Cutting through the noise around AI

By Emma Peterson. 

Separating the myths from fact when it comes to artificial intelligence and how it actually boosts businesses.  

Recently, wherever you turn, there seems to be a new artificial intelligence (AI) solution or software getting pushed on you. It’s a lot to take in, and it can be hard to figure out what is actually a useful addition to your toolbox. To learn more about how to productively incorporate AI programs in your operations, Megan Ellsworth sat down with Patrick Garcia of SRS Distribution and Fred Castonguay of Reworked.ai for an episode of Coffee Conversations®. 

Being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of AI tools that are on the market is not an uncommon experience. Fred calls this AI fatigue, saying, “Owners and general managers are bombarded with AI this and AI that. It causes a lot of fatigue. But, through all that noise, there are actually practical applications of AI that can help drive value in your business.” 

For Patrick, finding those applications is all about understanding the capabilities of AI. He shared, “There is a lot of hype, but it’s key to understand what AI can and cannot do. Someone once told me early on to think of it as a glorified autofill. And that’s not to say that it isn’t a powerful productivity tool, but it is still a tool, and you need to find how it works in your operations.” Fred emphasized, “AI is a tool, one which works on specific pain points. They don’t fix broken foundational processes. So, before a roofing company starts looking at programs, I would encourage a significant amount of introspection on the company structure. Because when people try to use one tool, in this case AI, to fix an entire broken process, it just amplifies the issue, makes it worse and wastes time/money.” 

For context, an example of a broken process would be not getting leads, and an example of a pain point would be managing your speed to lead. Where not getting leads is a much bigger issue that takes reorganization and possible personnel retraining, speed to lead is something that AI could help with.  

Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about incorporating AI-powered tools into your business.