AI conversations are everywhere. Shipped AI solutions are not.
Cleaning/vacuum cleaner company Bissell worked with AI analytics firm Domo to cut through the buzz to deliver AI-based automation fast. In two days, teams spanning customer experience, product design, engineering, sales, and marketing built five functional workflows to change how the organization operates and interacts with data.
“Everyone is talking about AI, but the hype often rises far above actual tangible value,” said Brandon Walsh, director of Data & Analytics at Bissell, during a presentation at the Domopalooza conference in March. “Instead, we decided to build some AI tools that could make a difference immediately in our business.”
The company defined five business problems it hoped to solve with AI. It partnered with Domo and arranged for key personnel to be available for two full days to build the necessary tools.
From AI hype to hands-on execution
Walsh noticed that some of his associates were leery of AI.
Having experimented with a free generative AI tool, they were not convinced that tangible results were obtainable. Further, they were fiddling with AI in their spare time rather than coming to terms with the technology. He secured executive buy-in and arranged for them to dedicate two days to the project without distractions.
“I built an Amazon sales agent in one hour using Domo, so I wanted to show people what was possible,” said Walsh. “The goal was to prove the value of AI in days rather than months.”
He picked two actual problems from his own area and asked around for other challenges. Five use cases were finalized. Two of the problem areas concerned customer service (issue tracking and post-launch excellence, or PLE); one concerned marketing reporting; one concerned resource planning for product design; and one concerned sales reporting on top-selling items.
Most of these issues consumed hundreds of hours of manual work annually. Those responsible for these functions were gathered in one room and given the task of developing AI apps and agents in Domo to solve these problems.
A closer look at AI in action
PLE tracking and analytics required individuals to visit various dashboards, PDFs, and PowerPoints to manually gather data. The AI agent developed by the analytics team lead and a Domo support consultant during the meeting discovered several key trends quickly:
- A 20% rise in users seeking additional resources (instructional videos, manuals, or guidance on using specific Bissell product features)
- A 27% rise in users asking general questions about products
- A 15% increase in troubleshooting requests, such as users with power problems with non-functioning devices.
“It used to take eight to 10 hours in the past to find out emerging trends as you had to visit multiple places,” said Walsh. “Now it takes five to 10 minutes, and we have an agent that can support future product launches.”
Similar successes were achieved with four other use cases during the two-day sprint. As a result, Walsh firmly recommends the approach of removing key people from their day-to-day activities so they can come to grips with the potential of AI for their areas.
Another tip: Bypass the AI hype by getting people into action. He suggested getting staff to attempt something tangible with AI to learn from the experience. It may not be perfect, but it gets the ball rolling. He thinks too many people have toyed with AI using consumer-based tools and gained a negative impression.
“Start with real pain points and make sure your data is ready in a platform like Domo, or you will spend all your time dealing with data problems rather than building apps and agents,” said Walsh.
For more ways to turn AI into a practical work tool, check out these 12 proven prompt templates designed to help professionals write, plan, analyze, and get better results from AI.
