AI and your network effect.

Companies using AI for process and cost optimizations aren't wrong, it's just not a complete strategy.

I’ve had some recent conversations with companies that are starting with and experimenting in their AI journey. 95% of the companies are starting at the same place. Cost cutting. Streamline workflows. Getting lean.

This approach isn’t wrong, it’s just not complete.

I work mostly with companies that provide solutions to and through a network of intermediaries (think brokers, agents, resellers) and for these companies the real advantage comes from deploying AI through that network. And while that sounds pretty straightforward there is a distinction: it’s not about the AI you embed in your tech but about equipping them with adjacent AI tools that help them run their business better.

If you’re serving 500 brokers, 200 agencies, or a few hundred resellers, the opportunity isn’t just to run a better operation, it’s to create a multiplier effect by embedding intelligence into every downstream decision they make.

That’s where most tech-enabled firms stop short. They treat AI as a centralized optimization tool. But that’s leaving growth, retention, and differentiation on the table.

What if your AI helped your partners answer the hardest questions they face every day?

Embedding AI in your solution is a baseline play.

You make your product more intelligent or streamlines which in turn helps your network. It can take the form of smarter quoting, more insightful dashboards and analytics etc. These result in a stickier product and better usability. Valuable yes but it is improving your product and may get lumped or described as a feature and not a business enabler by your partner.

Create AI agents that are adjacent to your solution.

Creating adjacent AI agents can help your partner win may be the true level up. This means building tools that feel like they work for the partner and not just through your platform. Examples could be as simple as standalone agents that help a broker close more sales via communication cadences, identify lookalike audiences of their best clients and build instant influence programs, or a simple calendar optimizer.

One of the insurance executives I was talking to asked “our users are not technology savvy, providing more tech may simply cause additional support and costs wouldn’t it?”.

My answer is simple: AI needs to feel less like software and more like a helpful assistant. You’re not asking users to adopt more tech, you’re giving them tools that hide complexity and help them do what they already do faster and with less friction.

Instead of asking users to interpret more reports or data for example you provide them with the ability to use natural language prompts. They can be prebuilt or custom. Deliver the answers through the channels they already use like email, sms, or notifications.

You're not giving them more software to figure out you’re giving them better outcomes, delivered simply. The smartest AI deployments actually reduce support load.

So what should Exec’s do?

Embed AI where appropriate in your solution. But don’t stop there, deploy AI that helps their business as well. You already have intimate knowledge of where your solution fits in their processes and business so use the knowledge to effect the edges.

The cost of creating AI agents for your partners has never been cheaper. As more partners use your adjacent AI agents, they feedback insight and data that you can use to refine both the agent and your core product.

The network effects will only increase your partner’s loyalty and embed you further as a partner and not a solution provider.