In this interview, Ritchie explains how automation removes repetitive tasks, how AI fits naturally into the dealership environment, and why he believes every new solution should start with one question — does it actually solve a real problem?
Watch the full interview or dive into the highlights.
The Early Days (00:00 – 01:10)
“It wasn’t really about AI to start with - it was about automation and helping dealers get things done.”
Ritchie recalls how AI Assistant began by tackling everyday jobs that dealerships struggled to complete and how that early thinking set the foundations for today’s solutions.
Finding the Breakthrough (00:40 – 01:10)
“When customers started seeing results and giving great feedback, that’s when we realised we had something special.”
Ritchie shares the moment dealers began noticing real benefits - from thousands of communications distilled into warm, high-quality leads.
The Power of Automation (01:10 – 02:00)
“It’s about communicating, cleansing, updating and communicating again - a constant circle.”
Ritchie explains how the solution removes repetitive jobs so teams can focus on what really matters - customer relationships.
Real-World Results (02:00 – 03:00)
“It just works in the background. No communication gets dropped.”
He describes how automation ensures customers always get a response and data stays accurate - delivering better conversations and warmer leads.
Culture and Communication (03:00 – 03:40)
“Middle East is WhatsApp, UK is email, Spain tends to be phone.”
Ritchie explores how cultural preferences shape the way AI Assistant communicates, adapting to local expectations across global markets.
Getting Started with AI (03:45 – 04:10)
“Start slowly and resolve things that need to be resolved. If you can’t fix a real problem, what’s the point?”
His advice for dealers: focus on meaningful impact, not ‘nice-to-haves’.
AI as a New Employee (04:00 – 05:00)
“You need to think of AI as a new team member - just virtual.”
Ritchie explains how onboarding AI mirrors onboarding staff, from defining its working hours to the way it learns and improves over time.
Working with Keyloop (05:00 – 06:00)
“The more data we can get into AI, the better it becomes.”
Ritchie highlights the collaboration with Keyloop - integrating data flows to make dealer communications smarter, faster, and more accurate.
Looking Ahead (06:00 – 06:40)
“Telematics data and open systems will be game changers.”
He discusses how richer data sources will continue to enhance dealer-customer communication and create new revenue opportunities.
Full transcription as follows:
What sparked the idea for AI Assistant?
The initial thought wasn't necessarily around AI initially - it was more around automation and making things work for dealers. There's a lot of jobs that dealers just struggle to get through. It was the early days, so AI was sort of embryonic in where it was at and there's a lot of jobs that are just very difficult for people to get through and the volume that people have to deal with nowadays is huge. So this seemed to deliver huge amounts of benefit and get jobs done that were just not getting done in the dealership.
When did you know you had something special?
As with any business it's really when we start signing customers and they start seeing the proper benefits of it. The feedback we were getting in the early days around leads coming back were warm, people were really interested. We realised we hit the nail on the head and as well, we were dealing with thousands of communications, condensing them down into one warm lead that someone could talk to. So that was really the start of when we all realised we had something special here.
What makes AI Assistant’s solutions unique?
Well, I think the key thing is this is about automation so AI is the end result but we'll communicate, cleanse, update and then recommunicate it again - so it's constantly in a circle. And it's taken away all those mundane jobs that people just don't get to nowadays. The amount of staff in dealerships and the amount of customers they need to deal with, we want to leave people doing the face-to-face jobs, keeping customers happy. You'll struggle in this industry to do what we've done without the full knowledge that we've got. We've got people that are experienced in sales, call centres, people that have sold software, people that have worked aftersales. And if you don't know all the data in automotive, it's really difficult to put it all together. You end up with a disjointed conversation or you're updating the wrong record in the wrong place.
Why do retailers love your solutions?
Well, the honest answer is that the main thing about our solution is it takes away all the mundane. So there's nothing surprising. It does what it needs to do every day. So you find that communications to customers are going every day, customers are being updated every day. So it just works in the background, it does what it needs to do. I think the key thing is, when we get people saying so and so came into the dealership, it was a really warm lead. They really liked the dealership before they even got to the dealership. And that's because the AI is constantly communicating with the customer. So, you know, no communication gets dropped. The AI will always go back and communicate again. The other bit we get quite a lot of is where the data is up to date. So when you are communicating, you're communicating to the right person at the right time and that's a big, big plus.
How do global markets shape your solutions?
Certainly culture comes into it quite a lot. You know, what people do and don't like, the way people like to be spoken to and not spoken to. And this is where AI solutions really pick up the pace because they can deal with those cultures. It's interesting as well, the way people want to be communicated to, you know, Middle East is all WhatsApp, UK is email, Spain tends to be phone. So definitely different cultural views, shapes what we do on a daily basis.
Any advice for dealers starting out with AI
In my mind it's start slowly and resolve things that need to be resolved. Don't resolve things that are just nice to haves. If you look at everything we do, we resolve a problem that's in the business today. If you can't resolve a problem, what's the point of having any solution really?
What should dealers look for in an AI partner?
It's really knowledge of the industry and where data sits. If you don't know that you're gonna really struggle. You know, simple things. Your DMS solution, what comes out of the DMS? What comes out of your LMS? How those two bits of information might communicate together. If you get that wrong, it's a real difficult thing to implement.
What’s it like introducing AI into a business?
So really you need to think of AI as a new employee. It's someone you're about to bring into the business to actually do a specific role. The difference is we have already defined those roles and what they're gonna do. What we can then do is train the AI to work with you as a business, in your business. It's just a virtual person rather than an actual person. We actually do an element of onboarding. We tell it what times you're open, what brands you deal with, what brands you don't deal with. We give it an element of pricing if it's in service. So it's, it's just like bringing in a new employee. The only difference is obviously you don't have to give it holiday and it'll keep working the hours that you choose it to work. So we can say it's gonna work Monday to Friday, Monday to Saturday, the full week if you want it to. So, it's just like bringing in a new person. Very light installation from our side. So there's not a lot of work that you need to do. And once you've implemented it, it'll be up and running. And the other thing like an employee is it'll keep learning through its journey. So the more you tell it, the more it'll understand.
What’s next for AI Assistant?
Well, the honest answer is with AI Assistant, one of the real benefits to what we're doing today is obviously people like Keyloop having APIs and we work very closely with Keyloop. You know, the more data we can get into AI, the better it becomes. And we're working with them very exclusively at the moment to improve the data feeds we've got. So, information coming in. Improving data feeds out, so communications going to the customer. Improving the cleansing of data. So a human doesn't have to sit there for hours updating key missing data. And more importantly, we're also talking to Keyloop around what other areas that we can get into around manufacturer's data. What information can we get? Telematics on vehicles now has been around for a long time. There's rich data in there that we could use to actually really improve the dealer's communication to their customer and then producing revenue because you're getting customers back into the business. So having an open data source with a key supplier is probably one of the key future benefits and you're gonna see all sorts of stuff come out of that, as part of that process.
For more information about how we can help you embrace AI and automation to boost profits in your dealership, email enquiries@ai-assistant.io or call us on 01488 757447.
