There’s no turning back: We are officially neck-deep in the AI-ification of everything.
Gaming companies are mining user data for insight, medical imaging companies are using machine learning to detect cancer and SaaS businesses are increasingly augmenting their human salesforce with machines that turn leads into customers.
According to some estimates, more than 75 percent of companies are using artificial intelligence for business development, workflow automation and to improve customer experience.
But not all AI is created equal, and there is still a lot of learning to be shared in the world of tech about what works and what doesn’t.
To learn more about how AI is transforming the sales and marketing worlds, we caught a fireside chat between Mark McQueen, President & Executive Managing Director of CIBC Innovation Banking, and Gregg Ames, Chief Sales Officer of Conversica, at the Canadian Innovation Exchange in Toronto.
The discussion ranged from Ames’ recent experiences building up Conversica’s AI tools for sales and marketing companies, to his time with marketing automation company Marketo. But AI’s importance across multiple industries was the topic capturing all the attention.
Here are the major takeaways from the fireside chat:
People and machines are meant to work together
According to Ames, the notion of the hybrid workforce – where humans work with artificial intelligence – should be exciting to everyone. While the conversation often starts with the discussion surrounding job replacement, Ames said it’s chiefly a question of growth.
“It’s about doing more, not about replacing humans,” he said.
Conversica is an AI-driven lead engagement platform used by marketers and sales teams. The platform promises to “find and secure customers more quickly and efficiently by automatically contacting, engaging, qualifying and following up with leads via natural, multi-channel, two-way conversations.”
The company has raised $72 million in financing, including an $8.5 million from Wellington Financial (now CIBC Innovation Banking).
Ames argues that AI-based solutions are better at accomplishing certain tasks, which ultimately frees up human capital to do things people are better at.
For example, traders who work at exchanges today aren’t working on their own – they’re benefitting from the help of algorithm and AI systems that automate workflow and aim to surface insights that people can use.
Within Conversica itself, Ames says humans will focus on high-value functions such as engaging with customers, and don’t have to bother with AI-driven efforts to take on menial tasks such as scheduling follow-on appointments.
In automotive, where the bulk of Conversica’s customers came from, Ames said that AI is being used to help companies build valuable, long-term relationships and engagement with customers.
In finance, companies are turning to AI as a way to better manage collections and engage with customers to create payment plans.
There are countless use cases where AI helps humans make better decisions, faster.
Mark McQueen (right), President & Executive Managing Director of CIBC Innovation Banking, and Gregg Ames, Chief Sales Officer of Conversica, at the Canadian Innovation Exchange in Toronto.
We’ve moved from automation to AI
If anyone can speak to the evolution of marketing and sales in technology, it’s Ames – he was employee No. 60 with Marketo, a marketing automation business, for nearly six years. The company was acquired by Adobe this year for $4.75 billion after building out a network of 500 partners and 5,000 customers.
Ames thinks the disruptive potential that automation delivered to marketers and salespeople five years ago is comparable to how AI is reshaping businesses across multiple industries today.
Ames said he’s learned a lot about how to bring a disruptive new market idea to businesses, but he’s doing things a little differently now.
While Marketo pushed hard for new customers, the approach at Conversica is different.
“We were on a much more aggressive arc for growth than we are at Conversica today,” said Ames. “The economics we took there were much more aggressive.”
With Conversica, Ames’ sales team is focused on deploying with customers where deep impact is possible, and having so many customer deployments allows the business to make predictions on where success is likely to emerge for Conversica’s customers.
“Make sure the juice is worth the squeeze”
Conversica’s AI Sales Assistant is now used by an more than 1,200 companies worldwide. The company is currently operating in North America and recently acquired Chilean rival Intelligens. The company is also looking to open a new office in the U.K.
But rapid growth is not the plan, said Ames.
Not every customer is created equal, and Conversica makes a big effort to place the right bets when it comes to picking its customers.
Rather than bending the company’s initial mission statement to suit any and every client’s needs, Ames said the company is looking to push its original concept and to repeatedly sell it as it scales.
The goal is to ensure the company can continue to deliver on its core message, that AI sales and marketing tools are helping customers build better businesses.
