{"id":65271,"date":"2025-06-05T13:41:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=65271"},"modified":"2025-06-05T13:41:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:41:36","slug":"ai-phobic-fear-of-the-unknown-adds-drag-on-acceptance-rate-for-dealers-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2025\/06\/ai-phobic-fear-of-the-unknown-adds-drag-on-acceptance-rate-for-dealers-clients\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Phobic: Fear of the Unknown Adds Drag on Acceptance Rate for Dealers, Clients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those of a certain age can chuckle at the thought of older people struggling with technology. Remember grandmom trying to use a television remote for the first time? Or that time when your father opened 47 windows when attempting to board the information superhighway. And we would hold in a giggle as we learned over their shoulders to show them where they went wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it\u2019s not so hilarious anymore, now that new tech has invaded our generation. But we\u2019re not alone. Users of every age group are marveling at artificial intelligence (AI) and struggling to understand how they can make it work for them. Some people will want to know \u201cwhere do you go to, um, AI things?\u201d The questions abound. How does it work? What allows it to be so intelligent? What exactly can it do? And is that damn thing going to swoop in and take my job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in this vein that we open the June State of the Industry report on AI. Our panel of dealer tech wizards offer their views on how it\u2019s being embraced, overcoming objections and cultivating a healthy, non-adversarial attitude toward it. Most importantly, it\u2019s about showing both team members and end-users that it has boundless possibilities and can alleviate those annoyingly mundane tasks. That, in turn, can take much of the burden out of their professional lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rich Brandenburg, DME<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Like many dealers, Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises of Cincinnati wanted its foray into AI to be a value-add and not a substitute for the personal touch that drives business, noted Rich Brandenburg, senior vice president of sales. He credits working with West McDonald of the advisory firm GoWest.ai with alleviating concerns in leveraging ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tool itself wasn\u2019t overly complex,\u201d Brandenburg said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t need deep technical training, just some basic guidance on how to use it effectively. Once our team got comfortable with it, they quickly started finding ways to use it in their day-to-day work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work Differently<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Clay Ostlund, Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the keys to getting the most out of the technology is conditioning people to work differently without making them feel threatened or frustrated. Pointing out several technology shifts over the years, Clay Ostlund\u2014the president of the IT division for Marco\u2014notes there are pivotal moments in time where people have to change, and the AI movement is one of them. There are two choices: embrace it, and become more efficient. Or eschew it, and make the replacement fear a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like to say that AI is not going to replace anybody’s job. It’s learning how not to use AI is what’s going to replace your job,\u201d Ostlund said. \u201cPeople have to learn how to use it and embrace it. I can use Microsoft Copilot to summarize meetings and create action steps. I have more capacity than I did six months ago. You can drop a PowerPoint presentation into AI and ask it to create an elevator pitch. Something that would take a team of people four hours has now been reduced to four minutes. But not every person is going to make the transition to work differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chris Miller, POA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The fear of the unknown related to working with AI still causes a degree of trepidation among the team members at Pacific Office Automation (POA). Chris Miller, vice president of technology and solutions for the Beaverton, Oregon-based dealership, points out that the more they dabble with it, the more their confidence increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, there\u2019s an acceptance chasm between millennials\/Gen Zs and baby boomers\/Generation X. \u201cA rep who recently graduated will definitely gravitate more towards using it than someone in their mid-50s,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAs [older employees] see the benefit and how much time it saves them, they want to utilize it a bit more. They\u2019re just a little more cautious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lauren Hanna, Blue Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some dealers, such as Cleveland-based Blue Technologies, employed a thoughtful approach when it embarked on AI applications. Lauren Hanna, division president, noted how privacy and transparency were the boxes AI needed to check off, and any tools needed to dovetail with the dealer\u2019s overall service philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a bit surprised, however, at how downstream some team members were in their use of AI technologies. It was important to Hanna that they understood how to use it responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was an eye-opener; it showed us how important it was to set clear guidelines and put policies in place, so we all stay on the same page about what\u2019s appropriate and secure,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, our technology team reviews all new AI solutions to weigh the risks and benefits before we put anything into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training Wheels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chris Williams, ACP<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While Chris Williams\u2014director of marketing for All Copy Products (ACP) in Denver\u2014is an unabashed AI fan who believes the business community is only scratching the surface of what the technology can do, it\u2019s important to vet platforms that have policies in place to secure data. But as for usage, the technology can need to be restrained\u2014give it guardrails, as he noted\u2014via specific prompting. Allowing AI too much latitude can have unwanted results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been problems with AI creating incorrect information on its own when it couldn\u2019t find anything,\u201d Williams added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, he\u2019s been working on AI agents specialized in ACP\u2019s products and services. Thus, clients or prospects can use the agent to ask a question about anything related to an offering, and that agent will scan the product documentation that Williams fed into it to produce an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was building that agent, one directive I had to give it was, if you don’t know the answer to the question, don’t make something up,\u201d he said. \u201cI instructed the agent to say \u2018I’m sorry I don’t have that information. Go to this resource and you may be able to find what you need.