Imagine hiring an employee who never sleeps, works faster than an entire team, and is available 24/7, 365 days a year. They’re incredibly creative, highly organised, and deliver consistently high-quality results. What’s more, their return on investment is off the scale, revolutionising your workflows and driving your business forward in ways you never thought possible.
Now imagine that twice a year, this exceptional employee makes a mistake. Just twice. Would you sack them for those occasional errors? Or would you consider it madness to let them go?
This is the question insolvency practitioners and other professionals should be asking themselves about generative AI. And possibly more importantly, if your competitors embrace it while you sit on the sidelines, what happens to your business over time?
Let’s explore these questions and consider how tools like VAi, my AI bot that supports insolvency practitioners with company insolvency matters, can transform your work.
The Case for Generative AI: Your Best Employee
In many ways, generative AI can be viewed as the ultimate employee:
• Speed and efficiency: AI tools can produce reports, draft emails, letters, files notes and other documents, analyse data, and even create marketing content faster than any team of humans. For insolvency practitioners, VAi can provide instant advice, draft documents, provide solutions, and manage routine queries without needing lunch breaks or sleep.
• Consistency: AI doesn’t have off days. It doesn’t get tired, distracted, or overwhelmed. It doesn’t suffer hangovers.
• Availability: AI works around the clock. Need support at 2am? No problem. VAi is always there.
• Cost-effectiveness: The upfront cost of implementing AI can sometimes be significant – but in the case of VAI isn’t – but the long-term return on investment is extraordinary. AI scales effortlessly, handling growing workloads without additional salaries, pensions, or training costs.
But what if, despite all its brilliance, AI gets something wrong once in a while?
The Human Perspective
Let’s put this into a human context. Imagine you employ a superstar insolvency specialist. They’re the best in the industry – their work is exemplary, clients love them, and they bring in significant revenue. But twice a year, they make a mistake. Perhaps they miss a key detail in a report or misunderstand a client’s request.
Would you fire them for these occasional lapses? Of course not. You’d acknowledge that no one is perfect, and their exceptional performance far outweighs the rare missteps.
Ask yourself… who was really at fault for those mistakes? Could it be you, and not the ai? Did you use an AI for a purpose it’s not designed for? Did you fail to prepare the best prompt you could to enable it to do its work properly? Did you fail to review what the ai produced, acting as its backstop? Are those mistakes all the ai’s fault?
Now let’s flip the script. AI makes two mistakes a year, and suddenly people are questioning its reliability. Why do we hold AI to such an impossibly high standard, one that we would never expect of a human employee?
This double standard can prevent businesses from embracing AI’s transformative potential.
The Risk of Falling Behind
Let’s address the bigger question: what happens if your competitors adopt generative AI while you don’t? If they take on that super-employee you let go…
- Improved productivity: Firms using AI can complete tasks faster, leaving them more time to focus on winning new business.
- Cost reduction: AI can handle repetitive tasks more cheaply than hiring additional staff.
- Client satisfaction: Quick and accurate responses, like those provided by VAi, enhance client experience and trust.
- Innovation: AI frees up time for creativity, enabling firms to develop new services and solutions.
If your competitor takes the plunge and you don’t, their efficiency, cost savings, and ability to innovate will leave you trailing behind. Over time, the gap between you and them will widen, and catching up will become increasingly difficult, if not impossible.
In the world of insolvency practice, where trust and professionalism are paramount, falling behind on AI adoption will harm your reputation as a forward-thinking, client-focused firm.
The VAi Revolution
Generative AI isn’t just a futuristic concept – it’s here, and it’s transforming industries. VAi is a perfect example of how AI can revolutionise insolvency practices:
• Advice on demand: VAi provides instant, accurate advice on company insolvency matters.
• Document preparation: Tedious, time-consuming tasks like drafting documents are handled in seconds.
• Client support: VAi never clocks off, ensuring your clients receive support whenever they need it.
These capabilities aren’t just about improving efficiency; they’re about enhancing the quality of service you provide.
Why AI Standards Should Be Realistic
It’s worth reflecting on the double standard applied to AI. When a human colleague makes a mistake, we understand. If it were a woman who made a mistake, you would not then choose to employ all men. And vice-versa. You would not blank an entire genre. But when AI falters, people are often very quick to criticise and then apply blockers to all genres of AI.
The truth is, no tool – human or artificial – is infallible. The real question is whether the benefits of AI outweigh the occasional hiccup. For generative AI, the answer is always a resounding yes.
Mistakes are part of growth, and AI is improving all the time. In the rare event that AI does get something wrong, robust checks and balances can easily catch and correct the issue – this is where you have to stand up the plate and hold yourself accountable.
Taking the Plunge
So, would you sack your best employee for getting something wrong, say, twice a year?
Would it be madness not to take on an employee who could revolutionise your business?
And if your competitor embraces AI while you hold back, how much damage could that do to your firm in the long term?
Generative AI isn’t a threat to insolvency practitioners – it’s the biggest opportunity the sector has seen in a lifetime. The firms that embrace it will unlock new levels of efficiency, creativity, and client satisfaction. Those that don’t will find themselves left behind.
With tools like VAi, the future isn’t just promising – it’s already here. The question is, are you ready to take the plunge?
