Dashboard: The AI Agents Are Coming!

[Music] welcome to another 21 hats dashboard I'm Lauren Feldman I'm here with Jean Marks happy Monday Jean happy Monday to you Lauren great to speak with you always great to have you here Jean um Jean over the last year you've been writing about and we've been talking uh about artificial intelligence quite a bit and and I think you've been fairly restrained you you obviously see the potential but you've tried not to get caught up in the hype you've frequently told us that yeah big businesses are already doing that but it's not ready for smaller businesses yet but in a column you wrote last week you started to get a little more excited I think yeah want to tell us about that yeah uh absolutely I mean you know it's it's funny because I've been running around the country for the past two years talking uh I don't know 30 40 times a year about AI to different ass associations and most of the people I'm speaking to chemical Distributors and pressure tape you know manufacturers and whatnot you they're all they want to know about Ai and there really hasn't been a lot to tell them yet I mean we talk about why we're here what the risks are I talk about what the big companies are doing and the big companies have been investing Millions tens and tens of millions hundreds of millions in their own proprietary AI system but the big question is you're running a smaller or a midsize company and what about me when it's when is it going to come down to me and I've been saying for the past two years Lauren um you need to be just beating up your software vendors you know you gota you know if you're using using QuickBooks or you're using Dynamics or Sage or Oracle or Salesforce or you know whatever um you need to be talking to those vendors finding out what AI stuff they've got coming because they're investing in it that's how small and midsize businesses will leverage AI um and and you know and that's starting to come now there's been like a lot of surveys that that they're misleading by the way they all say small businesses are adopting Ai and like 75% of small businesses are adopting AI it's just a bunch of [ __ ] it's basically uh you know you know people in businesses they're using chat GPT for a little bit to help them write an email or do some searching or you know help with a contract that's fine it's AI I've talked to a number of business owners lately who've been using chat GPT as kind of a sounding board they bounced their ideas off it and treated it almost as if they were talking to a colleague or a board or a mentor 100% And it's it's great that you're saying that because that's exactly what I recommend exactly how I use it as well I mean chat GPT is not the same that it was just two years ago it is been trained on millions and millions of users it's a lot smarter I tell people to pay 20 bucks a month for the version and by the way I like Claude by anthropic is great um also perplexity is really great for me when I write it's a really good research uh you know AI chatbot that's really a kind of a search engine right it is it is and it really helps me a lot it does very good results and it has the links that I need to go to validate different things that I'm using and the stuff I'm writing about but yeah I mean AI for now like if you're running a business and you're working on a contract with a vendor or you want to create a policy for discrimination or ethics or uh you know you you want to write a a disaster plan use AI to do it or or upload your existing plan into it have it give you its advice and consider it Like A smart business advisor uh among with your other business advisers your attorney and your accountant but it's become good enough now that you really should be leaning into that stuff and and using it but that's that's the extent of small business using AI you know I mean in 2024 I mean it's the the chat gpts and the like but that's going to change man I mean it's you know and that's what I wrote about in Forbes this week uh how agents are going to disrupt small business in 2025 secret agents uh foreign agents what what kind of agents are we talking about here um that's going to be a word we're going to hear a lot and it is a um you know agents are basically um a it they're going to take this generative AI stuff we're doing and it's going to take it to a Next Level an agent is going to be your human uh your human uh counterpart as it is you're right now when you use again I use chat GP but don't you know don't give you know there's a lot of good competitors but just as an example you can ask it to do a lot of things like create an email or rewrite a contract or you whatever but it doesn't really perform any tasks it doesn't initiate transactions it doesn't fix problems it doesn't converse with your customers it doesn't automatically launch emails things like that it's just it it generates a response to your question and help which is great but the agents they're going to be doing all of that an agent is going to be taking all this generative responses that we're getting and it's going to be acting like a human so if if you will allow let me give you some examples right please do Microsoft is this is for its Dynamics 365 customers so the people that are using the financials as well as using their CRM and by the way when I give this example this is not even though Microsoft has made this announcement all their competitors are going to be doing the same because they're watching what what they're doing but that you know they're going to have these agents that are like basically an assistant so for example you will have an agent conversing with a prospect right now by chatting on your website and then being smart enough to qualify that lead and then grab that information and then forward that information by the you know by the way of a task or an email to um a sales rep internally at the company so that the sales rep can pick up the ball that's same agent based on the conversation May automatically email the prospect or the customer with information that it needs or the sales or the or the agent itself May disqualify the lead and and send it to some other place where maybe a human being takes a final check just to make sure it did a good job and by the way this is by chatting on your website the next step for businesses small business will be voice enabled so it will be when people call um there will be a very humanik voice on the line I've done this already at hotels that I'm staying at um and restaurant reservations you think you're talking to a person and it's a bot um that will be able to do the same thing you know like initiate qualify those kinds of things so there's that agents by Microsoft will confirm a sales order that comes in somebody you know emails or fills out a form on the website ordering a product the agent will confirm it the agent will then schedule the production and the delivery and then notify the the right people Microsoft's agents uh are going to be reconciling invoices so you know you'll you'll have an agent that watchs for watches