Navigating the Generative AI Revolution
In a recent panel discussion hosted by Velosio, a group of experts shared their insights on the impact and potential of Generative AI in their respective fields.
Generative AI is making waves across industries, and it’s not hard to see why. This technology, which has matured rapidly over the past year, is being hailed as one that has the potential to impact our lives and businesses as significantly as the personal computer or the internet.
In a recent panel discussion hosted by Velosio, a group of experts shared their insights on the impact and potential of AI in their respective fields.
Generative AI: A Game Changer
According to Keith Goedde, Vice President of Cloud Strategy, the speed at which AI has matured over the past year has put it front and center in the technology landscape. “I compare it to going from horse and carriage to a jet in terms of how much it progressed within the past 12 months,” he said. Understanding how this technology can be used and how it will impact businesses now and in the future is crucial.
AI for Human Resources
Liz Corey shared that her team is “geeking out” about AI and has already started using it for tasks like creating job descriptions, sourcing candidates, and developing employee communications and training content. As the technology continues to evolve, they are also using it to enhance culture and employee experience.
“We’re currently evaluating a tool where we can use the Generative AI and AI analysis for things like employee sentiment, employee engagement, and to evaluate employee experience,” she said. “As you know, that’s a critical part of our culture and by having this additional information and this data, we’re really hoping that it helps improve employee experience, improve employee engagement, and continue to impact our wonderful culture.”
Perspectives in Finance
Dan Petchke, the CFO at Velosio, shared his perspective on how AI is impacting the financial sector. He sees this technology as a game-changer, particularly in terms of driving efficiencies and managing risks.
“From processes where we may have to key enter things or bookkeeping, data input, reconciliations – all this can be automated,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to say, ‘Hey, these people doing it today are not going to be with us anymore.’ What it’s going to lead to is actually having higher skilled jobs.”
Petchke also highlighted the role of Generative AI in risk management, particularly in reducing human errors and enhancing security. “One of the things we’re looking at is how we can drive more efficiency within the business and then eliminate risk and drive just a better product,” he added.
Impact of AI in Marketing
Sabrina Zimara, the Director of Demand Generation at Velosio, discussed the role of AI in marketing strategies. She shared that her team is using AI to offload simple or repetitive tasks, which in turn accelerates their content creation.
“We can understand our buyers and competitors and audiences faster because we have AI,” she said. “We use it in a lot of different ways to help us ideate like email subject lines that we can test against other subject lines we’ve used in the past, generate titles and descriptions for events, and help us bring some inspiration when writing blogs or getting content started.”
Sabrina also mentioned the use of AI in graphic design, specifically through the online image generation tool Canva. “They have AI functionality in Canva that they rolled out that helps you make the graphics faster and easier and does most of the work for you,” she said.
The Impact of Generative AI on the Workforce
Liz Corey, the Chief HR Officer at Velosio, shared her insights on how AI is impacting the workforce. Contrary to the fear that AI might eliminate jobs, Corey believes that AI will result in more opportunity and job creation.
“While it may in the future automate some tasks, it will require skilled professionals in AI engineering, data analysis, and other skills. I also believe that new jobs will be created as a result,” she said. “I see enhanced productivity and process efficiency which will require the opportunity to upskill and reskill talent.”
Corey emphasized the importance of critical thinking skills in the era of AI. “It’s really important to note that this isn’t just doing a Google Search. You have to input your persona, you have to input exactly what you’d like for chat GPT, for example, to export for you. So, I can’t emphasize the critical thinking skills enough,” she said.
Personalized Marketing and Customer Interaction
Sabrina Zimara highlights the importance of critical thinking skills when using AI tools in marketing. “We need to make sure that we’re able to, as a marketing department, remain unique and true to what our core values are and the communication that we’re trying to get across to our audience,” she said.
Sabrina noted the role of Generative AI in enhancing the customer experience and the prospect journey. “These tools really help us to enable understanding what people have interacted with in the past, what topics are engaging to them, and how we can continue to drive that conversation by sending them targeted emails or retargeting ads at them,” she said.
She also pointed out that this technology could be a game-changer for small and mid-sized companies that don’t have large marketing teams. “Everyone has access to these tools at no cost or minimal cost and they can really take advantage of these things and change the way their business operates,” she added.
