Solving the Last Mile Problem with Gen AI

Imagine a 4 lane highway.?

Cars are speeding away to their destination.

But after a few kilometers, there is a constriction and it becomes a single lane road.?

The cars that were speeding, are now bumper to bumper, slowly inching ahead.

Don’t you hate it when it happens??

But at times, when we implement data products - this is exactly what happens at the last mile because the way we deliver data solutions isn’t in sync with how business operates.

Many companies have had data science teams & capabilities for many years now. They have a well-established pipeline for sourcing business challenges, carving out use-cases and deploying solutions.?

But way too often these solutions were not fully adopted by business, therefore delivering limited value.

This is a lesson I learned the hard way- I shared in one of my earlier newsletters that talked about how our 360 degree view of a sales data product was not being used by business even though it was built at their request and fit their requirements to a T.

I won’t go into the details of this story again (here is the link to that newsletter), but the bottom line was that while we provided great information it was delivered on a separate tab and not on the main screen and that was inconvenient enough to be unusable.

We solved that problem by moving this information to the main screen, but that was already crowded.

Here is where GenAI can be a game-changer.

Imagine this scenario,?

A salesperson is on their way to a meeting:

• They open the CRM app which has 7-10 tabs for each account.
• They go through a multitude of numbers and graphics.
• They waste time finding information that actually moves the needle.?

Using Gen-AI we can create solutions that seamlessly integrate into their daily flow in a way that,?

• They open the CRM app, and click on the target account.
• The AI summarizes key account developments and past interactions.
• The AI gives a brief on what the customer is looking for in this meeting.
• They can ask custom questions to the AI.

What if you have a field sales team and this got delivered as a voice narration when they drive to a meeting?

That can be so powerful. (I would love to have this for my business)

Everything stays the same, but we integrate Gen AI as a last mile delivery mechanism. It serves as a value multiplier, on top of an already existing data infrastructure.

Review your existing data products.?

Are any of them not being adopted as expected? Review your data product pipeline. Can Gen AI as a delivery mechanism make them even more successful??

Instead of seeing Gen AI as a standalone vertical or something to build from the ground up - see it as a data capability and catalyst.?