It's safe to say that AI has become ubiquitous in business. Organizations are using various AI-integrated tools and platforms to optimize data analysis, customer experience, software and product development, sales and marketing practices, and cybersecurity operations, evolving to advance further departments— the whole gamut of any 21st-century corporation. As the technology exponentially advances, Justin Geib, a sales veteran of 25 years, draws a roadmap for businesses to stay ahead of the curve.
Justin Geib, Vice President of Sales at Dell Technologies, is an expert in cloud infrastructure, AI, machine learning, and cybersecurity. Combined with his 15 years in sales leadership, successfully instituting his collaborative and results-driven approach to build teams that collaborate across departments for optimal performance, he's developed a wealth of knowledge about the bidirectional value that technologies and business operations bring to each other.
The most influential impact that Geib has observed in his time at the forefront of AI integration is a transformational flattening of organizational structures. Communication and the ability to correlate key data like marketing analytics and supply chain models between departments have built a new level of trust and cooperation within companies, enabling a far more productive template for day-to-day dealings. He's seen fewer redundant meetings, better resource allocation, optimized lead conversion, and better forecasting processes. Most importantly, AI removes layers of supervision that make businesses inefficient. A flattened organizational model allows for management levels, which were previously occupied overseeing their teams, to get more involved with their customers.
Additionally, after the pandemic, tech integration in daily operations and customer interactions is even more pronounced. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and hybrid work structures are in the process of becoming the norm— where it's feasible— as workers participate more, avoid commuting time, and reduce the burden of domestic responsibilities when they work from home. It's true for the other side as well, as clients are less willing to come into the office and hold meetings with potential partners. However, this doesn't stop the desire for in-person meetings.
'Virtual fatigue'— burnout that is associated with the excessive use of online video communication platforms— is real, and people sure remember how real it is. A biopsychosocial phenomenon where video communication, with its audio delays and simulated eye contact, has been correlated with perceptions of distrust and compensatory emotional labor that result in decreased pathways for dopamine to reach our receptors. Consequently, now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted, people may look for any excuse to hold in-person meetings even as remote work has become widespread.
"While there are some meetings with customers that still require conference rooms, like brainstorming sessions and certain presentations, day-to-day check-ins and updates are now completely remote," Geib describes. "But there is still a crucial need to bring people together, to be closer to the customer." Clients often prefer a local geographic connection as opposed to endless virtual meetings on their calendars. Moreover, meetings at restaurants and cafes can signify that the representatives they meet with are people with influence within their organizations— someone clients may want to maintain correspondence with.
Geib calls this high-level trend a 'geographic tightening of organizations,' where representatives who are geographically closer to their customers can stay visible and form personal relationships that are paramount to developing trust. "Building a champion within your customer is important," he adds. "You're building an ally that's going to speak on your and your company's behalf even when you're not in the room."
As more and more transactions move to the online space, customer bases and organizations alike will continue to develop their education in how to best employ still-burgeoning technologies like AI in tandem with the unique component of human connection that it simply cannot replace. To conclude, Geib states, "We use the tools to align better with clients before they ever walk through the door. In any meeting we take, when we are already ahead of that information, the conversation will always be infinitely more valuable."
