Everyone we talk with has experienced a question, concern, or challenge around the topic of artificial intelligence. What is it? How can we use it? Are there rules about how to use AI? What should we do with it? What does it mean for my business, my team, or even my job?
It’s nearly impossible to answer all these questions, and yet some people are embracing AI with unabashed enthusiasm while others deny its impact and avoid interacting with it. As with many things, the true value of AI is likely somewhere in the middle — between awesome and scary — and hard to nail down.
There’s now a push for firms to become integrated with AI so that our businesses become the “answer” that artificial intelligence delivers when a user asks a question. If I’m searching online for “coffee,” I get a ridiculously broad, global response. If I search for “coffee near me,” that search narrows to a geographic footprint that’s far more helpful. Proximity matters, after all. With the advent of AI, we’re able to submit much more deliberate and clear questions. If we really want to get specific, we can ask AI to locate a more complex request, such as “a coffee wholesaler who combines traditional roasting techniques and organic farming of single-source beans that are ethically harvested. Ideally, one able to import into North America and with a warehouse on the East Coast.”
To be “matched” as an answer for such a lengthy and specific inquiry, businesses are leveraging specific “signals” to help artificial intelligence identify the firms that would be an ideal match. What, then, are these signals that matter? They include:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trustworthiness
In our Two Twelve Network, these same signals have helped each of our businesses gain opportunities we may not have had previously. Through our weekly team meetings, we become aware of the experience of our team members, how their expertise has translated into higher service levels for their customers, how their authority on specialized topics has been honed by years of training and dedication to their craft, and how their integrity and honesty reflect their trustworthy nature.
Through our association in Two Twelve, we find those businesses (and individuals) who rise above others as the most professional, most preferred, and highest-performing vendors around. When someone asks a Two Twelve member, “Who is the best real estate agent in town?” we’re primed with the answer because we’ve already done our own AI search — actual intelligence. Our investment in learning about each other feeds the “signals” that help us build relationships that matter. We know about amazing attorneys because of the great work they’ve done for us. Need a kitchen remodeled? We know the best business to recommend because of the experience we’ve had with that contractor (hey — come on over and see their work!).
We can use artificial intelligence when it helps us. There are untold ways it may help our businesses operate better.
But we rely on “actual intelligence” to provide the kind of knowledgeable response that people look to us to provide. Our Two Twelve Network is a tremendous asset to us precisely because of the valuable signals we obtain and share.
So yes — AI matters. If we leverage both artificial and actual intelligence we gain the most from it.