Try AI First

In late 2025, we updated our tag line from "The all-in-one POS for supply stores" to "The AI-first POS for supply stores."

In this article, I want to answer two questions:

1. Why we changed to AI-first?
2. How have we seen clients use Rundoo AI?

Why we changed to AI-first

As I have leveraged large language models since the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT, I have been struck at both how good they are and how rapidly they are improving. In particular, Opus 4.5 released in November 2025 seemed to be a step-change improvement in how well LLMs can leverage tools and take action in the world. At their current state, the opportunities these tools unlock are tremendous. And if progress continues on this path, the opportunities are nearly overwhelming.

We decided a rebrand was in place to emphasize our confidence in the impact of AI to the operations of supply stores. We realized that the ramifications of AI were so wide-reaching that they impacted almost everything we did.

As such, we chose the phrase AI-first, which has a simple action: try AI first.

We have taken this approach internally: any time we need to do something (write code, announce a new feature, take notes in a meeting, strategize markets, or anything else), we try to use AI first. It works frequently enough that the overhead to always try to incorporate AI is worth it.

We implore our clients to do the same: for each process in your business, try to use AI. The results have been somewhat mind-blowing. (If you're not sure where to start, our practical guide to AI for store owners walks you through a three-week plan to build real habits.)

How have we seen clients use Rundoo AI?

As I have watched clients use Rundoo AI, I would roughly classify how clients use it into three levels. I'm a sucker for a memorable acronym, so these all start with an A:

1. Analyze: these are questions. Any given week, we see 70-90% of clients use Rundoo AI for some question they would have previously used reports for (or simply not checked)
2. Act: these are requests. Rundoo AI modifies data, sends information. The buzz word here would be agentic, and though it starts with an A, the word is a little unclear so I'll avoid it.
3. Automate: these are tasks independent of people. Rundoo AI acts on some cadence or trigger.

I think these are best illustrated with examples. Three very important parts of running a supply store are:

1. Relationship: Maintaining relationships with the consumers/homeowners and contractors/businesses that shop at your store.
2. Pricing: Pricing goods at the right level to maximize profit by balancing margin and volume.
3. Inventory: Keeping the right quantity on hand to minimize stock outs without tying up too much in inventory.

For each of these use cases, you can graduate from analyze (questions) to act (requests) to automation (tasks).

What next?

Rather than give you a specific use case, I implore you to follow the same mantra we have adopted internally: try AI first. For each part of your business, try using AI.

To see what this looks like in practice, read how one store owner's Daily AI Summary uncovered $4,200 in lost margin that had been hiding in his reports for ten weeks, or how AllPro Paint used Rundoo AI to win back customers who had quietly drifted to national chains.