K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
Companies like C3.ai and Palantir have shown that selling AI technology can be quite lucrative. After all, these companies command significant market caps and are growing quickly.
Yet selling AI technology remains difficult. Customers often want customized solutions that are based on their unique data sets. There are also the issues of adoption. The fact is that many AI projects fail to go beyond the proof-of-concept phase.
Then what are some ways to sell AI technologies? Let’s take a look:
It’s Not About Platforms: Many AI vendors extol their “platforms” that can seemingly solve any problems. But this approach is usually off the mark. Let’s face it, there are already top platforms that have solid features and powerful ecosystems.
“Businesses should sell a solution to a problem,” said Muddu Sudhakar, who is the CEO and founder of Aisera. “Customers will buy a platform when multiple solutions are acquired and there are the right integrations. Customers don't have free money sitting on the side just to invest in platforms.”
Sudhakar believes that an AI solution needs to show value within three to six months and there must be a return on investment within the first year.
Insights: It is often fuzzy as to what an AI system does. But for businesses, one of the most compelling aspects of this technology is about getting insights on tough questions.
Take the example of eightfold.ai. Founded in 2016, the company is focused on leveraging AI for the talent management category.
“A lot of the problems that organizations are looking to solve are intimidating because they don't always have a clear answer,” said Kamal Ahluwalia, who is the President of Eightfold.ai. “There's no one second solution to 'why can't I hire the right people' or 'what skills do I need to be teaching my team so we're ahead of the game in a few years?' But the data is there, and it's usually just not being looked at correctly, or it's not feasible to do so for thousands or millions of times over. AI is all about applying that data, at scale.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2021/08/27/how-to-sell-ai/?sh=24808b363177
Yet selling AI technology remains difficult. Customers often want customized solutions that are based on their unique data sets. There are also the issues of adoption. The fact is that many AI projects fail to go beyond the proof-of-concept phase.
Then what are some ways to sell AI technologies? Let’s take a look:
It’s Not About Platforms: Many AI vendors extol their “platforms” that can seemingly solve any problems. But this approach is usually off the mark. Let’s face it, there are already top platforms that have solid features and powerful ecosystems.
“Businesses should sell a solution to a problem,” said Muddu Sudhakar, who is the CEO and founder of Aisera. “Customers will buy a platform when multiple solutions are acquired and there are the right integrations. Customers don't have free money sitting on the side just to invest in platforms.”
Sudhakar believes that an AI solution needs to show value within three to six months and there must be a return on investment within the first year.
Insights: It is often fuzzy as to what an AI system does. But for businesses, one of the most compelling aspects of this technology is about getting insights on tough questions.
Take the example of eightfold.ai. Founded in 2016, the company is focused on leveraging AI for the talent management category.
“A lot of the problems that organizations are looking to solve are intimidating because they don't always have a clear answer,” said Kamal Ahluwalia, who is the President of Eightfold.ai. “There's no one second solution to 'why can't I hire the right people' or 'what skills do I need to be teaching my team so we're ahead of the game in a few years?' But the data is there, and it's usually just not being looked at correctly, or it's not feasible to do so for thousands or millions of times over. AI is all about applying that data, at scale.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2021/08/27/how-to-sell-ai/?sh=24808b363177
