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The Bottom Line

Generative AI

Whether it's Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, Midjourney, or any of the thousands of AI and Generative AI tools that have flooded our way of working in the past year or so, I'm sure you've been exposed to AI and are feeling the pressure to 'stay ahead' of the AI curve.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming every aspect of our lives. From healthcare to education, entertainment to transportation, AI is enabling us to achieve more, faster, and better.

The Fusion5 Centre of Excellence for Azure, AI, and Copilot has been focussed on ensuring we're using these new tools effectively in-house, as well as ensuring we are well-placed to help you embrace AI and Gen AI in your business.

To support your journey to adopting and extracting the greatest value from AI and Gen AI, our team provides services in data architecture, cloud optimisation, document storage, security, change management and more. The AI assisted world is an exciting one, and as always, we're here to help you make your potential reality.

AI & Gen AI Insights

Generative AI for and productivity

Will AI make you and your employees instantly more productive? Not necessarily.

Practically every article on generative AI affirms employee productivity as its reason for existence. Apparently, we’re going to be falling over ourselves with efficiency. But when it comes to productivity, we say, ‘Whoa, hold your horses’; you’re thinking about running before you can even walk.

According to the hype, generative AI is an easy cure-all for accelerating the resolution of pretty much every problem or challenge. It’s not.

The path to true productivity requires your business to identify how and where AI will add value and how you’ll ensure your people have the capability to use it. This requires human thought, intelligent decision-making and strategies, governance, security, and purposeful learning—before you even think about the ‘P’ word.

Direction, vision, and training will transform generative AI from a valuable and fun tool (much as Mr Clippy, the world’s most hated virtual assistant, was intended when Bill Gates launched it in 1995) to a business powerhouse. It will be what turns many workers (but not all) from relatively productive team members to highly productive, highly paid, and invaluable employees – eventually.

However, generative AI has its limits – and understanding these is important. In a recent CIO article, they reference a new study that concludes, “Productivity increases are particularly notable in areas where the AI is proficient, but when it’s used for tasks beyond its ability, it can fall dramatically.”

Along with ‘Productivity’ results based on an experiment involving more than 700 consultants who work at an American global management consulting firm, CIO observed that below-average consultants benefitted the most, while those more skilled benefitted least. Tellingly, they observed, “For tasks beyond the capabilities of gen AI, consultants saw a 19% decline in performance.”

Launching generative AI tools on your employees without training, a strategy, or a purpose can have a detrimental impact on your business. Consequences can range from collective employee resistance to using AI tools in the workplace due to the perception of job losses, to tarnishing your brand through poorly curated content, or raising trust issues in the C-Suite with compromised ethics and obscured transparency.

Failing to invest in governance and training means that your employees may struggle to interpret gen AI insights accurately. Or they could expose sensitive information such as Personal Identifiable Information (PII) or company IP. Poor outcomes can include misinformed decisions, data breaches, and missed opportunities. And your data security can be compromised.

As one of our own senior managers said in a recent meeting, “When you bring on a new hire, you expect low productivity for six months as they get up to speed and take the time to understand the business and how and why we work. And generative AI is today’s new team member. Expect downtime and mistakes.”

We’re not saying that generative AI isn’t great - because it is. But you need to lay the groundwork to support your business vision and drive valuable outcomes, not let overenthusiasm create chaos.

Yes, generative AI will make the boat go faster. But it will take discipline and time. And an AI-savvy technology partner who can help you lay down the careful, strategic groundwork is needed to get it up to speed and earn its keep.

Learn more about Generative AI:

  • Creation vs curation
  • Copilot - who is it for?
  • Field service

Creation vs curation

Curation vs Creation. How will AI and humans play nice at work?

Introduce generative AI into your workplace, and suddenly, everyone’s a boss.

Write me a blog on <topic>, you say to your generative AI assistant.  Send an email to < name> about <project name>. Generate an image of <insert description>. Write me a campaign plan to promote <X> over the <insert months> and propose media platforms and frequency. Analyse these <X> reports. And just like that, your assistant creates the written and visual content you need and makes plans and proposals.

Which leaves you where? Feeling a bit out of sorts?

The power of generative AI to rapidly collate and create content from specified data sources is impressive. But, like a magazine editor faced with an influx of new content from a range of sources, it’s essential that you understand and undertake the role of a curator - and then apply knowledge and critical thought to what’s produced. It’s important to recognise that what Microsoft Copilot (our generative AI of choice) creates is, essentially, a first draft, then a second, third and fourth and so on, until you judge it acceptable.

Certainly, with training and refinement (both human and AI), the compliance, quality and accuracy of that first draft will improve – and reduce the gap in time and effort to produce it. However, the onus will always be on you to discern between what’s easy and what’s good.

Why are humans the curators, not the creators?

