AI in Industrial B2B Companies Right Now

Every other headline is AI and, despite the hype, your competitors are already realizing productivity gains from AI. In most B2B technology companies, your attitudes and approach to AI won’t create a competitive advantage, but it could erode yours. At this point, it’s a matter of keeping up, not getting ahead.

Most B2B technology companies are piloting AI and are not yet at a transformative stage in which AI is driving innovation and new product offerings, with a consistent policy and institutionalized best practices in place. Employee distrust remains high, with 75% fearing that AI will take jobs, and 90% fearing that AI may be used for more harm than good. In fact, as advances in AI are made, 68% of customers say it's even more important for companies to be trustworthy. 

Most people dislike change, and strategic adoption of AI will require change management and internal communications to realize its potential for productivity gains. And, according to SalesForce, implementing or leveraging AI are marketers' top challenge in 2024.

Where are B2B companies seeing early wins with AI? 

Today, most see it as a virtual assistant, for low-level administrative tasks like: 

• Meeting notes, summaries and action items
• Inbox hygiene
• Data hygiene
• Multi-platform information gathering

AI also offers many front-office functions like sales, marketing and project management a shortcut for things like:

• Preliminary research, cutting from hours to minutes—in identifying top target accounts in a market, demographic research, or market sizing
• Getting started with a new project, for example, identifying the first 3 steps
• AI chatbots over search engines (55% adoption by 2024)

You are likely already using AI unintentionally for shortcuts, such as predictive language and shortcuts in your email platform. These shortcuts are not breakthroughs but a 20% productivity gain that can help to address overcapacity staff and rising labor costs. 

When implemented strategically, it can also help support the rising need for knowledge transfer as critical employees leave or retire, by training AI to think like your most experienced people. 

Looking to pilot a program, ready your people, or create AI efficiencies in sales & marketing? Request an AI assessment.

Here are some of the lower barriers to entry applications we’re seeing: 

If you’re beginning to think through a strategic and systematic approach to AI in your organization, here are some practical notes: 

• Pick your platform
  • Microsoft? Copilot
  • Google? ChatGPT
• Process determines results
• Get your file naming conventions in order
• Get your folder structure in order
• Plan to pay for it
• Institutionalizing will require data security
• Teams/Pro versions will let you share proprietary prompts with co-workers
• Consider separating platforms for personal and work (don’t confuse the machine!)
  • For example, if your company uses Microsoft Office, use CoPilot for work purposes and Chat GPT for personal use.

If you want to leverage AI for productivity gains but are unsure how to implement it effectively, you're not alone. 46% of companies feel overwhelmed with the prospect of fully implementing AI. However, AI implementation will only increase as the technology improves, so staying ahead is important. 

Making sure your team is ready for an evolving AI landscape will be crucial to staying on top and using AI effectively. Our change management team can help you evaluate your team's current AI usage and change readiness for what's to come. Request a 30 minute consultation to talk through your AI adoption challenges and, in the meantime, learn how you can optimize your marketing strategy for AI.