First released on April 20, 1987, Microsoft PowerPoint was used to produce transparencies and then 35mm slides. Within three years, PowerPoint was released for both Mac and Windows. I have no idea how many presentations are made with this software daily; however, with over 500 million Microsoft Office users worldwide, it must be a very high number!
From its birth to the release of Microsoft Office 2016, every year new features would be released enabling the user with more functionality. However, you were still working ON the software to create something from scratch. It’s great that you had access to new shapes, colors, text styles, etc., but it still required 100% input from the user.
Then came the release of Office 2016 and the software was smarter! Microsoft 365 users now had access to two new tools – Designer and Morph. The software used artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically create professionally designed slides based on limited user input (e.g. adding an image to the slide). The user still predominantly worked ON the software, but you could see a glimpse of the future.
In 2021 PowerPoint included three new features that moved the user from working ON the software to working WITH the software.
Converting a Word document to PowerPoint – an AI driven tool that enables the user to create a new product from an existing one.
Immersive Reader – an AI powered feature that reviews your presentation to make it more inclusive to those who might be visually impaired, dyslexic, or a non-native speaker.
Presenter Coach: Body Language Feedback – this is an upgrade to the 2019 Presenter Coach feature that uses AI to help the presenter correct bad habits.
These three features enable the user to work WITH the software. They all use AI to improve or create something for the user. It’s no longer a person sitting at a keyboard doing all the work!
Embracing the Change
It’s nearly impossible to turn on the news, scan the web, or listen to the radio without hearing about how generative AI is changing our ways of working. While this can be scary for some people, it does not need to be.
As David Toberkin said in his January 2019 article, The Automation Revolution, “Automation tends to advance not by eliminating jobs but by eliminating particular job functions at which humans are inefficient or inconsistent or are exposed to risk.”
The future…
There are many benefits to the advancements that come from working WITH software:
Efficiency – Time is a valuable asset, so why waste it on tedious tasks? Unlock the potential of technology to take care of those mundane duties and reserve your precious energy for situations that still call upon human ingenuity. Let AI help you find more time in your day!
Flexibility – Using AI to stay ahead of the curve can help you build more meaningful relationships with your audience. Real-time tracking and response capabilities enable increased responsiveness and agility, so it's easier than ever for organizations to shift course and keep up with even the most rapidly changing markets—and consumer preferences!
Competitive Edge – Wouldn’t it be great to have an additional team member that took care of all of the tedious things on your to do list? AI provides you the ability to work WITH software and do just that. Technology enables you to move faster and gain a competitive advantage in your business.
At see6, we know that our users work WITH our software to create impactful, insight-led stories more quickly and overcome the cognitive hurdles and writer's block that sales teams face everyday. We power our platform with AI technology to “add another member to your team,” one that you can work WITH that provides relevant insights about consumer and shopper behavior and a comprehensive understanding of customer and buyer profiles at the push of a button.
No need to search through PDFs, PPTs, and emails to get the right information. No more stressing over how to structure your sales story. Working WITH the see6 platform, you gain the competitive edge in insight-led storytelling.
see6 is an AI enabled platform that helps sales teams transform their insights into compelling stories to grow sales.