Simply put, generative AI doesn’t have the ability to make a judgment call between what is good and what isn’t (especially in the case of images). Taste is a subjective sensibility – relying on perception, emotions, imagination, and more. And it’s far too subjective for a variable-based mathematical system like AI.

However, as a human curator, you have ‘taste’ (and no one can take it away from you). You have the power to direct generative AI to create your desired image or content, control the approach, select what you like, and instruct changes - instead of producing it yourself.

So, how will this human/generative AI relationship work at work?  Having established that you’re the boss and that Copilot is your busy, creative and always learning assistant, your capability to take on more (challenging and complex) tasks increases. So, your value as an employee and ‘Boss of all things generative AI’ goes up – as should your salary.

While sharing your job with generative AI may seem like an uneasy alliance for now, unlike Mr. Clippy, it won’t be long before you question how you ever did without one another.

If you’d like to find out more about how, where and why Copilot will make the best workmate, please reach out.

 

Learn more about Generative AI:

  • Generative AI and productivity
  • Copilot - who is it for?
  • Field service

Copilot - who is it for?

At $600 a head per year, who gets Generative AI capability in your company?

While in a perfect world, every employee would have access to generative AI, the reality of paying $600 per user/per annum for Microsoft Copilot on top of existing M365 licenses makes that idea untenable.

This begs the question: Who should be the Copilot ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’? And why?

The strategic decision about who gets AI (generative and otherwise) becomes an investment vs. business value decision. For example, Gartner proposes this value hypothesis format: (AI Use Case “X”) will increase/decrease (Business KPI “Y”) by (“Z”%). The KPI doesn’t have to be financial - it can include indirect business metrics that influence customer success, cost efficiency, business growth, impact Net Promoter Score, productivity improvements and more.

Whether you take your lead from Gartner or adopt a more granular or departmental approach, it's important to remember that, like any other employee, generative AI needs to earn its keep. Achieving tangible results with measurable benefits should be the aim of any exercise to determine who gets a Copilot license.

So, what are the most important considerations in selecting the ‘haves’? Start with: Who in our business could use Copilot to measurably increase their productivity (once they’ve got to grips with it)? Promptly follow up with: What is an acceptable ROI for our business?

So, what does your ‘have’ worker most likely look like?

According to Microsoft, Copilot is best used by those who work with ‘an abundance of data’ stored in SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Exchange Online, and Teams. In other words, knowledge workers who depend on Microsoft 365.

Your ‘haves’ may produce customer-facing material like sales proposals, tender responses, or product information. Or write reports that require analysing large amounts of information stored in Microsoft repositories. Maybe they generate regular project updates or comprehensive marketing plans, campaigns and content. Perhaps they battle massive volumes of emails or attend endless meetings – each requiring action lists.

Once you’ve identified the ‘haves,’ you need to consider whether Copilot should be available to the entire ‘have’ team or just those individuals who would benefit most from improving and amplifying their output. For example, an already highly productive and skilled worker will derive less measurable benefits from Copilot than someone who performs at an average level. However, freeing up the time of a more experienced and productive employee will enable them to add more value and ‘brain power’ to the business when they don’t have to summarise meetings and produce PowerPoints from scratch.

The rapid rate of change and improvement of Copilot is set to benefit any worker in front of a computer or on a device - sooner than later. But for now, if you ignore all the benefits it brings, the level of investment required to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot (or indeed any of the myriad other Copilots that Microsoft has on offer) to everyone in the organisation requires careful consideration.

If you’d like to discuss how to best optimise your Copilot budget, make better have/have-not decisions, or even just where to begin to create meaningful opportunities from GenAI, please contact us.

Learn more about Generative AI:

  • Generative AI and productivity
  • Creation vs curation
  • Field service

Special focus on Field Service

Field service: Are you missing three business-critical opportunities?

When times are tough, the competition for the in-the-field consumer dollar (and loyalty) gets even tougher. Field service is critical to your ability to scale your business. So, when you lose or disenchant customers, you erode your bottom line and your ability to attract more business.

But, if you have a field service offering, you already know this.

What’s probably of more interest to you is where your weaknesses are and how you can improve your field service outcomes for your customers, technicians, and finance and operations departments.

 

1. Don’t blame your technicians - bolster their ability to do a good job

If your technicians are muddling their way through the day, you only have yourself to blame. (Harsh, but true).

Poor manual rostering and timekeeping processes, double bookings, inefficient skill and proximity call allocations, no automated travel routing, complex and often paper-based data capture and synchronisation (instead of mobile apps), incorrect or unavailable parts, and inadequate visibility of customer records, all contribute to your technicians' inability to perform at optimum capacity or capability.

So, can you blame them when they disengage or leave?

 

2. Improve customer satisfaction by owning your problems – and doing something about it

Poor customer service (aka an SLA fail or disappointment) has long been documented as a ‘brand switching moment.’ Whereas great service inevitably prompts increased loyalty and, thanks to social media, amplifies your good reputation in the eyes of prospects.  

