How Aprimo is improving workplace collaboration with next-gen, AI-powered innovation

Erik Huddleston, CEO, Aprimo (Photo courtesy Aprimo)

Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.

As tech giants announce plans to build AI factories and business leaders see headline after headline touting potential use cases for AI, it can be easy to feel somewhat overwhelmed. There is a lot of information and debate surrounding the use of AI, but finding readily applicable solutions can sometimes be easier said than done.

Fortunately, this isn’t always the case.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Erik Huddleston, CEO of Aprimo, a digital asset management (DAM) platform that has been at the forefront of introducing a variety of AI-powered innovations. As Huddleston reveals, targeted AI implementation is key to unlocking new opportunities for collaboration and enhanced efficiency.

How Aprimo Is Implementing AI

Huddleston is quick to describe AI as a transformative force that can dramatically improve collaboration during the content lifecycle. “We’re using Artificial Intelligence in subtle yet powerful ways to enhance and streamline how our users interact with assets and engage with their collaboration partners,” he explains. 

“We are working to redefine the content operations process to remove tedium and surface what matters as we move quickly towards a solution where content manages itself. AI is helping our platform become more dynamic, giving our users the confidence (and tools) to make informed decisions, increase efficiency and creative collaboration.”

Such implementations can be especially beneficial for remote or hybrid teams, which often rely on unstructured or ad hoc collaborations, particularly when time differences make formal meetings difficult to pull off.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of Aprimo’s AI implementations. “With Collaborative Rooms we set out with a goal of creating a dynamic workspace, not just a collection of assets used in a project, but a rich space providing easy access to the tools and data to spur creativity. Another top goal was driving efficiency: easy sharing, elegant content review, chat-based discussion and project status views just to name a few,” Huddleston explains. 

Other AI features that the company has implemented include document tagging, text fields and video summaries all powered by Smart GPT AI — use cases that are once again focused on driving more efficient collaboration between the teams that will be using the content.

By making assets more easily searchable (and findable), team members can spend less time on busywork and more time working together. The company has also introduced its own AI content detection tools to ensure that humans review any AI-generated content before it is released to the public.

Using Collaboration to Guide Use Cases

This focus on collaboration is also guiding Aprimo’s future AI releases. “For AI-backed features we take a measured, thoughtful development approach. Our goal is to make sure every new feature provides tangible, real value to our customers. Generative AI will grow to have a major impact on how content is created and collaborated upon. To support this, we are focusing on a few areas including content authenticity and controlling how and who can generate new content,” Huddleston explains.

“We’re working on an exciting feature for Collaboration Rooms, Content Coach. Imagine the ability to invite a digital assistant to your collaborative workspace, an assistant that knows your brand voice, content, and identity. This helper can answer questions about your products and services, can generate copy for you, and in the future even generate image assets. Content Coach is currently available in early access with the ability to use in Collaborative Rooms coming soon.”

This drive to improve collaboration within organizations could prove to be one of the strongest arguments in favor of the implementation of AI. While 75% of employees state that collaboration and teamwork are very important to their jobs, 86% cite a lack of collaboration as the number one reason behind workplace failures.

This has become especially prevalent during the rise of remote work, which can have an isolating effect on team members that discourages collaboration. A study from MIT noted that remote workers “become more static and siloed,” particularly with larger communication gaps occurring between different departments. However, digital AI tools such as those being introduced by Aprimo can help mitigate these concerns.

“We know that every team, organization and project are different and we intentionally set up Collaborative Rooms to be unstructured, making it easy to tune as required,” Huddleston says. “Rooms offer several flexible ways to collaborate, making it simple to share, annotate, and check on project status. For large or small projects, Collaborative Rooms gives our users a comfortable, fun, and powerful space to propel content creation forward.”

Improved collaboration can have transformative results for businesses. Collaboration can make employees 50% more effective at task completion, while also driving improvements in work quality, innovation and job satisfaction. With AI making these processes even more efficient, the benefits could become even more pronounced.

A Future Powered By AI

As Huddleston explains, his company’s AI implementations are still in the early phases — and that’s what makes these developments so exciting.

AI is a dynamic and ongoing evolution in the business world, helping drive meaningful value that helps users become better collaborators. As AI tools continue to develop and expand, the capability of what they can offer increases exponentially. And that will drive even more content management innovation and efficiency.

As such AI tools see more widespread adoption in DAM and other use cases, expect the outcomes of more efficient collaboration to become even more pronounced among those who take advantage of these resources.