If you are like a lot of dealers today, you are considering using some form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in your dealership. In fact, you may already have it in play via chat, texting, emails, etc. to your customers. The truth is, it’s probably a good idea when employed in the right way and blended with committed and capable human intelligence. When I went to the Consumer Electronics Show this year, AI was all the rage from robots that could play ping pong to communications applications that assisted business customers. I was intrigued when I read about the hamburger flipping robot “employed” at a California burger chain.
Siri and Alexa Would Be Fired
Like a lot of you, I have a couple of Amazon dots myself and sometimes I like asking Alexa to answer a question or complete a task. Siri is reasonably helpful at times but more often than not, I end up having to complete a task for her (weird calling an “it” a “her”). The truth is, if Alexa and Siri were employees they would have been fired a long time ago because they were inefficient and incapable of doing enough things right to justify their role. As such, I relegate both of them to minimal roles in my life and do not depend on them for vital actions. Artificial Intelligence is definitely not ready for prime time in business when compared to Human Intelligence in our team members so why are we still pushing for the development? It’s simple. Machines and software powered by AI make attractive employees because they work all the time (except for power outages, software bugs, etc.) and require minimal management once properly deployed. What most of us don’t realize is how much time, effort and energy have been put into making the AI effective or at least, reasonably effective.
What About Human Intelligence?
When I interview companies that offer AI solutions for the automotive industry, they always point out that countless hours and costs have gone into the development of their product or service and that is why it is so expensive. Seems reasonable, but what would happen if we did the same thing for our employees with Human Intelligence. Wouldn’t it be spectacular if we put equivalent hours and costs in developing our live employees and couldn’t we expect the same long-term benefit to our companies as AI powered robots or software would? My guess is yes. Then why do we always tend to offer so little development time for our human employees before we want to throw them away? I would encourage you to take the time to create a development plan for your employees who are willing to work hard and smart to provide great service to your clients and enjoy the benefits of their efforts. If you’d like some ideas on employee development, I’d be glad to share some we’ve been working on. I’m a firm believer that a logical mix of human intelligence and artificial intelligence can make your company more awesome and attractive to customers and the best talent in the industry. Let’s make 2018 the year you create an exceptional Human Intelligence Strategy at your dealership. If you’d like someone to kick ideas around with, let me know, I’d be glad to listen. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.
