Hear from our Dicker Data team on how they leverage generative AI in their everyday roles.

Ashleigh Cameron Ashleigh Cameron Marketing & Communications Manager
Ashleigh Cameron

How Dicker Data employees are using AI at work

Will I lose my job to AI? This is a common fear (among others) around the subject of artificial intelligence. Reality is, AI is here to stay and businesses that don't adopt AI will be left behind. If you don't incorporate AI into your role, an AI robot won't replace you, but someone who leverages AI to their advantage might.  

"If you're not using AI every day, it's probably time to retire or certainly change industries," Steve Brazier, Canapii co-founder & former Canalys CEO - TechX 2024 

A strong statement from a distinguished tech industry expert. The world has collectively done a 180 since the introduction of AI, so with all the buzz around its incorporation into PCs… how often are employees using it and what are they using it for? We’ve gone on a mission to find out who at Dicker Data is embedding the use of AI into their daily roles. 

Let’s start with the General Manager of Marketing and Strategy, Ben Johnson, who has shaped AI into the form of a personal assistant.  

“Instead of opening my emails as soon as I get to work, I open Copilot, and I'll ask it ‘what have I got on today’. It helps me prepare for my meetings and it will do some really cool stuff. It will go through and say OK, Ben, you've got a meeting with Jane Doe at 10am and in that meeting are these three other people. Here are the people you have met, and here’s people you haven't met. Then it will go through and check my email and find files from emails over the last month that we think might be relevant to the meeting."

No one can be in two places at once, but AI lets you come close to doing that.   

“Because my schedule can be a little bit hectic, sometimes I’ll come into a meeting 10 minutes late, and I can just ask Copilot to catch me up on what's happened and it will provide me a bullet point summary of what's been discussed, where everyone's at, what the action points are. So, for me it's a velocity accelerator and it just means that I get more time back in my day." 

It’s feared AI might eventually replace human jobs, but this concern isn’t entirely accurate Ben explains. 

“People are worried about losing their jobs to AI and that's not really the case. People will lose their jobs to other people who know how to use AI and so by embracing new tech and being on the cutting edge of what's happening in our industry, not only in our role as a distributor, but also, you know, I think as leaders within the business, we need to be leaning into this and making sure we're across what's happening. When Chat GPT became publicly available I initially wanted to understand how to use it, and then my thought process went to, how can we use this for our team? How can this make our team move faster? How can this help our team remove that admin?"

As it turns out...  a vast number of employees at Dicker Data are using AI today. Andrew Young, who’s a Presales Specialist uses AI for a variety of tasks. 

“AI and in particular Generative AI, has been complementary to getting out first drafts for documents and presentations, guidance on commands and coding, image generation for my User Group events. As well as providing intelligent insights from Teams meetings - because I am terrible at remembering to take notes!" 

Most people can sympathise with that, now onto someone who’s gone above and beyond to make AI their everyday companion. Meet Ayden Tattersall an Account Manager, who’s declared AI is a solid love of his. He’s also done extensive research to understand how to use AI to its full potential. 

“I have built myself a bot named “Roboute Guilliman”. Roboute assists me with: Providing technical advice on a small scale (endpoint mostly ie: cpu, ram, gpu information). Explaining complex concepts in simpler terms and generating ideas for niche and small solutions for client-related challenges."

All the above saves Ayden precious time. 

"Time is the most useful commodity in an account managers day to day and the more time I have to make a customer feel positive with their experience with Dicker Data – the better.  It’s also helped me learn more about the turn of AI in the market and where it might potentially head. It’s also cool to have one of my favourite Warhammer characters answer my questions."

Then there’s other roles around the company where AI is being utilised in a different way. Members of our Design team use it to help edit photos such as: getting rid of backgrounds easily, cloning images and ultimately saving lots of time. Team members like Amir Kalil, who is a Senior Business Manager have started experimenting with it, but don't rely on it. 

"I wouldn't say it’s become part of my routine, but I do use it quite often for several specific areas: To brainstorm marketing ideas. To rewrite emails if I think they sound a bit awkward. I use Copilot to summarise long email trails to save time. I sometimes use AI to help me format tables. It ultimately improves my productivity and gives me ideas to improve the business."

The use of Copilot has become especially useful in meetings. Sean Stephens, National HP Poly Business Development Manager, says AI has completely changed the game. 

“If you have a Copilot license, you can get it to transcribe meetings for you. If your team has loaded their voice and video profiles into Microsoft Teams you can ask copilot to assign action items, organise follow up meetings and even send emails. This is a lifesaver if you’re late or miss a meeting completely! This also means that those who have a busy schedule don’t necessarily have to sit through every single meeting, Copilot will summarise and organise notes from the meetings – making your life easier.” 

Now that you’ve seen how our team is integrating AI, how does your business stack up? 

We’ve identified three key areas of opportunity for partners in the AI landscape: Generative AI, Embedded AI and Full Stack AI. Right now, Embedded AI offers the biggest potential. It’s crucial to provide your customers with AI-enabled solutions alongside traditional technology solutions, and then educate them on the benefits, especially the competitive advantage AI can bring. 

Not sure when to begin? Check out our 7-step guide on how to get started with AI. Access our “Understanding the AI opportunity” report and conduct a readiness assessment for your business and end-customers.

As your local value-added distributor, we’re here to support you every step of the way. At Dicker Data, we are committed to boosting profitability and success in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). Our comprehensive AI solution stack includes user-centric applications, embedded AI, and full-stack AI infrastructure. We help partners understand project requirements and identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities for AI solutions. 

If you want to discuss the AI opportunity, please get in touch with our team. Reach out to your local Dicker Data representative, or email sales@dickerdata.com.au 

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