As we dot the i’s and cross the t’s I am finding myself booking demos for a variety of software solutions – I’ve gone full circle – I’m now a buyer. Feels weird with the shoe being on the other foot… even weirder that so far I have met no humans…

It has been a real education. Whilst I’ve done a lot of homework and created a full analysis to share with my two colleagues, I’m looking for guidance, advice, answers.

AI is providing efficiency, speed and access to demos without the need to wait, but the feeling I am left with is one of dejection. Here’s an example:

I came across one site where I could ‘book in’ there and then. I realised by pressing the proverbial, the demo would start instantly.

It took a moment to realise I had to speak, not type. So, I got into the swing of it and we had a chat. Me and my new little friend, the bot, in the form of what can only be described as a young Stepford wife, whose lip sync ability would certainly not pass muster with Queen Ru… began. We had our very literal Q&A and don’t get me wrong, I was pleasantly surprised, enlightened, educated, but whilst I got all the basic info, it was so underwhelming…

I need access to a particular piece of software.

I’ve used several like this one in my time and as I mentioned earlier, I’ve done my due diligence, so I do have an excellent grasp…

But.. there are a lot out there and our company is just beginning so we don’t need to go big – just yet…

So although I’ve done my homework, I wanted someone to demo to me, (as I used to); to dazzle me with all we’ll need and take me on my journey and show me what my roadmap might be and hold my hand as we build our relationship. That’s actually the most important thing and AI cannot do it. I’ve spent the last 25 years doing it. It’s the foundation of all the hugs and texts and whatsapps in my professional world – people who work with me, laugh and even sigh with me – because it’s sometimes great and it’s sometimes not. But you just know each other and trust each other and will always find a solution – because the relationship has been built on trust.

AI… it’s literal. Even its chit chat is bizarre. It gave me details. I can choose my options and there is a price and a budget. I get it, but I’ve delivered these demos and I’ve been on customer journeys – there is something fundamentally missing here. It’s not about how quick and easy it was to see and understand the basic info. To be frank, I already knew it. What we will need moving forwards is the relationship for when it goes wrong. Who will help us when we have a problem that becomes a ticket that turns into sitting in line to get our issue(s) fixed? What about support? And what about when all systems fail, (when the sh!t really hits the fan) – what then? All this did was reinforce the idea that if you are not going to begin our relationship in a way that answers all my questions, and gives me confidence that we will get a good care package, it makes me know that we don’t have a now, let alone a future…

Also, it wasn’t a demo. It was purely an info dump and ‘ask any other questions’. So I have to come furnished with all the knowledge to ask the right questions? As it happens, that was ok, but what if I was less experienced and didn’t know what to ask?

I left the call underwhelmed.

About an hour or so later I received a cold call from a sweet-sounding person who I’ll guess is in their first job and giggled a lot, especially about ‘absolutely hating the rain’… But she was at least a human. Phew!

On asking if I needed anything further, I threw a bunch of questions her way and gave some ‘what if’ scenarios. Apparently, it wasn’t her area of expertise and was promised an email with links to info she will send. I asked about comparisons to competitors who offer more for the money, but she will send me a list of details. I asked about a proper demo, there is no demo for us – we get a video due to our size. But once we get bigger, we will be treated differently and move into the galactic spend territory where we might get a demo. Lucky us!

On the plus side, we had an immediate info dump and had no wait time for the interaction. A lot of quality without fuss.

On the downside, no emotion or relationship and many questions left unanswered.

My follow up call was handled by an inexperienced human who added nothing positive to the process. We are too small for their investment. They won’t be getting ours!

I truly believe that AI has a place and am absolutely embracing it for efficiencies where it adds value. In fact, in my time off, I took myself onto various courses and got certified in several – it is the way forward. But I can see in the short term, that companies will (and already are) replacing humans with the alternative when in fact humans are necessary and there are just some jobs with skill sets that cannot be replaced by bots. I think the whole world is going to go through a huge learning curve with this, lots of people will end up devalued and will be removed or leave as organisations go through big changes. It’ll be an interesting journey.