for cash receipts that get you know automatically put into your system from your bank and then looking at the data from that cash receipt and and matching it to an open invoice so that your receivables ledgers are updated you will have agents that will approve your expenses and issue checks or even resolve customer service issues and close tickets and schedule field service agency you see what I'm saying like it's they're literally performing the tasks of humans they're your agent um but it's there it's Way Beyond what gen AI is doing right now and that's just Microsoft does that make sense it does and you're confident this is coming in 2025 yeah well it's already Microsoft is saying they're rolling out everything I just mentioned they're starting to roll it out um in in early 2025 and they're planning many more agents in the coming year now let me um Let me give this word of advice to all of you listening to this conversation okay be [ __ ] careful with Microsoft stuff okay I've been selling Microsoft products for 30 years anybody who is over the age of 40 knows you never buy version one of anything that Microsoft sells so I can guarantee you that although these agents will come rolling out before you unleash them to start doing all this automatic stuff and communicating with your customers you better make sure you're testing them you you understand how to configure them you're keeping an eye on them and that your data is in good shape so it's not doing it's not you're not just going to snap your fingers and all this is going to happen this is going to take work on the customer side but it's going to get better and better and easier and easier over years and so 2025 will be the year where the Intrepid will that are on the bleeding edge of businesses um are going to be playing with stuff like this and then um but it'll become just it as as chat gptt has gotten smarter in the past two years so will these types of Agents so that three four or five years from now it's it'll just be automatic I mean there won't even be any you know you'll be completely motivated not to do this stuff because it'll be that easy to do if that makes sense it does tell us about the example you included from Salesforce and the sales role playing uh yeah so this is also super creepy so you know Salesforce they already started rolling out their AI stuff it's it's called Einstein and again like I said with Microsoft whatever sales force is doing do not worry if you're using other crms like Zoho or Dynamics or insightly or Nimble they're they're all going to be rolling this stuff out too they're watching what Salesforce is doing they'll be behind them because they don't have the kind of resources but they'll get there so Salesforce is um their agents they have two types of Agents one is called a sales development rep or an SDR and the other is a coach agent right so the the the sales development rep will kind of do similar to what the Dynamics ones are um it'll qualify any lead before a human gets involved it'll schedule meetings um and then it will you know you know perform follow-up tasks automatically but after it schedules the meeting this new coach agent is going to create a video likeness you can't even say it with a straight face I know it's going to create a video likeness of the prospect God knows how they're going to come up with his likeness and then it's going to have um you know the ability for the agent to rehearse their call before they reach out to the prospect they can have their conversation with how or whatever they're going to call this likeness um so they can train and then and then the AI will then will then give feedback like you know you should mention this or you said um to many times or U this might be a good thing to talk about so the the sales development rep will will will confirm and book your meeting and then the Einstein coach will then Coach you so you can get better and better at your pitch how about that Lauren you like this well you said this is this is this is creepy too oh let me tell you this is like you and me we're like two old guys laughing at this stuff and you know it's it's reality I mean we are so the fact that we're laughing says so much about us because you know you know I mean laugh fine go ahead and laugh away uh within a couple of years this is like again all common stuff do you know what I mean well that's what I was going to ask do you really think it's creepy or can you imagine using this stuff in your business yeah it'll get better and better I mean not not right now but it'll just get better and More in our face you know what the tech companies do is they uh think of the cloud I mean no one had a choice about the cloud the cloud just came and the tech company said this was going to be better for our business and make our customers we know it's going to be better and more profitable so you're just moving to the cloud you know what I mean they stop selling their on premise products and um and just moves it's GNA be the same thing with this stuff I mean you will go into later versions of Salesforce and you're really GNA have no choice but to go through um a coaching period I mean maybe you can turn it off but it'll it'll just become very much in your face and the more that it gets used and the more it gets accepted and when they iron out the bugs and all that more people will take advantage of it and that a you know you they'll see the value in it and I think it will be valuable I really do you also had an example of uh into it this would struck me as more creepy than the others uh into it doing an analysis of your cash flow and deciding whether to pay your bills or not yeah it's already doing that and it's going to get even more into it um if you buy QuickBooks they have like a a AI builtin but it's so early days um you know what it's going to look at is it's it's going to bring together not only data that's in your QuickBook system but also your banking data um and it will uh start looking not only at what your cash is but it's going to go back in time through history so people that have been using QuickBooks for a few years it'll start identifying Trends and looking at vendors that you pay and how your normal cash receipts come in and it's going to start telling you in advance that uh you your cash flow is is looking tricky over the next month so uh we recommend holding back on these invoices you're going to have the ability with uh you QuickBooks in the not to distant future to just turn it over to your AI agent to let it just pay your bills if if it if it deems that cash flow is you know is sufficient and again that that's I mean small business owners are the most cynical people in the world so you know we'll look at this stuff and like we're not going to rely on into it to do this for us but eventually we will particularly when we get to the point where we're like hey man I don't have to pay a staff accountant to be doing this anymore you know so when it makes sense in the pocketbook and you can have an agent doing this stuff on your behalf and then you're putting