Technology, especially artificial intelligence and agentic workflows, will reshape dealership operations and the customer experience in “orders of magnitude” greater than ever before, Cox Automotive’s Marianne Johnson projects.
Every role in the dealership will be affected, causing some positions to evolve significantly and others to disappear entirely as automation and AI become more deeply embedded in daily operations, said Johnson, Cox executive vice president and chief product officer. But human involvement will remain essential — the creativity, oversight and higher-level thinking of employees will be critical to ensuring responsible and effective use of the new tools, she said.
Advancements are happening at “warp speed,” said Johnson. She particularly noted the development of agentic AI, which goes beyond generative AI and promises to automate workflows with the AI function doing the planning and reasoning and then using tools and executing tasks. The approach is barely more than a year old.
“I don’t know how we’re all getting some sleep. If you’ve not started engaging, please engage,” she said. “Leadership of the future is going to look different, and how you run your business is going to look different.” Johnson spoke with Amy Wilson, director of publishing for The Presidio Group.
Download edited excerpts of their conversation below.