Key takeaways

Work with someone you trust to figure out what processes in your business could be enhanced by AI.

Don’t be afraid of AI - play with it, iterate and just get your hands dirty.

Two Auckland business owners have grasped the opportunity of Artificial Intelligence and are using it every day in their businesses.

Pure SEO founder, Richard Conway believes in his world of digital marketing he should be on top of AI technology and he has consulted with experts internationally on how he should integrate it into his business..

“The choice we face as marketers is to fear the change and buy our heads in the sand, or, as I have done, see the change as a massive opportunity to embrace, evolve, and adapt to change and lead our partners on the journey,” says Richard, who has appointed his own Chief AI Officer, Peter Mangin.

“AI is a fantastic tool to help enhance processes, to reduce friction and increase personalisation,” says Richard.

One example of how a company is using AI

At Pure SEO, AI has been used to create a bot or agent for each of the firm’s customers for internal use. The bot will be trained on all the customer emails, meeting notes and data.

“Our account managers can then use the bot to query that data in a much more efficient way than they would have before, especially as it will be trained on multiple data sources,” says the Pure SEO founder.

The digital marketer is helping his clients with questions and concerns about using AI in their businesses too.

“The best piece of advice would be to get your hands dirty and try things. Play with them, test and iterate,” he advises.

Embracing AI can lead to a whole new business

Matter Studio is another Auckland firm using AI and it has in fact led to the launch of a separate business. Heath Waugh is creative director and co-founder of established commercial photography studio, Shadowlands. He set up Matter after seeing the potential of AI technology for the photography sector.

Matter Studio uses AI juxtaposed with real photography to create next level product photography.

“The process involves generating an AI background then shooting the product in the studio in a cohesive manner with the background, and then compositing the two together,” explains Heath.

Using AI well needs a skilled person at the helm

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He stresses his business is able to make full use of AI tech thanks to his team’s 20 year background in commercial product photography.

“What everyone has discovered in the last year is that AI is just a tool. It is an amazingly effective tool in the hands of the right people but it still needs an experienced person driving it if you want a decent outcome,” says Heath.

The creative director advises businesses at the start of their AI journey to consult with someone from outside the business about the best task or process to be enhanced by AI.

“It can be about automating the mundane, giving you an ability to work faster and smarter or it can be using generative tools to unlock your creativity,” he says.

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