The rise of digital solutions has increased your customers' expectations of what excellent service looks like – including faster response times, proactive remote assessments and fixes, self-service, accurate technician ETA times, and the right technician for the right job – along with the right parts.

Never mind that you are constrained by technology, traffic, trained resources, and supply chain or warehouse issues. Those are your problems, and your customers really don’t want to know about them. 

 

3. Reduce stress for your finance and operational teams – without adding headcount

Money and data make the world go around, especially in field service.

Profitability, streamlined hands-off administration, native integration to line-of-business solutions such as your ERP, customer service desk, CRM, and sales processes, along with increased revenue from repeat business and minimised return technician visits, are things of joy to beleaguered finance and operations teams. As is having a firm handle on business assets and where they are (from company vehicles to customer orders) at any given time—24/7.

But is this what they have to work with in reality? And is it all on a single, powerful platform?  

What does good look like, and how can you ‘make it so?’

While the world of field service is diverse, there’s a common goal: To reap the financial rewards of making your customers happy.

And that’s something we’re passionate about. We have years of experience helping businesses successfully transform their approach to field service delivery – to meet ambitious SLAs, empower and engage employees, and generate more profits.   

If you’d like to know what ‘good’ looks like and how you can improve your ability to compete and impress, check out our two field service events later this month - one for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the other for NetSuite.

Spotlight on... Generative AI

In this episode of 'Spotlight on' we speak with Troy Gerber - AI Centre of Excellence Lead. He shares his insights and expertise on the real-world uses and business cases for AI and Gen AI, highlights the pitfalls to avoid, busts a few myths, and provides practical advice on how to get started on your AI and Gen AI adoption journey.

00:00    Intro
01:00    AI vs Gen AI - what's the difference?
03:50    What are top 3 benefits of AI for business?
06:35    Summary of AI business benefits
07:40    What are the top 3 benefits of Generative AI for a business?
11:44    Summary of Gen AI business benefits
13:46    What advice would you give business leaders looking to embrace AI & Gen AI?
20:23    What advice would you give business leaders when it comes to getting your 'content library' in order to feed AI?
24:00    Do businesses need to have their data and documentation in order before starting on AI project, or is that something a partner can help with?
28:15    Are there any myths regarding AI & Gen AI that you'd like to bust?
28:30    Myth 1: AI is going to replace all jobs
29:08    Myth 2: AI is infallible
30:10    Myth 3: AI is 'human'
30:44    Myth 4: AI & Gen AI is just for tech companies
32:05    Real world examples and applications
35:04    Predictions for how AI/Gen AI will change our behaviour

 

Upcoming events

We regularly host online and in-person events to help people stay aware of the latest innovations and opportunities that exist to improve your business.

Please check the AU and NZ events page regularly as we'll post these events there when they are open for registrations, or let your Account Manager know that you're interested.

Latest news, insights, and resources

Blogs, eBooks, videos... we publish interesting, entertaining, and educational bits and pieces all the time — here's a selection of our latest offerings.

  • Blogs
  • Resources
  • Events
Blog

Technical deep dive: Integration messages and events

Curious about messages and events in integration? Discover how these core concepts enable flexible, asynchronous communication, and why they’re vital for modern integration strategies.

Blog

Financial visibility of assets

Read about why it’s essential for you to be able to access comprehensive financial insights into these assets.

Blog

Make managing your contact centre less of a 'thing'

Blog

Is your Onboarding Process Driving new Hires out the Door

What do new hires expect vs what we actually deliver? The importance of a successful on-boarding experience is crucial for retention of new employees. Read more at Fusion5.

Resource

Financial Services

Resource

Seven ways to build *trust* in accounting

Event
Resource

Connecting Communities with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Resource

Practical Guide for Establishing an *Effective* Project Team

There's a lot of talk about what it takes to make your software implementation a success.  It's a mix of factors including solutions, outcomes, budgets, processes, timing, partnerships, methodologies, and people.

Event

Adoption: The (not so) secret element for a successful transformation

Our Transformation and Advisory team hosted a dynamic one-hour webinar highlighting why adoption is key to the success of transformation projects.

Event

UDO & UX1 Security and how to set it up in JD Edwards

Event
Resource

Do more with less, unleash the power of Enterprise Service Management.

If you could start fresh with cyber security, what would you do?

Event
Resource

Exploring NetSuite ERP for wholesale distribution businesses

During our webinar, we explored the realm of NetSuite ERP, highlighting its transformative potential for businesses of every scale. Whether you're a small business proprietor, financial expert, or IT leader, NetSuite offers tailored solutions to meet your needs. Dive into the webinar recording for deeper insights.

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  • AI & Gen AI Insights
  • Spotlight on... Generative AI
  • Upcoming events
  • Latest news, insights, and resources

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