Investing in AI
Dan Petchke shared his thoughts on investing in Generative AI. He noted that many companies believe they need to be doing something with Generative AI, even if they’re not sure what yet or how much to invest.
“There was a study out where IT budgets are starting to balloon a little bit. I think it was a 20 plus percent increase year over year because companies are starting to think, ‘Hey, what do I need to do right? I need to spend money on this,'” he said. “If you don’t embrace this technology, you’re going to be left behind.”
Petchke suggested that companies should start by looking at their business processes and identifying where there are transactional activities or lack of controls that could be improved with AI technology. He also emphasized the importance of starting small and not trying to “boil the ocean.”
“Don’t try to put your company in jeopardy or not support your clients, but try to start something and at least start using it,” he said. “From a year from now, if we’re not fully embracing it in some areas of the business, we’re going to start falling behind and not being as competitive as an organization.”
Microsoft Copilot
Keith Goedde introduced Microsoft’s generative AI solution, Copilot, which interacts with all the Microsoft applications like Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Dynamics, Power Platform, etc., using natural language.
“For example, you can highlight a set of cells in Excel and ask Copilot to analyze that data and tell you the top three important highlights or insights from the data,” he said. “You could ask Copilot to create a QBR deck in PowerPoint and copy and paste different data sources and different documents into it, and it’ll pull that information together for you, create pictures, and create the PowerPoint stuff that you would need for a QBR.”
Goedde also mentioned that Microsoft has started exposing generative AI capabilities into Azure, which can help companies bring their data into a secure place where it’s only available to them. This allows companies to use AI capabilities on their data without exposing it to third parties.
The Future of Generative AI
Liz Corey, the Chief HR Officer at Velosio, expressed her excitement about using intelligent data to replace things like employee surveys and employee reviews, allowing for real-time feedback and more proactive action planning. She also mentioned the potential for improvements in employee experience and creating more personalized experiences for employees.
“I’m also looking forward to the improvements in employee experience as we’ve touched on a number of times, and creating those more personalized experiences for employees as they need them,” she said. “Always excited about streamlining processes. I think to prepare, we’re actively looking at tools that are available right now and running them concurrently with our surveys, for example, and performance reviews to see the correlation.”
Dan Petchke shared his thoughts on investing in AI. He noted that many companies believe they need to be doing something with Generative AI, even if they’re not sure what yet or how much to invest.
“There was a study out where IT budgets are starting to balloon a little bit. I think it was a 20 plus percent increase year over year because companies are starting to think, ‘Hey, what do I need to do right? I need to spend money on this,'” he said. “If you don’t embrace this technology, you’re going to be left behind.”
Petchke suggested that companies should start by looking at their business processes and identifying where there are transactional activities or lack of controls that could be improved with AI technology. He also emphasized the importance of starting small and not trying to “boil the ocean.”
“Don’t try to put your company in jeopardy or not support your clients but try to start something and at least start using it,” he said. “From a year from now, if we’re not fully embracing it in some areas of the business, we’re going to start falling behind and not being as competitive as an organization.”
Sabrina discussed the role of Generative AI in marketing strategies. She shared that her team is using AI to offload simple or repetitive tasks, which in turn accelerates their content creation.
“We can understand our buyers and competitors and audiences faster because we have AI,” she said. “We use it in a lot of different ways to help us ideate like email subject lines that we can test against other subject lines we’ve used in the past, generate titles and descriptions for events, and help us bring some inspiration when writing blogs or getting content started.”
Sabrina also mentioned the use of AI in graphic design, specifically through the online image generation tool Canva. “They have AI functionality in Canva that they rolled out that helps you make the graphics faster and easier and does most of the work for you,” she said.
Final Thoughts
The insights shared by the panelists from Velosio provide a glimpse into the future of business operations, where AI plays a pivotal role in enhancing efficiency, productivity, and overall business performance. Generative AI is not just a buzzword – it’s a powerful tool that is already transforming the way businesses operate. Whether it’s in HR, finance, or marketing, the potential of AI is vast and powerful tool that is already transforming the way businesses operate.
Stay tuned for more insights from our experts on navigating the Generative AI revolution. As the technology continues to evolve and mature, it will undoubtedly open up new opportunities and challenges for businesses across all sectors. The key to harnessing the power of AI lies in understanding its potential, investing in the right tools and resources, and being open to change and innovation.
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