Deep dive into Insight's AI strategy and plans Credit: Mike Morgan As organisations re-evaluate the integral role of technology in their operations, a new category of buyers is coming to the forefront. Mike Morgan, Insight Enterprises’ SVP and APAC managing director, acknowledged this trend, noting that the changing landscape prompted Insight to transform its business model into that of a ‘solution integrator.’ “These new buyers in the market are not that interested in negotiating the complexities of the IT supply chain,” Morgan said. “Our go-to-market allows us to have a thought leadership capability where we’re helping businesses design how technology can work in their business context, right through to being able to do the heavy lifting of transacting and everything in between and provide support in the journey.” In response to changing market dynamics, Insight developed its own business strategy around being a ‘solution integrator.’ “This is hugely valuable to our clients and the timing of genAI couldn’t have been better in lighting up the value proposition,” he said. In regard to this, Morgan said it was doing a lot of assessment work around security and data to ensure organisations have their ‘house’ to get the best out of artificial intelligence. “We’re having a parallel track where we’re saying get your house in order there, but don’t lose sight of the real prize, which is game-changing AI. That’s where we move beyond personal productivity to clients that are not only automating their business but actually creating new lines of business or new solutions that were previously not thought of or possible,” Morgan said. “The conversation starts with ‘we want to be in AI now – what is it, what does it do and how do we make it valuable?’ And the easiest way for companies to tick that box in the short term is to lean into ‘everyday AI’. “We’re driving that, particularly with Microsoft, but it’s also the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true value proposition if you really get serious about AI.” While at the organisational level, AI carries high-risk and more investment for more rewards, Morgan said the next 12 months, this will continue to grow as the industry evolves. “A lot of what we’re doing is helping clients to navigate their way through the hyperbole and to make things relevant for them,” he said. Morgan pointed out that its close relationship with Microsoft meant that it was the first company globally to have an internal instance of Microsoft’s version of ChatGPT, which was rebranded to InsightGPT on a private Azure tenant. “The reason we did that is because we have to be ahead of our clients in real world experiences, and not just be replaying PowerPoint presentations from vendors and analysts, but actually make this real. “That’s where we see our role has gone from being a part of a supply chain to now being the nexus between business, opportunity, transformation, market direction, products and technologies and bringing all that together for real-world business value,” he said. “The portfolio of what we offer our clients today is different to what it was five years ago, it’s evolving rapidly.” Insight has grown to more than 14,000 staff globally in 23 countries, and last year, it generated just shy of US$20 billion in revenue for Microsoft. In APAC, Morgan said it exceeded more than US$1 billion in revenue for the first time. “Most of the cool stuff that’s happening today is actually underpinned by the Microsoft ecosystem, so having the reseller background plus the expert services piece, our growing managed services and global capability gives us a super compelling ability to knit all that together,” he said. Looking back on Insight’s acquisitions over the last 10 years, a majority have been services companies, which Morgan said has helped towards making its transition to a solutions integrator, faster. “We have more ability today than we’ve ever had to take innovation harvested in one location and then propagate it into multiple locations without having to replicate everything,” he said. Insight APAC CTO, Veli Vanamo said it had taken a purposeful stance over the last couple of years to be ‘client zero’. “What we’ve understood is the days of preparing for a product launch, being part of a private beta for the product, preparing training and enablement, and preparing offers, can no longer sustain anyone,” he said. “We need to be using this technology internally in order to understand the features that are coming and how to best adopt them, utilise and operate them, and then how to talk to clients about unlocking the value in the technology.” Vanamo added it has many developments underway, particularly in relation to the ‘SaaS-ification’ of data and data mesh with Microsoft Fabric. “Last year, we were very busy investing in a couple of accelerators that we let globally from Australia and our region in APAC,” Vanamo said. “Insight Path is our packaged enterprise integration suite that is now patented and trademarked. It was created here in Australia by the team and taken globally. We’ve been on a journey including optimisation and governance services that we provide as a value-add.” Game-changing AI mass impact The 2023 Work Trends Index indicates that 70 per cent of employees find AI tools like Copilot boost productivity and work quality. Beyond everyday AI, game-changing AI focuses on transforming business processes, client interactions and new service offerings. One example of this was Insight’s work with Dulux’s woodcare brand, Cabots. Insight developed an AI-powered chatbot prototype using Microsoft’s advanced AI and cloud technologies to provide scalable customer support. Named Cabot’s Project Assistant, the company built the solution as part of Microsoft’s AI First Movers Program. The chatbot prototype uses Microsoft’s advanced AI and cloud technologies – including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cosmos DB – to answer the most frequently asked questions about Cabot’s’ wood care products. It can provide customers with product recommendations, advice on product application and maintenance, and solutions to problems they encounter during DIY projects. The responses are based on the company’s extensive product knowledge and customer interaction history, which have been used to train the chatbot. As the project assistant can operate 24/7, it also freed up the company’s help and advice teams to focus on more complex queries – boosting customer satisfaction and engagement. In another instance, Tourism NT appointed Insight to create a unique and engaging chatbot experience for potential visitors while helping to promote tourism in the Northern Territory. The chatbot was designed to provide visitors with personalised recommendations for activities and experiences based on the prompts added to the chatbot, making it easier for them to plan their trip and discover what Northern Territory has to offer. The chatbot was powered by OpenAI’s GPT generative AI features and could engage in distinct conversations while keeping user data secure and ensuring interactions remained suitable and ethical. To attract customers to the platform, the team partnered with Australian personality Abbie Chatfield as their ‘Chief Sensory Officer for Summer in the NT.’ This chatbot experience proved to be an enormous success with over one thousand conversations initiated with the chatbot within the first 72 hours of the launch and 1.54 million consumers connected with ChatNT via social media. 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