For four months since we launched Dialog, Greg Sterling and I have been focused on extracting insights from our quantitative (1,000 SMBs) and qualitative (one on one interviews) research initiatives. Those insights can be bucketed into a few key themes including:
- Lots of optimism about the economy in 2024
- A very challenging, and never ending, navigation through the local digital media and software landscape
- High expectations for AI having positive impacts on their business
Along the way, Greg and I have encountered the power of AI tools in some profound ways. What might have taken us a couple of days (or a couple of thousand dollars) just a couple of years ago - building charts and graphs from thousands of data points - now takes us a couple of hours. And running segmentation schemes which can make your head spin, happens in minutes instead of hours.
We’re also learning to lean on AI tools to help us extract the “so what” and “it matters because” from the transcripts of our one-on- one interviews with local business owners and operators. Again, we’ve always focused on the “so what” in order to deliver value to our customers - and now our speed to valuable analyses and insights is substantively accelerated.
The reason I am sharing this is because as we begin to look across the local market landscape and assess the impact of AI on local businesses, we see unique and amazing use cases emerging. And because we’re using AI to help us build Dialog, we are increasingly well positioned to understand how the “mom and pops” on main street, the franchisee and the manager of the multi-location store can leverage AI as well.
Yes, it will be a rocky road with lots of missteps, many false starts and even some unwarranted enthusiasm. And it will also be a Yellow Brick Road which will lead to an Emerald City - a city where more time is spent engaging with customers, building relationships and forging paths of service and product excellence. We're taking small steps on that road and if you’re curious about how long and bumpy the road is and how soon we’ll reach Emerald City, join us at Dialog (https://lnkd.in/dizvbxfC).
Head of Business Development @ Omni
5moThis is awesome, way to go Clari team!