2X vs DIY AI: The Real Cost, Hidden Work, and Revenue Impact

Rachel ThorneThis is Dialed In with Derek Simmons and Rachel Thorne. Let's talk compliance. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Dialed In. Good to have you with us.

Derek SimmonsYeah, yeah. Glad you're here. Today we're talking about why so many teams are bailing on DIY AI and going to this 2X model.

Rachel ThorneWe'll hit three things: one, why build it yourself sounds cheaper than it is; two, where tools stop and an actual managed system starts; and three, the operational mess in the middle.

Derek SimmonsAnd we've got Kevin DeMeritt back to walk through real stories from people who tried the DIY route and, uh, regretted it.

Rachel ThorneI mean, come on. If your AI stack needs its own babysitter, that's a problem.

Derek SimmonsSo let's kick this off the right way and bring Kevin back in.

Rachel ThorneWe wanna hear from you. Submit questions via the web form in the description or give us a call at 747-946-7600 two and leave your question. Don't be shy. Our AI assistant makes it super easy. Hi, Kevin. It's good to have you back. This time we are getting into why 2X instead of DIY AI. How have you been?

Kevin DeMerittGreat. How are you?

Rachel ThorneI'm doing great. Thanks. It's always good catching up with you.

Kevin DeMerittGreat to be back, Rachel.

Rachel ThorneWhat made you want to dig into the question of 2X versus DIY AI now?

Kevin DeMerittWell I just think that, uh, a lot of people out there um, you know, have looked at the differences and not really thought about um what those differences are when they start. You know about fifty percent of our business comes from uh companies that have started with DIY became extremely frustrated and then moved over to you know 2X for more of a white glove type of situation and--and to get the AI conversational voice AI work.

Rachel ThorneThat's a huge signal. What are those companies most often frustrated by when they come to you?

Kevin DeMerittWell I - I think um, you know really what they're trying to do is --is buy access to you know AI calling technology Um and they don't understand the complexities of it all So they certainly can try the DIY but the question is whether they wanna buy AI technology or whether they want a managed system designed to produce revenue. Now A DIY platform gives them the technology Then their team has to determine what the AI should say Build the prompts create the workflows integrate the systems develop the call strategy monitor the results and continually optimize all of that And with 2X we take responsibility for that operation layer We design and deploy the scripts the workflows the call strategy the launch plan Then we continually manage and optimize the system after it goes live. So the s-simplest distinction I think is this DIY gives you the tools 2X manages the system so the business doesn't have to hire a person themselves and add that expense.

Rachel ThorneHere's the thing The demo can make it look almost too easy What are businesses not seeing when they watch a DIY AI platform in action?

Kevin DeMerittwell I don't think they're seeing everything that happens behind the scenes Uh once you actually try to operate it at scale you know which is someone has to listen to those conversations Someone has to determine why prospects are disconnecting Someone has to adjust prompts and workflows Someone has to manage the integrations into their CRM or phone system Someone has to monitor Monitor contact rates Someone has to manage the phone numbers and spam that c-comes with those numbers That in and of itself is almost a full time job Um someone has to understand the federal calling laws and hope they get their TCPA compliance right Someone has to interpret t-the reporting and decide you know what aspects of it need the change and optimization And someone has to stay on top of the technology and models as those models and platforms change So you can absolutely do those things yourself But then you have to ask Who on your team is going to do them all?

Rachel ThorneThat operational load adds up fast When a company compares the price of DIY with 2X Are they really comparing same thing?

Kevin DeMerittI dont think so You know Th-The software subscription is only one component of the cost if you choose DIY someone inside your organization is still half Is still gonna have to operate that system Maybe it's an existing employee maybe it's someone you hire maybe several departments divide the responsibilities ut someone has to own it So the real cost of DIY isn't just the platform or per minute charges Its the platform plus the people the time the expertise the management and ongoing optimizations required to make it work hen They have to get the compliance right nd the rules are complicated Things like you cant call New Orleans on Mardi Gras day he phone has to ring four times or fifteen seconds as required by lawnd you need to keep all outbound messaging and all of that data um thats required over five year minimumso the Federal government requires you hold all of that datathe direction of calls soon and so forth for that five years minimwho's gong to do all of that That's why we think companies should compare the total cost of producing the outcome, not simply, you know, the monthly software price.

Rachel ThorneRight. The sticker price is not the full bill. This seems to be one of the biggest distinctions. You say the difference is not the AI itself, but everything that happens after it starts calling. What do you mean by that?

