Ai Journey Continues; No Boundaries, Limitless, Eternal​. May 9, 2024

By Greg Walters

​Every now and then a Week happens.

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What a week?  More like, “What?  A year?”, no, “What?  The Fear of Covid Was TWO YEARS Ago?” Time flies.
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It is true what ‘they’ say, “as the days in front of you reduce in number, time seems to slide by faster and faster.”  Well, with the way things are today, time is sliding faster FOR EVERYONE. When folks ask, “How ya been, Greg?” I answer like everyone else does, “Great. It is a great time to be here” which is for the most part, true.  But to the very few, which now includes you, may answer is, “The last 24 months have been the worst in my life – and nobody I love died. So, I have that to look forward to.”

I take fewer things for granted, my circle has contracted, I “recluse” more and battle the urge to become that bitter dude at the end of the bar – “Get off my lawn.”

Gratitude.

So, it is with a great sense of gratitude I reflect on what might be the best week so far – nearly halfway in.  I met with or listened to: Lauren, West, Jan, Robyn, Marc, Morgan, Salvia, Mike, Brian, Shari, & Art and I am grateful for each interaction.

Hey, Salespeople, use Ai and Be Better at Business Acumen –
I connected with Lauren at just about the beginning of the LLM Rush because her software looked intriguing.  Her system enhances the professional salespersons’ knowledge and business acumen integrating artificial intelligence with the ancient art of ‘networking’.  Zinnia creates a dossier – yes, just like the ones J. Bourne, Jim Bond, and Mr. Hunt use – for the people on your calendar.  Sure, there are other similar packages, but this one is better.  Again, Ai goes everywhere and talking with Lauren might start with selling but always finds Ai rabbit holes.

Bourbon discussion with Morgan –
 There is Ai in this truly American, Family story.  I love connecting what appear to be disparate subjects; bourbon and Ai being two.  I interviewed Morgan to find out about investing in barrels and learned so much more. If you're interested in creating your own bourbon brand, she is the person to connect with and if you've always wanted to part take in a new, American endeavor, connect with Morgan.

The story of bourbon isn’t about black-market bottle hunting.  It isn’t about the shape of a bottle, label design or pinky extended sampling.  Bourbon has always been about storytelling, solving the worlds problems and good ole American rebel rousing – going against the grain.  Morgan has a great bourbon story and working with LQD Assets might deliver a 24% return. Check out our show from May 9, 2024.

Large scale transformation with Robyn -
"Think about if every function at an organization, specifically a provider or dealer, that was consumer facing was actually connected from insights to marketing to sales to customer support."

Robyn and I have been connected since 2013 and we finally met on Zoom. It has been a while since my head hurt during a talk, expansion can be painful, but during our 37 minute chat, I had to stop, repeat and confirm my understanding - more than once. Exhilarating. 

The holy grail of software has been a ‘glue’ that connects all distinct databases:  Marketing and the shop floor.  Sales and Engineering, the C-Suite and Social Media.  Sprnklr, with Ai, is ending quest for the F100s.  What a fascinating conversation, again.  LLMs, Ai, connecting disparate databases, dissolving hierarchies and vanquishing silos.  Who could ask for anything more?

Struggling in the Office Tech Niche –
Jan and Marc are bringing better solutions to an industry on the other side of the bell curve.  And it is difficult.  But if there is one thing veterans of the output and document management battle possess, it is tenacity. 

We do not quit.  E Commerce and data collection agents.  Oh my.

The Weekly Think Tank –
West has kept a circle of thinkers and doers together for years now and the confidential discussions are precognitive gold.  Mind expanding yet grounded.  Every week we get together and talk about everything from Konica Minolta to Ai to China and their toner cartridges - heady stuff.  This week, bias and racism reared its ugly head.  For all the ways the world is changing, some things just don’t. 

One issue that hasn't changed, communism sucks.

We have not transformed, we’ve only reformed –
I am not a fanboy of anything. - hell, I don't have any heroes anymore. I think we all know what we need to know, right now, without that eternal list of books, streams or podcasts   But I do respect a few contrarians.  The ones who think differently and express themselves without bloviation. I bought Brian's book.  And read it, too and discovered 'Taylorism'. Brian, via Mike’s mega-group, the Consortium outlined a vision of the Ai World. Brian studied a slice of our niche for his great book, was a guest speaker at ECS 2023(just as OpenAi hit) and presents both strategic and tactical content around Ai.  Great Stuff. 

The biggest takeaway for me for this weeks talk with Brian was we have never been on the digital TRANSFORMATION path.  Although everyone and their mother spouts how their system helps companies walk the path of "digital transformation" from managing paper contracts to designing HVAC systems.

But we haven't been transforming we have been REFORMING. Duplicating what was before into a digital reflection of manual processes.  That's all. We've disguised or fooled ourselves into believing we helped processes, systems and businesses digitally transform when all we really did was crunch day to day work into a digital trash compactor. 

Today, we are experiencing true transformation in all things because of Ai, LLMs and new tech.

Sell with Soul Without Selling Your Soul –
After a decade or more, connecting with Shari is a trip.  A fascinating dive back to the future, connecting after a decade, around self-improvement, self-therapy, self-discovery, selling copiers and beyond.

It is always fun to talk with people who bounce out of the industry and strike their claim away for toner and fire.  Shari has been through the fire, or like most of us, continues the journey.  She helps people. She helps salespeople sell without selling out or selling their soul.

Ai For Thought, from across the pond -
My weekly joy is meeting with Salvia and talking about Ai.  No really, we just talk about artificial intelligence – what’s new in the Ai World.  And by world, I mean the world – from Los Angeles to Pakistan to Australia to London.  We cover it all in just an hour in a familiar, down-to-Earth manner.  It’s great.  This week, more about your LLM is your therapist and regulation. We meet every Friday and have started a podcast, Ai Food For Thought with Salvia & Greg. 

Check it out, here.

Ask Us Anything. No, really -
Finally, my weekly grounding is achieved by diving into the trenches and tactical practices of professional selling with Art Post.  Sure, we start out talking about copiers, scanners, document management and managed print services – we could both ramble on for decades – and yes, we’ve offered advice on cold calling, nudging stalled opportunities, the best use of scanners, wide format, A3, A4 and the like.  But our talk does not occur in a vacuum.  Indeed, the discussion ‘abides’.  We go all over the place in our podcast Post & Walters. 

Check it here.

Week 19 was a great one.

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