PulsePoint should wait to deploy the gen AI chatbot. Based on the reading, Jeannie seems to be experiencing FOMO, which is natural, but the technology is still not mature and the pace of development in the space is so fast that spending resources on development could be a waste when the tech becomes obsolete in the span of just a few months. The reading briefly touches on the “first-mover, fast-follower theory,” but Jeannie states that this time it “feels different.” History tends to repeat itself and you can pattern match to the past as pointed out by John through the examples of Facebook and Apple beating out MySpace and Napster. Waiting would allow them to observe competitor’s mistakes and learn from them and then deploy when the technology and market is more mature and ready.
In addition, moving too quickly risks alienating customers and damaging the company’s reputation, which takes years to develop but just a mistake to destroy. Orion, PulsePoint’s largest customer, raised concerns about data privacy and the loss of personal human relationships, which they felt is core to the company’s value proposition. Sure – sometimes customers don’t know what they want yet, but you cannot force new tech upon them unless it truly is revolutionary. The problem is the tech itself still has limitations, including hallucinations, privacy concerns, potential outages, and other challenges handling edge cases. In addition to potentially eroding trust and brand loyalty, eliminating sales employees immediately could negatively impact morale at the company because employees would constantly fear for their jobs if sales was eliminated at the drop of a hat.
At its current state, PulsePoint should focus on improving profitability, but should start experimenting with gen AI internally so they can keep up with the competitors and the pace of development, so there could be a smoother transition to a full AI integration in the future. By doing this, they can balance innovation with caution, ensuring they remain competitive without jeopardizing customer relationships and its reputation.
