Dave, one of your best customers, thinks AI (artificial intelligence) will make the managed information technology (IT) tools from your dealership easier to use. So, on Friday, he fires up his voice-command-ready computer and says, “Good morning. I need to see why we seem to be losing money on our mailings.” He goes on to ask for a detailed analysis of all the documents and bills printed and mailed in the last six months.
The computer claims to be thinking, then says, “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Ten seconds later your phone rings, and your AI expert explains how artificial intelligence is limited by the information available. Moreover, using this information may need a specific request. This time, some of the info is not readily accessible to the AI system, and Dave’s request was less than specific.
FOMO and Managed Information Technology
You might have it, and if not, you probably should. FOMO is “Fear of Missing Out,” a growing plague among business owners and managers who fear missing out on what AI has to offer and being left behind unless they jump in quickly. However, they also worry that AI is going to leave them managing a cadre of robots, or think that AI is just software, and they can hire people whot will worry about it.
Whether you have FOMO or not, it’s time to start using AI in your dealership in conjunction with the managed IT (information technology) services you may provide. Become comfortable with it now because it is becoming part of both life and business. Like other technological tools we depend on, such as word processing, email, bookkeeping, spreadsheets, audio, video, and more, AI will become more powerful and capable with time. But waiting to adopt AI until it’s more mature puts you at a disadvantage now, as well as when you try to catch up. Waiting is not an option, not because you won’t understand AI, but because you won’t understand how customers need and want to use it.
Faster and More Specialized
AI is not only moving quickly, it’s getting more specialized and more accurate. Scientists are using it in such diverse fields as astronomy, geology, physics, biology, and chemistry. Physicians are using it to support a wide range of diagnoses and surgeries. AI is behind the scenes for automotive and aircraft technicians resolving problems on increasingly complicated planes and vehicles. Some office technology dealers are using AI in conjunction with managed IT to better serve customer needs and anticipate parts and supplies before they are needed.
Meanwhile, your customers in three school systems are using AI to help students produce art and documents, while 71 lawyers in the firm across town are using AI to automate legal searches and analyze contracts. Both have found ways to use it with the managed IT you already provide. And it all works. If your dealership is behind any such actions, you’re becoming an AI enabler in your market. This is probably a bit more interesting than selling and servicing MFPs and other devices.
Combining AI and managed information technology can be a challenge because customer needs differ so widely. The questions customers ask AI reflect their individual needs, and yet they can become part of the information AI uses to create its answers for other customers. This is because AI is a centralized information system that uses data from multiple sources to supply answers to countless questions.
Remember one thing, though. AI only appears to be smart, and there is no one-size-fits-all version. Its upside is that AI can help your customers work smarter, more efficiently, and even grow their businesses, especially when combined with managed IT. It can also position dealerships as leaders in office technology, and that’s expertise you can take to the bank.
Gen AI
Generative AI, the flavor most heard about online or in the news, is trained on vast amounts of existing data. It then creates new content that may include text, images, and code. You can write proposals and create presentations using this application. As you know, be sure to proofread, check facts, and urge customers to do the same. Newly generated-AI content often resembles the data it was trained on and is subject to errors—what AI mavens call hallucinations—challenging the validity of the information it generates. These hallucinations will very likely be worked out over time, but it’s important that dealers and their customers never assume that all AI-generated information is accurate.
Such aberrations aside, Gen AI has become a business staple, with 95% of U.S. companies now using it (according to Bain, a Boston-based consulting firm), an increase of some 12% in just over a year. Some of this growth may be due to C-level cases of FOMO, but investment is still surging. Corporate AI budgets have doubled over the past year, with some 60% of that allocation expected to come from standard budgets. This puts pressure on existing budgets for IT and other areas, so be aware when talking with your customers.
Yet like any powerful tool, “Gen AI is helping managed IT providers [in the office technology space] achieve faster service execution and reduce operational expenses,” said Nate Howland, portfolio architect and AI innovation lead for Ricoh Digital Services & Delivery. “It’s strengthening capabilities in several key areas including automated issue resolution, deep data insights, and proactive security.”
The Merger
AI is a natural extension of the managed IT you already offer. Managed IT is often already a compendium of knowledge about your customers. AI can help you use that knowledge in ways that can be more effective for customers. This requires a deeper awareness of your customers and their needs, so you and your team may need to work on that. Lead among these is knowing to what extent they are already using AI. In fact, some may already be looking for ways of using it with the managed IT they already have.
That’s good because joining AI and managed IT is a natural step. Michael Gale, VP of channel sales at DocuWare noted that, “AI brings powerful opportunities like automating document classification, routine, and predictive maintenance, all faster than dealers and their customers can do these things without AI. Meanwhile, it raises challenges around data privacy, transparency, and compliance.” As a dealer, you may have to create some safeguards in these areas and AI, interestingly, may be able to help by becoming a relatively seamless part of the managed IT you already offer and making your dealership an essential partner.
But some caution is required. Jon Evans, chief AI officer at mega-dealer Impact Networking, with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois, notes that just because AI happens on computers doesn’t mean your IT team knows much about it. As you try to build an AI team, you may find that someone with extensive AI expertise may have six months to one year of experience. Depending on the candidate, this thin part of a résumé can be okay because it may show that the person who might be most successful with AI and managed IT integration is someone who likes solving problems and is open to new approaches and new ideas.
“Businesses need visibility into how AI makes decisions, especially in regulated industries,” said DocuWare’s Gale. This requires a more practical level of knowledge that is possessed by many IT experts. As a software firm that helps office-technology customers do many things more easily, DocWare integrates AI within a secure document management foundation to ensure captured documents are indexed and stored with appropriate safeguards. Sounds a bit like managed IT. This enables AI to be used as an enhancement that does not disrupt work processes. At schools, this may manifest itself in creativity. At a law firm it may be fresh approaches to various legal concerns. In both environments the merger of managed IT and AI enhances the results.
Three Things
When diving into what you can do with AI, it helps to think like a customer. “In addition to information and speed, here are three things customers want from AI,” explained Evans. “Education, enablement, and development. The education part is helping people understand what AI is and how they could be using it inside their organization. Next, they want to be able to take tools that exist in the marketplace and make sure that they get adoption inside their organizations. Third, they want to develop uses of AI that aren’t met by tools that exist today.” The question for you is how your dealership can best use AI in conjunction with managed IT to provide compelling solutions for customers. As noted previously, there is no one size fits all.
Service Is Key
Not all customers will need the same levels of managed information technology or AI but, as a dealer, you already are skilled at delivering what customers need. Still, because AI can be so useful to many companies, you should provide the key elements of education, enablement, and development—in an ongoing way—when you support managed IT and AI. Together, they can change how your dealership leverages its value while meeting the needs of your customers.
Start now. Waiting is not a strategy.
