In the highly competitive business environment we are currently in, staying ahead of others requires more than just hard work; it demands smart work. During my internship last year, I found out about Chat GPT. This was still at the very beginning of the release, and at the time it did not nearly have the capabilities it has now. Still it was able to help me get ahead of my colleagues though.
In this article I will discuss how Chat GPT has helped me during my work, and how it has the potential to do the same for others. I will discuss the potential on bridging the knowledge gap, the art of crafting content, revolutionizing customer service, and helping in research and investment decisions.
My personal AI journey started when I was interning at a strategy consultancy firm which specializes in the chemical & life sciences industry. The company employs a ix of chemical engineers and business students, offering their clients the best of both worlds. The projects were often very detailed in the chemical application of the products, something of which I did not have a lot of knowledge as a business student. So when I found out about Chat GPT last november, it felt like a blessing from above. Suddenly, when we were talking about specific chemicals and their applications, I was able to gather the same basic knowledge my colleagues had in a much shorter amount of time. Chat GPT enabled me to onboard on projects much quicker and it made me much better at what I was doing.
After my internship, for a while I did some freelance work for some start-ups. Working on their sales strategies and drafting cold emails for them. Chat GPT was of great use in this again, helping me find topics to draft the emails on. Enabling me to much quicker get out the right format for the cold emails and boasting my productivity.
Next to my freelance work for the start-up, I also worked as a customer service agent at a scale-up for a couple of months. During this period, Chat GPT went from a nice to have model to a model which was unmissable for me. This was around the period GPT 4 came out. The web browsing plugin was integrated, as well as the data modelling plugin. During my work as a customer service agent, however, I used it in a completely different way. As customer service agent, you will get a lot of emails, often with similar content. Using Chat GPT, I was able to automate my responses. So far that I only had to input the email from the customer, after which I would get a response which almost immediately could be send out. This made me much more efficient than many others, while also enabling me to simply draft better emails than I could have done myself.
After having worked here for five months though, I felt it was time for a new experience. I wanted to be challenged again so, next to my masters degree, I decided to start as a technology analyst at a small scale-up. This was the first place I worked at which completely embraces AI in the workplace, enabling a lot of productivity for all employees. Currently they are also integrating it in their models.
I am curious how in the coming months I will experience the use of AI in this renewed workplace. It is clear to me that jobs as a strategy consultant, sales consultant or customer service agent will never become the same anymore. Less people will be needed in these positions to do the same job, with productivity going through the roof.
