Industry Voice: Knowledge is power: Why sharing AI know-how with customers is an important part of AI success

Organisations want to invest in AI but many don't know where to start. Often, they may not know how the technology applies to their organisation's unique needs and ways of working.

While it's important to provide customers with enhanced customer support and AI-powered products and services, channel leaders must also be on-hand to provide resources and guidance when it comes to AI.

In a recent survey, CRN found that 45 per cent of respondents agreed that their customers do not yet have the resources to support their AI ambitions.

James Woods, Public Cloud Director UK&I at Arrow emphasised that sharing expertise around AI can help tackle the AI skills shortage:

"[Education] is only going to help with further customer acquisition and broader AI knowledge and skills. There's lots of tools available and gamification-based training around this which helps with getting that skill level where it needs to be."

Survey respondents were asked to describe the ways they have supported their customers in implementing AI. A number of responses centred around knowledge and resource sharing. Responses included providing webinars to "demystify and decipher" the technology, putting customers in touch with AI specialists, providing insights and thought leadership, providing blog posts, and responding to their "fears and expectations" surrounding AI.

One respondent shared that customers ask them to provide guidance on how AI would best benefit them. This indicates that as well as the hardware, software, and infrastructure required to implement AI, those in the channel are also being relied upon to articulate the benefits of introducing AI functionality and how to prepare infrastructure and data.

Woods also said that channel organisations should look to pass on learnings and wins from their own AI implementation to their customers:

"it's really down to using some of these technologies yourself because in essence you become a case study that you can go and talk to your own customers about."

However, this is a two-way conversation. As well as providing suitable content to support their AI offerings, channel leaders should make sure they are engaging with customer to understand their needs, attitudes, and worries surrounding AI.

Knowledge, expertise and first-hand experience are key to filling the AI skills gap and many organisations will look to system integrators, VARs, and other channel partners to provide these essential resources.

Channel partners are uniquely placed to understand the specific needs of different markets, which is crucial as AI the impact of AI will vary depending on industry. There is an opportunity to demonstrate your value as a channel partner and a trusted resource, leading to future business.

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This Article is sponsored by Arrow