Over the past two years, the news cycle on the rapid evolution of AI, particularly Generative AI has been overwhelming. For those immersed in the space, it’s nearly a full-time job keeping up with the innovations happening across the industry and knowing what AI tech is right for your business can be overwhelming.
AI Innovation at a Grueling Pace
Over my 20+ year career as a tech entrepreneur working in enterprise technology, I’ve always said that tech moves at a faster pace than the rest of the business world–we move in dog years. But over these past few years, even dog years seem slow. It’s more like hamster years now.
It can feel like your head is on a swivel, with seemingly new innovations popping up faster than you have time to evaluate the last one.
The reality is that much of the news cycle is dominated by the foundational technology companies (e.g.., OpenAI, Deep Seek, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, etc). And while there is a great discussion to be had on which model is faster, smarter, or more efficient, it also means that much of this amazing technology is becoming rapidly commoditized.
So what do you do as a business leader? Not only how do you keep up, but how do you deploy technology, move your business forward and solve real business problems when the pace of change is so rapid?.
It might be tempting to think you need to build an AI solution to meet your specific business needs, but more than likely an AI-enabled app is the best way.
AI Apps Offer the Best of Both Worlds
Over the past year, we’ve seen a surge in apps gaining “superpowers” thanks to the foundational AI models. These are often the same apps businesses already use—tools for call centers, help desks, knowledge management, CRM, marketing automation, CMS, eCommerce, and more—now infused with next-gen AI capabilities.
This is important because these app providers can bring the combination of the latest AI together with existing apps and expertise. This allows businesses to get the best of the latest tech combined with the solutions they need to solve real world problems today. That combination is powerful.
Here’s how why you might consider an existing app vs. building your own:
- Existing application developers typically have years of experience and domain expertise in the industries they serve or the use cases they support. This allows them to be strategic in how they deploy this foundational AI tech to enhance their solutions and in how they can advise customers on its application.
- The vendors of these solutions already have experience and processes in support of on-boarding their solutions, integrating with existing tech, helping organizations in the drive for usage and adoption. This expertise was critical before Gen AI and still critical today.
- And these vendors are already set up for ongoing service and support for your users and understand their industry and / or use cases.
If the firehose of AI innovation has left you with FOMO—or just confusion—the best next step might not be building something new from the ground up. The good news is, you don’t have to go it alone. Trusted app providers have the experience to help you tap the best that AI has to offer.