TomorrowZone hosted the final Equipment Leasing and Finance Association Innovation Roundtable of the year, moderated by founder and CEO Deborah Reuben. Held on Nov. 21, this “AI showcase” provided attendees with demonstrations of available technology that is directly applicable to their businesses, as well as practical takeaways for getting started with and continued exploration of AI as an effective business tool.

The session’s presenters included Reuben, Jennica Burgh, director of operations for TomorrowZone; Moto Tohda, vice president, information systems at Tokyo Century USA; Martin Klotzman, director of marketing and CRM operations at Ivory Consulting; Darpan Saini, founder and CEO of App0; and Ankit Jain, head of innovation, data excellence and analytics for Siemens Financial Services. Below is one major takeaway from each speaker.

Deb Reuben: Strategic AI Adoption

Reuben emphasizes the importance of structured and intentional approaches to AI adoption, cautioning against diving in without a clear plan. She advocates using workshops and frameworks for aligning AI initiatives with organizational goals, identifying actionable use cases, and establishing measurable outcomes. Starting small with high-impact tasks allows businesses to experiment iteratively, building trust and refining applications while keeping humans in the loop to ensure accuracy and reliability. This mitigates risks like resource misallocation and uncoordinated workflows, fostering innovation while avoiding challenges like employee resistance and missed opportunities to create meaningful value.

Jennica Burgh: The Human Touch is Essential

Blindly trusting AI is a mistake. Think of AI as a tool to amplify human creativity and streamline complex workflows. In fact, Burgh advises, “Treat AI like an eager intern that’s going to make mistakes.” Because AI tools are still learning and need time and training to get smarter, it’s imperative for a human to be involved to not only check the work that AI does, but tell it how to improve. So, instead of assuming AI knows better (it doesn’t) and its first output will be accurate (most likely, it won’t be), interact with the tool and ask it to correct itself, or tell it how to correct itself, if what it delivers strays from the prompt provided.

Moto Tohda: Start Small and Contain the Risk

Tohda and his team started small with AI. Rather than jumping into the most complex business problem and expecting AI to have the capability and reliability to solve it, the Tokyo Century team started with small projects on an experimental basis in order to contain the risk factors associated with AI and reduce the impact of failure. Dedicate AI resources to areas where it can have an immediate impact; that way, employees can spend more of their time solving those complex business problems and even identifying areas within those larger issues where AI could assist.

Martin Klotzman: Improve the Tools You’re Already Using

Klotzman demonstrated how he uses a tool called ‘Einstein,’ which directly integrates into Salesforce and helps automate the customer interaction process. Einstein uses data from the Salesforce platform to personalize follow-up emails, in addition to providing conversation summaries from sales interactions. A simple upgrade or integration of AI can boost the effectiveness of a tool your company is already paying for; in Einstein’s case, salespeople can have more time to chase new leads and make their organization more money. Consider other areas of business where automation would directly lend itself to ROI, and identify an AI tool to fill this gap.

Darpan Saini: Maintain Your Credibility

Particularly if you are using AI in areas that impact customers, or that will otherwise be presented to stakeholders, Saini says it’s important to know how AI came to a decision and be able to explain the process and reliability of that tool. Being upfront and transparent about the use of AI creates trust with clients and stakeholders. Saini also advises to use AI only in areas that will have little to no impact on your business’s credibility; a small, AI-driven mistake in a high-impact area can dramatically bring your reputation down.

Ankit Jain: Keep it Simple

Like Tohda, Jain advises against jumping too deeply into AI right away. Instead of using the most advanced models available, implement user-friendly AI tools. This streamlines the adoption process, making it easier for teams to embrace and integrate advanced technology into their workflows. Additionally, intuitive tools reduce the learning curve, allowing businesses to quickly leverage AI’s capabilities for enhanced productivity and decision-making.

Using AI now and getting ahead of the curve will be essential for keeping up with the pace that other companies and industries are setting for technological advancement. If AI isn’t already in your strategy for 2025, now is the time to reconsider.