Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in all industries, and for good reason. Proper usage of AI tools can have a positive return on investment. The artificial intelligence boom has a positive and negative side. On the data security side, bad actors are effectively utilizing generative AI to produce malware by the millions. On the flip side, data security professionals are using AI tools to spot and block these bad actors. One of the reasons Colden Company switched our customers from traditional anti-virus to SentinelOne was because of this trend. SentinelOne is heuristic-based and uses AI to spot and block bad code.
As we say here at Colden Company, the bad side of Artificial Intelligence is coming whether you are ready or not, so you might as well take advantage of the positive side. One of the areas artificial intelligence can be of value is in analyzing large quantities of data. For most businesses that data resides in your line of business application. Unfortunately, you need to rely on your vendor to either embed an artificial intelligence tool into their product or open up the product data source to be scanned by an external AI tool. Does your line of business application have an AI tool? If you are unsure, why not ask. Sometimes, they may be working on a pilot program that you can get in on.
Outside of the line of business application, we have seen quick wins with artificial intelligence in sales and marketing. Generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot can all generate text, massage text and create good marketing content at the click of a button. The time savings is real. When using these tools, be cognizant of the fact that some of these tools will collect your queries and use them in its data source. You do not want to input sensitive or proprietary information into an AI tool until you know how your data is being handled. Some tools will have a paid version that offers better security.
Microsoft Copilot offers an additional level of artificial intelligence over popular tools like ChatGPT and Grok. A Copilot subscription offers “personal assistants” for the various Microsoft 365 apps, like Word, Excel, Outlook at PowerPoint. We have seen sales folks benefit from the PowerPoint personal assistant by utilizing its ability to create presentations from bullet lists. The presentation will need some tweaking but Copilot can get you off to a great start.
Another area we see value is for Excel power users. The Microsoft Copilot personal assistant for Excel doesn’t necessarily offer additional functionality inside the product, but it does make some of the more complex features of Excel easy to use. For example, if you want to create a formula for a cell, you can manually do that. Knowing the syntax for that formula is the battle. Was that an XLOOKUP or a VLOOKUP? Why not let Copilot do that for you. Tell Copilot what you want and it will create the formula for you. The same concept applies for pivot table creation and conditional formatting. Just tell Copilot you want to highlight all cells with a value over $1,000 in red, as an example, and it will do it for you without struggling with the conditional formatting menu. As with anything AI, the key to success is in structuring a good query and that comes with experience.
One final warning about using AI tools. Be careful to validate responses you get from generative AI tools, especially when asking about specific rules and regulations. Not all AI tools are created equal and at their core, these AI engines are essentially really fast search engines. It searches the Internet for your answer and there is varying intelligence that goes into validating the responses. We have seen many cases of faulty responses, so be aware.
There is real value to be had with artificial intelligence tools. The ROI is fairly easy to reach, as long as your users utilize the tools. Our recommendation is to make it a focus of your business to invest in AI and give your business a competitive advantage. Know that your competition is likely utilizing it. As we say here at Colden Company, “If you are running your business the same way you were 3 or 4 years ago, you’re not staying the same, you’re falling behind.” If you would like to discuss how artificial intelligence can help your business, please contact us at info@coldencompany.com or by phone at (888) 600-4560.