    • Fix the prompts, not the people
    • Add guardrails where it drifted

    You get: the runbook: how it works, who owns it, what to do when it breaks

  5. Weeks 11–13Improve

    Read the numbers

    • Hours saved, response time, misses
    • Decide: stop, keep, or add a third workflow
    • Hand-off or monthly tune-up

    You get: day-90 numbers and a recommendation in plain language

Your time

2–3 hours a week

Mostly weeks 1–2 and 5–6. Less once it runs.

Cadence

Weekly 45-minute check-in

Same slot every week. Slack or text in between.

After day 90

Monthly tune-up or you run it

The runbook is yours either way.

For a marketing or operations leader with a team and a stack. I join as a fractional AI and MarTech lead for a quarter, embedded in your week.

  1. Weeks 1–2Assess

    Audit stack and workload

    • Interview the team; map where hours go
    • Audit CRM, marketing automation, data flows
    • Shortlist five use cases, rank by payoff vs. risk

    You get: stack map and a ranked use-case list with owners

  2. Weeks 3–5Implement

    Ship the first two

    • Build inside your CRM and automation tools
    • Data hygiene fixes that block the rest
    • Review gates: human approval before anything reaches a customer

    You get: two use cases in production with approval gates and logging

  3. Weeks 6–7Train

    Enable the team

    • Role-based sessions on the team's live work
    • Prompt library in a shared doc
    • Office hours twice a week

    You get: prompt library, role guides, office-hours cadence

  4. Weeks 8–11Run

    Operate and extend

    • Weekly ops review inside your existing meeting
    • Use cases three and four
    • Vendor and cost review

    You get: runbooks for every live use case; vendor recommendation

  5. Weeks 12–13Improve

    Report to leadership

    • Hours, throughput, quality, cost
    • Roadmap for next quarter
    • Decide: extend, hand off, or hire

    You get: leadership readout and a next-quarter roadmap

Your time

1 hour a week, your team 4–6

You set direction. I work with the people doing the work.

Cadence

Weekly ops review + working sessions

Your existing meeting rhythm; no new standing calls.

After day 90

Quarter-to-quarter or hand to a hire

I will help write the job description.

Proof

Results from twenty years of this work.

Fortune 500 transformation

At Merkle / Dentsu, I architected multi-year programs moving enterprise marketing organizations from on-premises systems to multi-cloud on Snowflake.

25+
programs, $2.5M–$8M each

Executive advisory

I presented a privacy and preference audit directly to Dell's CMO and designed governance across 60+ systems.

$7M+
database expansion that followed

Revenue impact

At Acxiom, I architected the customer marketing database Harley-Davidson used to target and measure its marketing.

+20%
revenue within seven months

I still build, so the advice is current.

Ground rules

Four rules.

Teach

Teaching AI across Arkansas.

I host AI practitioner meetups, including AI Tinkerers Little Rock, sat on a University of Arkansas AI panel, and advise the Academies of Central Arkansas on AI in education.

Monthly

AI Tinkerers meetup

3 nights

Prompt Play series

Half day

Team workshop

Half day

Executive design sprint

Corey Boelkens, founder of Tale Waters and Tides

About Corey

Corey Boelkens

Marketing technology, program and applied-AI leader. I spent twenty years at Acxiom, Merkle and Acoustic helping Fortune 500 companies find, size and solve transformation problems. I founded RaftUp, and today I'm Principal, Analytics at Allant Group alongside Tale Waters & Tides. B.S.B.A. in Information Systems, University of Arkansas.

Open to fractional and executive roles.

Questions

Straight answers.

What does Tale Waters and Tides do?

AI implementation for small businesses: setup inside the tools you already pay for, training on your team's real work, and support until it sticks. Also fractional AI and MarTech leadership for marketing and operations teams.

How long is an engagement?

90 days, in five stages: assess, implement, train, run, improve. Every engagement ends with a runbook your team can run without us.

Do we need to buy new software?

Usually not. We build inside the email, booking, CRM and office tools you already pay for. New tools come last, not first.

Who is Corey Boelkens?

Founder of Tale Waters and Tides in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Principal, Analytics at Allant Group. Twenty years leading marketing technology and data programs for Fortune 500 brands at Acxiom, Merkle and Acoustic, including 25+ transformation programs. Founder of RaftUp.

Can I hire Corey for a fractional or executive role?

Yes. Corey is open to fractional and executive roles in marketing technology, analytics and applied AI. His full profile lists experience, results and skills.

Tell me what's not working.

Thirty minutes tells us if it's an afternoon fix or a real engagement. Pick a time, or send the form and I'll reply.

Or email corey@talewatersandtides.com

Goes straight to Corey. No list. Privacy.