Could Artificial Intelligence Be The Channel's Genie In A Bottle?
By Vincent Brissot, Head of Channel Marketing & Operations, HP
Most of us have heard about self-driving cars, mind-bending smart speakers that can answer almost any question, and intuitive retail sites that make product suggestions based on shopping habits. These innovations all have one thing in common — artificial intelligence (AI) — and it could be the hottest technology trend of the next several years. But what does it mean for the channel?
To answer that, it’s important to understand AI is: basically this notion machines can learn from experience and make intelligent recommendations to help guide human actions. For decades, AI has been the stuff of science fiction. But the explosion of online data, connected systems, predictive analytics, and natural language processing has changed everything.
Today, AI is real. It’s more affordable. And it is poised to become a genie-in-a-bottle for any partner wishing for guidance on key business activities. In fact, by 2020, every channel organization will use some form of AI technology to advise what they sell, how it should be priced, and ways to go to market.
Admittedly, that sounds far-fetched considering AI is still in its infancy. But it is growing up fast, as evidenced by the fact tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce scrambling to invest in the space. And analysts such as Gartner predict half of the fastest-growing companies will have fewer employees than instances of smart machines as soon as 2018.
The writing is on the wall. It’s just a matter of time before the AI boom extends to the channel with powerful tools for aggregating, sorting, and crunching data to provide important insights that will help partners win more sales.
Imagine a desktop or mobile device suddenly uttering, “John, you’re at 60 percent of your quote. Your peers are at 70 percent. Would you like some unique and personalized recommendations on how to boost your performance?” Or, “Hi Jane. Did you know Vendor-X’s demand generation campaign has a ROI of more than 15 percent? You have not launched it. Would you like to?”
It may sound futuristic, especially if one dubs-in the voice of the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But there are plenty of instances of how this is already happening. Salesforce, for example, is touting relationship intelligence technology that mines email communications and calendars to flag deals that need extra-special attention.
AI tools for the channel could follow along these lines. Indeed, one tech vendor is about to unveil a “recommendation engine” as part of its channel sales portal. The site will have all the normal product, promotion, sales, and compensation information a partner would expect to find on such a portal. But this particular system will also tap AI technology to make personalized business recommendations for each and every partner.
For instance, it might scour the vendor’s list of 250,000 partners and let interested associates know how their growth curve ranks against their competitors. Or it could look at partner business models and identify which training sessions they need to be more successful. It might also include pricing recommendations based for specific deals based upon the history of similar transactions in the vendor’s extensive database.
The technology is in its early stages, but it will provide a glimpse into the types of activities AI will enable for channel partners by 2020. Prepare for that day by considering three factors: access to data; the value chain; and time-saving opportunities.
- Access To Data
As with the upcoming vendor portal mentioned above, there will be any number of solutions available to leverage the power of AI. But to truly compete and differentiate, businesses will need those tools to be able to access a large volume of customer and market data. Big Data.
Before beginning any AI project, conduct a data audit. Know what internal and external data the organization possesses. Determine if it is current, relevant, and non-redundant. And make sure it is accessible across the entire organization, ideally from a central CRM system.
The first step on the road to using AI is to have a foot in the Big Data pool. If the organization does or will not have this Big Data pool, it will probably need to rely on third party AI solutions to benefit from this technology.
- Mapping The Value Chain
One of the strengths of AI is its ability to recommend ways of creating connections across different elements of the value chain. But of course, that can’t happen if the organization doesn’t have a solid process view of its organization.
A natural precursor to any AI project, therefore, would be to spend time mapping out what that value chain looks like to determine where AI might help. Not every element of the business will need an AI component, but some (such as customer engagement or service) could greatly benefit.
Be clear on which parts of the business could use some help, and which ones are just fine with traditional models and methodology.
- Time-Saving Opportunities
AI may be cool, but if it doesn’t save a channel partner time, what good is it?
As with the value chain exercise, look at key elements of the business and identify areas where the organization may be wasting time to the detriment of other work it could be doing. These tend to be the key places where AI will be able to help. Once identified, begin researching AI solutions that might be able to help. If not already available, ask channel operations leads at vendor organizations whether they have something on the drawing board — or if they know of AI solutions that can help.
At the end of the day, partners must recognize AI is about to rock their worlds. It will change everything. Organizations that take advantage of it have an opportunity to save time and money while competing more effectively for customer attention. Partners that do not are likely to be left in-the-dust with the not-so-smart machines of yesteryear.