GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Global technology firm and PC maker Lenovo is using generative AI to cut content creation costs across its marketing, CX and sales teams. However, pinpointing valuable GenAI use cases is a challenge for others.
Lenovo developed and launched Studio AI in 2024 to bridge the gap between marketing and sales teams. The GenAI tool creates content on demand using company assets and libraries of product stories, which marketing and sales teams access and assemble before sending the content to IT decision-makers, said Dilip Bhatia, Lenovo's chief experience officer. Bhatia spoke during the Gartner Tech Growth and Innovation Conference here Monday. Before developing Studio AI, the company spent $42 million annually on marketing content creation. That figure dropped to $4.2 million after launching the GenAI tool, he said.
"It's generated fantastic savings overall for us," he said. "Leaders want tangible results. They care about driving revenue and cost-cutting. Studio AI delivers that."
The promise of generative AI and agentic AI were prominent themes at the Gartner conference. While the opportunity is evident, transforming legacy business practices to take advantage of such technologies can also be stressful, said Caroline Ruhland, senior product marketing manager at workplace and asset management software company Accruent and an attendee at the Gartner conference.
Ruhland said one of her pain points is finding a way to implement new AI technologies in a way that helps the business's overall strategy without adding undue pressure or putting the company at risk.
"For a lot of companies, the stress is what do you do, how do you actually implement that if you have legacy software," she said. "How do you advance light-years from where you are now and what you currently have?"
GenAI use cases, the technology's future
Gartner analyst Danielle Casey said the most popular use cases for GenAI include marketing customization, operations optimization and customer service support.
Multiple GenAI companies enable companies to use GenAI to scale cost-effective, personalized marketing campaigns. Jasper AI, for example, worked with Adidas to create brand-aligned product descriptions. Meanwhile, GenAI company Elemental Cognition worked with global travel agency Oneworld to create an AI travel agent that builds complex travel itineraries for customers.
"It demonstrates how GenAI is not about creating more content and more content, but it's about creating performant, high-quality content," Casey said. "This is where the market is headed."
Ruhland said the rapid evolution of GenAI also raises a pain point around workforce and upskilling, particularly in developing in-house GenAI products like Lenovo's Studio AI. Though the technologies present new opportunities, levels of understanding vary within a company and are often limited to a small AI team.
Courses for company employees on advanced AI will likely be necessary to fully harness the technology's enhanced capabilities, she said. For individuals who aren't "extremely technical," she said the prospect can be daunting.
How do you utilize it in a way that makes your job easier, makes your life easier, versus just overcomplicating things.
Caroline RuhlandSenior product marketing manager, Accruent
Still, she said she believes companies will fall behind if they don't find ways to take advantage of generative AI and agentic AI. Ruhland said it's interesting how complex AI has become in reality compared with its initial promise.
"How do you utilize it in a way that makes your job easier, makes your life easier, versus just overcomplicating things," she said.
Jarod Stokes, senior director of research and development at Lumen Technologies and an attendee at the Gartner conference, said there is disillusionment and hype around GenAI. He said businesses need to first assess whether their data is ready for AI.
Second, he said businesses need to determine whether they can achieve the outcomes they want with AI.
"There's a lot of noise out there right now, and you can get caught in the mix," he said.
He said he's most excited about the advancements in AI agents and what he's hearing about their prospects at the Gartner conference. AI agents offer a more material prospect that businesses can grasp quickly, he said.
"I think you'll see more tangible results," he said. "Some of the generative AI is a lot bigger, the hyperscalers and larger enterprises are investing a lot into it. It's creating a lot of hype, but for midmarkets and smaller enterprises, I think agentic is going to be the way to go."
Makenzie Holland is a senior news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining Informa TechTarget, she was a general assignment reporter for the Wilmington StarNews and a crime and education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer.
