Jason Niemi – DMSi Chief Product Officer
Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now. It’s in the headlines, in your inbox, and in conversations across every industry. The technology is evolving so fast that it’s hard to know where to begin without feeling like you’re already behind.
The good news is that you don’t need a dedicated AI team or a massive budget to start seeing real value. You just need a practical place to start. This playbook gives you exactly that.
Start with Governance
Before you explore tools or use cases, it’s important to establish governance around how your team uses AI. Governance covers the full picture: who can use AI, which tools are approved, what they can be used for, how your data is protected, and who is accountable when something goes wrong. It also requires those rules to be communicated clearly across your organization.
To start the governance conversation at your business, consider these questions:
- Who in our organization is allowed to use AI tools and for what purposes?
- Which tools are approved for business use and which aren’t?
- What types of information are off-limits to enter into any AI tool?
After your AI governance is established, your team needs to understand the rules and the reasoning behind them. Consider building a simple AI use policy and walking your team through it directly. A quick training session or a one-page reference guide can go a long way. Reinforce it when new employees join and revisit it as your tools evolve. The goal is to build habits that protect your business and make AI adoption sustainable from day one.
Evaluate the Tools
There are two types to consider for getting started: native and standalone.
Native or embedded tools live inside a specific software program, such as Copilot in Microsoft 365. They are built for that ecosystem. For example, Copilot can help manage your calendar and prioritize your inbox. Zoom’s AI feature provides meeting summaries with action items and owners.
Standalone tools like Claude or ChatGPT work differently. They’re suited for open-ended tasks: brainstorming ideas, researching a topic, or analyzing documents you drop in. For example, a buyer preparing for a supplier negotiation can paste in a price increase document and ask AI to summarize the impact and suggest talking points.
Just a note: Some standalone tools have both a free version and enterprise licensing options. The enterprise options include privacy protections that free versions don’t. Make sure you’re using an enterprise version with appropriate privacy protections before putting any sensitive business information in.
Find Your Use Cases
After you’ve established your governance and tools, you can start to identify where AI can solve a real problem or remove a bottleneck in your business. Here are three places to start.
- Organize Your Thinking. One of the simplest wins is using AI to organize your thoughts. Put your bullet points into AI and ask it to structure and draft them, then step in to refine. On mobile, you can dictate your thoughts instead of typing. For example, an operations manager can talk through a new warehouse process and have AI turn it into a structured outline for the next meeting.
- Analyze Your Data. Most organizations have dense reports that someone must review and decide what to act on. Instead, hand the data to AI and ask for insights and actionable items. Consider an operations manager who feeds AI a monthly inventory report and asks it to flag slow-moving SKUs or unusual purchasing patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed until they become a problem.
- Turn Chaos into Actionable Steps. How often do you receive a PDF from a customer, a photo of a handwritten note, or a letter listing items for a quote? Drop those into AI and ask it to extract the information. You can even train it to output a specific format, like a CSV that matches your system’s import structure.
Leverage Your Software Partners
You don’t have to figure this out alone. Your technology partners are a valuable resource as you explore how AI can work for your business. Consult with them on how to combine the power of AI with your existing processes. Reach out to their service teams to ask about where AI can make an impact.
Trust your Team
One more thing to remember: AI makes mistakes. It can misinterpret data, miss context, or return information that sounds confident but isn’t accurate. Keep a human in the loop. Trust your team’s judgment to validate what it produces and make the final call. The goal isn’t to hand over the wheel. It’s to have a smarter co-pilot.
Getting started with AI doesn’t require a massive investment or a technology overhaul. It requires intention. To maximize your value from AI, know why you’re using it, protect your business while you do, and find the places where it genuinely removes friction. Start small, build confidence, and expand from there. The organizations that will get the most out of AI aren’t necessarily the ones that move the fastest — they’re the ones that move thoughtfully.
This article originally appeared in the publications Building Products Digest and Merchant Magazine.