More and more distributors are exploring AI tools to maximize their operational efficiency, better serve their customers, and boost their bottom lines.
For many, though, the biggest barrier to AI success isn’t necessarily the technology itself: it’s empowering employees with the confidence and competence to update their workflows.
With AI implementation falling short for 95% of companies, many distributors are realizing that selecting the right platform is only step one. Unclear communication, insufficient training, and incomplete change management initiatives hamper many a new platform implementation.
Here's how to get both the vendor decision and the rollout right.
Start With the Problem, Not the Technology
One of the most common mistakes distributors make is beginning with the technology itself rather than the business problem they're trying to solve. The most durable AI implementations don't start with the fear of missing out — they start with a pain point the team already feels acutely.
The wholesale distribution industry is rife with problems that AI can mitigate. The worker shortages that impacted almost all sectors of the economy following COVID have not resolved for the industrial supply chain. According to one study, at least 76% of supply chain and logistics companies are still experiencing notable workforce shortages.
Meanwhile, roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce in manufacturing and wholesale trade is over the age of 55, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry is facing a retirement cliff that will leave companies not just without the necessary workforce, but also without the institutional knowledge these workers will take with them when they retire.
With a workforce stretched thin and in danger of losing even more peoplepower, AI automation offers an ideal solution for relieving employee stress, retaining organizational knowledge, and empowering teams to do more with less.
Choosing a Vendor: How to Do Your Research
With a pain point identified, the work of vendor selection can begin. But in a crowded, hype-filled market, choosing an AI platform you can trust can be challenging. So when approaching this weighty decision, consider the following factors:
- Insist on a live demo using real situations. A polished, staged demo is designed to look good. A live demo running on your actual orders, product catalog, or invoices tells you what the tool can actually do.
- Run real reference checks. Don't just ask whether customers liked working with the vendor. Ask whether the tool delivered measurable ROI, how long implementation took, what broke, and how the vendor responded. Look for references who can speak to real performance data like processing speed, sales growth, error reduction, and time saved.
- Evaluate the technical team, not just the product. The strength of the engineering and customer success team matters as much as the current feature set. Ask how they handle ERP and accounting system integrations, what their data security looks like (SOC 2 attestation is a meaningful baseline), and what ongoing support looks like after go-live.
Failed implementations don't just waste budget. They consume internal resources and erode crucial organizational trust, so it’s important to do this due diligence in the AI vendor selection process.
Driving Internal Buy-in with Successful Change Management
Successful AI tool rollouts for distributors begin with alignment on outcomes. Before introducing a new tool, leadership should be clear in outlining the specific problem it is solving, the business impact it is expected to deliver, and how success will be measured. Leaders must be able to relay that same vision to employees, allowing them to understand why the technology is being implemented, how it will support their workflows, and what success looks like for the organization and the individual.
Clear and honest communication is critical. With so much anxiety around the subject of AI, leadership should make clear that new tools are not here to take jobs away. They’re here to make the team more efficient and effective at their jobs. As with any new tool, employees need to understand how AI will improve their workflows and alleviate the mundane tasks of their workday. Be clear on the “What’s in it for you?” Especially in an industry that has traditionally been wary about changing established processes, that message needs to come from leadership before skepticism can gain traction across the organization.
A phased rollout should begin with a small pilot group of tech-savvy employees who are more likely to embrace the tool and carry credibility with their peers. Ideally this group includes employees who assisted with the vendor evaluation process who are champions of the product and personally invested in its success. This pilot group can learn and test the tool, provide initial feedback, and help refine processes before it expands to other team members.
Once a small group of enthusiastic users find success with a new AI tool, word will begin to spread. When employees hear directly from other teams that a tool is saving time or helping them to respond faster, the tool earns credibility and buy-in grows.
Leadership can help amplify this enthusiasm further with public celebration of employee success using the tool. This storytelling can be as simple as a shout out in a team meeting, or celebrating the new customers a given associate was able to win given the expanded bandwidth the tool made possible. Some distributors may even consider adding a gamification aspect to this process, such as friendly competitions between sales reps or branches, or offering Sales Performance Incentive Funds (SPIFs) in the form of gift cards or additional days off.
Leaders should also understand that full adoption rarely happens all at once. Some employees will embrace the technology right away, others will need more time, and some might stay resistant. Adoption may plateau with some holdouts, and so it’s important to build AI usage metrics into on-going meetings and employee reviews. Meet skepticism with openness and curiosity, asking questions about what’s preventing them from using the tool more. These discussions can both address excuses and also reveal real roadblocks. You may uncover genuinely helpful ideas for the tool or IT organization that enable continuous improvement.
Adopting Intuitive Tools That Reduce Friction from Day One
The pressure on distributors is unlikely to ease anytime soon as the industrial supply chain manages growing demand, thin margins and an overburdened workforce. Amid this volatility, AI offers an opportunity for distributors to grow their business, ease the daily challenges their employees face, and empower them to better serve customers.
The distributors that gain the strongest returns from AI will not necessarily be the ones investing in the most advanced tools — they’ll have the teams finding the most effective and enduring ways to put these tools to good use.
Erez Arnon is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Canals.
