Understand AI
Wherever we look, we see Artificial Intelligence having an impact on society. Not necessarily for the better. Like all advances in technology, AI has the potential for good, but it is bringing with it some challenges.
The focus of this article is on the potential of AI to improve our business.
More than any other innovation I have seen in my career, the expectations of AI and what it will do for our businesses are high. This is clear from talking with our clients. What is less clear is what is expected of AI.
My own position has been one of scepticism. Much of what I have seen is clever, but of minimal benefit in the day-to-day running of a business. But that’s changing.
Firstly, let’s talk about what AI is good at. Specifically, what it’s good at now.
For a business, the best application of AI is in language and communication.
Most AI platforms do a very good job of summarising large documents. For example, it can quickly summarise a large project document and identify everything related to flooring. While it’s impressive, I don’t know that I would be comfortable (yet) relying solely on an AI summary for bidding on a large commercial project.
Similarly, AI is very good at creating documents, either from scratch or to improve an initial document prepared by a human. The caveat is that users will need to learn how to create prompts that AI can use to deliver what we want. Refining and resubmitting prompts can be frustrating and time-consuming.
Finally, AI is great at quickly pulling together information on any subject. While some caution is needed, AI tools can not only provide the information you want but also customise the presentation to your purposes.
What I have seen in AI until recently is the need for a trade-off between speed and accuracy. Some businesses have been happy to adopt AI in some parts of their operations, understanding that the cost savings over a human employee come with output that is not necessarily as good as what a human would produce.
Salesforce (a $40bn company) reported 4,000 layoffs last year as it moved to embrace AI. More recently, The Economic Times has reported that Salesforce has modified its AI use after experiencing repeated reliability issues. In a statement, Salesforce said, “While LLMs are amazing, they can’t run your business by themselves. Companies need to connect AI to accurate data, business logic, and governance to turn the raw intelligence that LLMs provide into trusted, predictable outcomes.”
In other words, garbage in, garbage out.
It’s worth making at least one point on Salesforce's experience. In our comparatively tiny businesses, AI will only be as good as the data it has access to. That data, in turn, will only be as good as our systems and processes allow. If we have staff working outside our systems, if our systems and processes are inconsistent, or if some of them are manual, we may not be able to rely on what AI tells us.
A client recently said to me, “Imagine having a conversation with your business system about your business.” It’s certainly a compelling idea, but everything AI does comes with a warning. If you ask a health question, for example, it will note that it is not a doctor. Similarly, for a legal question, it will stipulate that AI is not a replacement for legal advice from a lawyer. I would suggest that there is a lot that goes on in a flooring business that will not be visible to AI, and therefore, any response will need to be treated with caution.
None of which is to say that AI is not a powerful tool that will play an increasingly important role in our businesses.
At RFMS Australasia, a developer has been working on an AI tool for RFMS. As I said earlier, I have been an AI sceptic, but I was interested to see what the developer could show us, and I was impressed. Our RFMS clients aren’t going to be having a conversation with their business systems any time soon, but there are some exciting possibilities. I have seen how a client can use an AI engine to query the RFMS database and access functionality. AI also enables us to develop tools that help our clients minimise or eliminate previously time-consuming activities.
Right now, AI is touted as a silver bullet. It isn’t, but it will become a valuable business management tool. In the meantime, businesses that want to take advantage of AI must use a business management system that enables AI tools to provide reliable insights. RFMS is the world's leading business management solution for the flooring industry, and it provides a platform for AI to be a powerful tool. If you would like to see what RFMS might do for your business and potentially future-proof it, we would love to hear from you.