Garry Bartecki Help is on the way
According to a PwC Pulse Survey ….40% of Executives plan to implement significant reorganization, including layoffs. That is up from 23% a year ago. The changes will focus on productivity boosts and top-line growth, with technological changes leading the way to achieve the goals planned.
It appears that margin compression is the key driver of the reorganization. If you cannot pass on costs to customers and remain competitive, actions need to be taken to reduce costs and find ways to increase revenue. Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) will be part of this program.
A. McKinsey from McKinsey & Company has also reported that its latest Global Survey reflected that 65% of the respondents are using Gen AI regularly, double the percentage from their last survey ten months ago. WOW! And 75% of the respondents predicted that gen AI would significantly change their industries in the years ahead.
The benefits of AI use relate to both cost decreases and revenue increases in the business units adopting AI technology. Many are using AI in multiple functions, meaning their analysis indicated that it would work in this function and provide a positive ROI.
This is all valuable information, but we must consider that these McKinsey respondents are large companies with IT departments and managers who can spend to get the “learning” they need to make decisions about AI. Can smaller companies do the same thing? Not so sure they can, but if they do not, they will find the larger companies nipping at their heels in terms of supplying services to customers. It is no secret that large company reps attend conventions and shows to learn how to steal gross profits from smaller companies. Does anybody know Amazon?
I have probably read about 100 AI-related articles to figure out what I would do if I were sitting in your office and decided that the company needs to take AI seriously or find ways to offset threats from competitors.
So, what did I do next? I read another twenty-five articles and made fifteen phone calls to find a source to help me with my problem. One call I made was to my granddaughter, who happens to work in the system installation world, and told me why we can do this now. when I asked her for a referral, she responded, “Hell, we do that and are very good at it.” She works for a CPA firm that specializes in high-end financial management and, along those lines, has an IT department with a particular unit that helps companies of all sizes with AI implementation. The firm is Connor Group.
I asked my granddaughter to send me the section from their website regarding AI, and after going through every page of the website material and related articles, I said to myself, “Self, this is what you have been looking for.” I say that because any small to medium-sized company could use this material to get a very good understanding of what is available, what choices need to be made, how to go about implementing the system, and how to measure the results from the standpoint of return on your investment (ROI).
Not only did I send Dean a copy of this material to make it available to you, but I also called the managing partner of Connor Group and asked him if he would be willing to set up contact with our readers to address questions about how to set up AI, provide a range of the cost to do that and help you determine if your data can give the “answers” you are looking in terms of decreasing costs or increasing sales.
Dean jumped on board and suggested we make this a part of the monthly Wholesaler publication you receive. This way, we could answer readers’ questions and share the information with our print and electronic readers. Only the questions would appear; the sender’s name, rank, and serial numbers would not appear. In short, MHW is taking an active role in making your company more efficient and profitable and assisting you with your AI effort so you get it done right the first time.
In addition, I could see this work for twenty groups or work for OEMs who need to keep their dealers competitive. I could see dealers helping customers relate to AI. If you helped a customer become more profitable, do you think you would lose the business any time soon?
In the end, we wind up with systems designed for equipment dealers. And you may want to inform your OEM that this opportunity is available. They may even want to work out a deal geared to their brand.
What is in it for Connor Group? Fees, of course, if you use them to assist you. The goal is to learn the industry and get to the point where they have the expertise to where dealers would go to them first before calling another vendor.
I think you will like their AI materials and see what I mean by saying they are presented in an understandable format using the right sequence of events.
What do you think? What else can I do for you? Let us hear from you. Send your comments to Dean. His email address is [email protected]. I made a deal with him to only forward the nice ones and toss the others.
On another front, I sent Dean the last issue of John Mauldin’s Thoughts from the Front Lines, dated June 15, 2024. It will give you an understanding of what we are in for and who it will hurt. There is more reason to shoot for the moon regarding AI to keep your financial position in the top 20% of the market.
About the Columnist:
Garry Bartecki is a CPA MBA with GB Financial Services LLC and a Wholesaler columnist since August 1993. E-mail [email protected] to contact Garry.