the money in your pocket instead of having an employee do it I think a lot of business owners are going to be doing that of all the stuff you've looked at is there anything that you can actually see you yourself using in your business in 2025 um not in 2025 that's that's a great question I mean everything that you and I have just talked about I can see using in my business um but I can't imagine I'm gonna let some other numpty test it out I thought that was your job no I mean I can test it out you know on the side I'm put it on my business for God's sake but I but um I do know that it will I will ultimately I I feel like I'm ultimately gonna have no choice you know the best agents that I've got we haven't talked about um which is really I think the most powerful is what's what anthropic and Google announced um you read about this they're they're gonna have agents that take over your your device no I haven't read about this tell me well so you haven't read my column is that what you're saying because I have I've you know I I mentioned this in the column say Lauren now I missed it no um anthropic who makes Claude one of the you know great chatbots and Google you know obviously makes gem um they have both um introduced uh they have announced plans for their gen AI products to take over your your your device so what that means is it's voice enabled so uh you know okay Lauren you're going to take a trip to Chicago for an event you know in you know from April 1 to April 2nd um and you'd like to stay at this hotel and you prefer to use this Airline you know you're going on the airline site you're going on Expedia I don't know what you doing you know you're booking your hotel you're whatever you you you tell your device this is what I want to do and anthropic takes over your device can control all the browsing and all the clicking and just does that on your device as if it's you you follow me I think I do it's crazy so all the different things think of all the things that we're doing on our device right now where we have to click right um that goes away you just tell your device go and do this search for this uh buy new dishwashing liquid on Amazon for me you know again book this trip for me whatever transactions you're doing um on your device including in a business circumstance you know create an invoice for this customer or you know whatever that you know those kinds of things you will just tell your device to do it and anthropic in Google's AI will then take over your device and just just just do it for you and again whenever you hear this stuff I'm sure you have the same response as me which is like no way like I'm not going to trust AI to do this you know that kind of thing right but in time we will in time and and it's not going to take youo long it'll be just a few years before so I'll be able to take uh Claude I'm feeling a little low today could could you handle the podcast with Jean uh well you know you you laugh about that but uh Google notebook llm for you to upload audio to Google notbook LM and give it instructions and it will conduct its own podcast with whatever guest that you want so like so like think about it Lauren you've got I mean terabytes of of audio data from your I'm sure you're saving this all somewhere so you know you you have the ability even now although it'll get better in time to upload all those audio files to create you know an AI version of of Lauren um given instructions you're going to be interviewing this guy he's a a VP of sales at a custom a company that sells metal sprockets you know ask him questions that would be of interest to other salespeople and then in your voice that's what will happen crazy and if I do it with you you could do the same thing and neither one out of us would have to show up yeah first of all how can I not want to show up and talk to you Lauren I mean that would to me would be a cry no AI will ever replace you a shs well that's good to hear I'm I'm in favor of continuing to do this as well last question about this is there anything you recommend business owners do not to take the leap but just to be prepared and to keep up a little bit so that when the time comes they're ready to go uh two things uh number one talk to your software vendor okay I mean you know again into what's coming out with this stuff talk to a competent QuickBooks advisor uh good luck finding one but find one uh or talk to into it directly and say to them I'm using this system you know by the way not just into it any software that you're using uh I'm using this system this is what I'm using it for what do you have coming out what should I be aware of what should I be waiting for what what's on their they will tell you because their staff are being updated people know this stuff so you can start thinking about it um talk to all the vendors of your software products that are core to your business and then the second thing is that once you decide which vendors got the best stuff coming like say you talk to Salesforce say you're a Salesforce person and you know you're like oh my God Salesforce what they're coming out with is amazing it's gonna you know you know I can interact with my customers I can we can get automatic quotes done we can whatever they're saying that like you're like this is going to be great then depending on the vendor and the application start cleaning up your data make sure that because your data sucks okay like my data sucks uh we you need to make sure it's cleaned up um and it's right and it's updated and there's controls in place so that uh it can't get you know bad data K it into your database because if you're going to start rolling out all of salesforce's AI things which is great you can't do it if your data is not good so beat up your vendors and clean up your data this year uh it's gonna coming up beat up your vendors and clean up your data I like that um anything you're working on that we should look for this week yeah uh buying a business I'm writing a piece on that for the inquire uh there's something like the Biden Administration just announced last week there were like 20 million new startup applications um since he took office so that's I mean it's amazing and it's exciting um I you know I feel that you shouldn't be starting up a business you should be buy I mean I realize a lot of these are side gigs and small you know whatever but I truly feel that you should be buying a business not um not starting up a business and uh talked to a couple of Brokers with some advice on buying a business so that's what I'm doing that sounds like fun we may end up discussing that or or maybe one of our Bots will have that conversation coming up Gene marks is a CPA who writes weekly on small business for the guardian the hill the Philadelphia inquire the Washington Times the Chicago Daily Herald Forbes and entrepreneur you can also hear them on ABC radio's I on the world with John Bachelor Jean hosts two small business podcasts with paychecks Corporation and the Hartford thank you Jean thank you Lauren see you soon have a great week everybody [Music]