\u2019 That’s just a simple guardrail that can avoid those kind of issues going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Trepidation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Justin Drabouski, Fraser<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The reaction to using AI internally can often vary on a department-by-department basis. Take Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania. Its sales department has long been receptive to technology innovations that can improve their processes, so the introduction of AI was warmly embraced, noted Justin Drabouski, vice president of technology and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the company\u2019s leadership had made the decision to leverage AI in a way that would augment staff, not replace them, team members in other departments were concerned what the tech could mean for their positions in the long run. \u201cWe spent a lot of time, effort and energy in upscaling our existing team to bring them along for the journey,\u201d Drabouski said. \u201cSo when I started talking about AI with the rest of the organization, it didn’t occur to me that not everyone would will be excited about bringing some of these capabilities in that will help reduce the burden on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He certainly empathizes with team members who fear that their core value as an employee is being diminished. \u201cI\u2019m an engineer at heart, it\u2019s my background,\u201d Drabouski noted. \u201cIf my primary behavior is to be the person who solves your problem, and now you\u2019re leaving me with one less problem to solve, I could potentially see that as a decrease in the value that I bring the company or to the customer. So as we\u2019re having conversations, not everyone is going to look at it favorably. So we need to educate them on our vision and work with the teams to guide them through this process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of a certain age can chuckle at the thought of older people struggling with technology. Remember grandmom trying to use a television remote for the first time? Or that time when your father opened 47 windows when attempting to board the information superhighway. And we would hold in a giggle as we learned over their shoulders to show them where they went wrong. Well, it\u2019s not so hilarious anymore, now that new tech has invaded our generation. But we\u2019re not alone. Users of every age group are marveling at artificial intelligence (AI) and struggling to understand how they can make it work for them. Some people will want to know \u201cwhere do you go to, um, AI things?\u201d The questions abound. How does it work? What allows it to be so intelligent? What exactly can it do? And is that damn thing going to swoop in and take my job? It is in this vein that we open the June State of the Industry report on AI. Our panel of dealer tech wizards offer their views on how it\u2019s being embraced, overcoming objections and cultivating a healthy, non-adversarial attitude toward it. Most importantly, it\u2019s about showing both team members and end-users that it has boundless possibilities and can alleviate those annoyingly mundane tasks. That, in turn, can take much of the burden out of their professional lives. Like many dealers, Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises of Cincinnati wanted its foray into AI to be a value-add and not a substitute for the personal touch that drives business, noted Rich Brandenburg, senior vice president of sales. He credits working with West McDonald of the advisory firm GoWest.ai with alleviating concerns in leveraging ChatGPT. \u201cThe tool itself wasn\u2019t overly complex,\u201d Brandenburg said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t need deep technical training, just some basic guidance on how to use it effectively. Once our team got comfortable with it, they quickly started finding ways to use it in their day-to-day work.\u201d Work Differently One of the keys to getting the most out of the technology is conditioning people to work differently without making them feel threatened or frustrated. Pointing out several technology shifts over the years, Clay Ostlund\u2014the president of the IT division for Marco\u2014notes there are pivotal moments in time where people have to change, and the AI movement is one of them. There are two choices: embrace it, and become more efficient. Or eschew it, and make the replacement fear a self-fulfilling prophecy. \u201cI like to say that AI is not going to replace anybody’s job. It’s learning how not to use AI is what’s going to replace your job,\u201d Ostlund said. \u201cPeople have to learn how to use it and embrace it. I can use Microsoft Copilot to summarize meetings and create action steps. I have more capacity than I did six months ago. You can drop a PowerPoint presentation into AI and ask it to create an elevator pitch. Something that would take a team of people four hours has now been reduced to four minutes. But not every person is going to make the transition to work differently.\u201d The fear of the unknown related to working with AI still causes a degree of trepidation among the team members at Pacific Office Automation (POA). Chris Miller, vice president of technology and solutions for the Beaverton, Oregon-based dealership, points out that the more they dabble with it, the more their confidence increases. Not surprisingly, there\u2019s an acceptance chasm between millennials\/Gen Zs and baby boomers\/Generation X. \u201cA rep who recently graduated will definitely gravitate more towards using it than someone in their mid-50s,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAs [older employees] see the benefit and how much time it saves them, they want to utilize it a bit more. They\u2019re just a little more cautious about it.\u201d Some dealers, such as Cleveland-based Blue Technologies, employed a thoughtful approach when it embarked on AI applications. Lauren Hanna, division president, noted how privacy and transparency were the boxes AI needed to check off, and any tools needed to dovetail with the dealer\u2019s overall service philosophy. She was a bit surprised, however, at how downstream some team members were in their use of AI technologies. It was important to Hanna that they understood how to use it responsibly. \u201cThat was an eye-opener; it showed us how important it was to set clear guidelines and put policies in place, so we all stay on the same page about what\u2019s appropriate and secure,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, our technology team reviews all new AI solutions to weigh the risks and benefits before we put anything into practice.\u201d Training Wheels While Chris Williams\u2014director of marketing for All Copy Products (ACP) in Denver\u2014is an unabashed AI fan who believes the business community is only scratching the surface of what the technology can do, it\u2019s important to vet platforms that have policies in place to secure data. But as for usage, the technology can need to be restrained\u2014give it guardrails, as he noted\u2014via specific prompting. Allowing AI too much latitude can have unwanted results. \u201cThere\u2019s been problems with AI creating incorrect information on its own when it couldn\u2019t find anything,\u201d Williams added. As an example, he\u2019s been working on AI agents specialized in ACP\u2019s products and services. Thus, clients or prospects can use the agent to ask a question about anything related to an offering, and that agent will scan the product documentation that Williams fed into it to produce an answer. \u201cWhen I was building that agent, one directive I had to give it was, if you don’t know the answer to the question, don’t make something up,\u201d he said. \u201cI instructed the agent to say \u2018I’m sorry I don’t have that information. Go to this resource and you may be able to find what you need.\u2019 That’s just a simple guardrail that can avoid those kind of issues going forward.\u201d Understanding Trepidation The reaction to using AI internally can often vary on a department-by-department basis. Take Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania. Its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":65272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[1637,798,3221,2738,545,1010],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65274,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65271\/revisions\/65274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}