We’re at a point in time when “what’s your AI” tends to be a more common question than “have you started using AI?”. It has become commonplace in most about every workplace and around 55 % of large European companies already use it in some shape or form. But as the use has skyrocketed, the flip side of AI has started to show; the inconsistencies, the hallucinations, the mistakes. And forward-thinking channel-sales organizations have already started asking themselves the same question: if we can’t trust the AI to give our organization the right information, how can we trust it with partners?
It’s the million dollar question for the next few years. Because while many organizations have already started to use AI internally, the true benefits will come when companies can use AI to help those that work outside of their own domain.
This is where AI can make the biggest difference. Because this is where most companies are struggling today.
Deploying AI to your partner network
Think about it. It is relatively easy to work within your own domain. To share information and material. To manage support tickets and deals. To onboard and train new reps etc. But doing the same for partners and distributors is hard work. We typically don’t have as much control over what goes on in their organization, and tend to struggle to provide them with the enablement they need to truly be an extension of our companies.
This, in turn, means that your partner network could benefit immensely from getting access to an AI that can help them put together material and pitches, to answer questions about your products and suggest documents and training etc. But (and this is the question you need to think about) what would it take for you to feel safe deploying AI to partners?
Control, transparency and oversight
Odds are, whatever AI you deploy would need to be consistent and accurate at all times. Because what would happen if it gives the wrong information? If it pulls some data from the web and it ends up being two years old and totally wrong? What happens if partners get information they shouldn’t have access to, like a clinical study that hasn’t been approved or another partner’s pricing?
The truth is that consequences can range from terrible to catastrophic. Especially in regulated industries, when compliancy is everything. Which means that, if you are to deploy an AI to help partners in their everyday work, it needs to:
- Not hallucinate
- Only use information that you have approved
- Only use information that the partner should have access to
Partners NEED to trust your AI
Even if you’re not working in a regulated industry, where having a partner share outdated material can become a catastrophe, these things are key. Simply because the alternative, namely a run-of-the-mill AI that doesn’t have the necessary guardrails, risks eroding the trust that your partner puts in you. And if you partner no longer trusts you, or the information you share, the relationship is bound to sour.
So whether or not your industry is heavily regulated or not, it’s a good rule of thumb to only ever deploy an AI in your network if you yourself would trust it. And vice verse. Because if you second-guess the AI you’ve been using since the dawn of generic AI tools, it’s not trustworthy enough to have others partners using it.