Kevin DeMerittWell, launching the AI is the beginning, not the end. Once real people start having conversations with it, you begin to learn, you know, which openings work, where are people hanging up, which questions create engagement, which objections are occurring. Um, are we qualifying people correctly? Are we transferring the right people? Are those transfers producing results? Are we creating the right appointments with the right people? That's where management becomes extremely important of the platform. A DIY platform can give you the data, but someone still has to understand that data and what it means and make the appropriate changes. At 2X, that's part of what we're continually optimizing and improving and what you're paying us for. There's a dedicated person for each business that's managing that system and the workflows for them and helping with the data, helping writing scripts, and helping optimize them.

Rachel ThorneThat's the difference between having data and actually acting on it. How does having a dedicated success manager change the experience for a client?

Kevin DeMerittWell because when you're looking at the, the data in the-- in, on the dashboard, I don't think that's enough because reporting tells you what happened, management of that determines what happens next. A dashboard might tell you that your contact rate dropped. That's useful, but why did it drop? Did the call timing change? Are numbers being labeled as spam? Did someone change something in the workflow or the script? Did an integration fail? Did a technology update affect performance? Someone has to investigate that and take action, and our customers aren't hiring us to give them another dashboard to manage. They're hiring us to continually work on the performance behind those numbers.

Rachel ThorneExactly. Is accountability ultimately the biggest difference between DIY and 2X?

Kevin DeMerittI think it's one of them. You know, with DIY, the platform provider supplies the technology, and your team operates it. With 2X, we're much more involved in the outcomes. We're continually managing the conversations, the workflows, the prompts, the contact performance, compliance, and other operating components around the system. That's why we describe ourselves as an AI revenue partner, not simply an AI calling platform. We're not handing you technology and saying, "Hey, best of luck." We're staying involved with a dedicated rep to make sure the platform is optimized all the time. And I think one big misunderstanding is that when the large language models change, that everything else stays the same. That's very untrue. Each time a new model changes, which are changing every two to three months, we're having to update the prompts that run the interactions for those companies, and those interactions could be integrations into the CRM. They could be, uh, how it responds to scripts and objections and everything else. So there's just a lot more to it that needs managing than I think people, you know, understand, Rachel.

Rachel ThorneThat model change piece is easy to miss. Are there businesses that genuinely should choose DIY instead?

Kevin DeMerittUh, y-you know, I think there are. Um, I think, you know, if, if they're a very large corporation, and they have the capabilities to put the DIY into place and then manage it, um, so they have a, a systems manager. They have somebody that understands prompts. They have somebody that understands scripting. They underst-- have, have somebody that understands the data behind it, so there's a little bit of a data analysis going on to optimize that. Now, a lot of mid-sized companies would think, "Well, I'm just not that complicated." Yes, you are. If there's a spam problem on your numbers, doesn't matter if you're large or, or small, thirty percent of your numbers turning into spam is not going to, uh, give you the results that you want. If one of your integrations goes down, it's not going to give the results that you want. If your script isn't working, it's not going to give you the result. All of us are paying a lot of money for leads, and we need that, um, to show up in ROI and rev-

Rachel ThorneThat's wild, right? A smaller company may have fewer moving parts, but the failure points are still there. When a business starts with 2X, what does the rollout look like?

Kevin DeMerittWell, we use a, we use a structured process. Um, we build out their, all of their, uh, workflows and their scripts and then purchase their call numbers and protect them from spam. We also set up the TCPA compliance framework. Then we prove. We start calling their customers, optimize that performance for them with scripts, the call sequencing, how many days of calling should we optimize to. And then once the proof is there, then we scale. We continue to optimize all of the data, including the transcripts of the calls, to get a better training for the AI. So then we go back in and say, "Hey, over the next-- last thirty days, let's pull the transcripts and see if there's something that we can do to improve upon those scripts." And that's continual. Every, every thirty days, how do we optimize the script? How do we optimize the call cadence? How do we optimize voicemails? How do we optimize the texting? All of those things are going to make incremental differences to try to make that AI better than someone's best, you know, representative. So the customer isn't left trying to figure out what to do next. We're managing that process for them so that they can run their business

Rachel ThorneThat proof before scale approach makes a lot of sense. If a business owner is comparing DIY with 2X, what is the single most important question they should ask before deciding?

Kevin DeMerittUm, I would ask, you know, who builds the system? Who writes and improves the scripts and prompts? Uh, who manages the workflows? Who monitors the conversations? Who protects the contact rates? Who deals with the spam reputation? I think a very big one is where is the calling compliance or TCPA rules? Uh, who keeps up with the changes in technology? Who looks at the performance data and decides what to change? Who manages the system on a daily basis after it launches? And ultimately, who is responsible for continually improving the result? If the answer to all of these questions is our team, then you should be buying DIY platform. If you want a partner to manage those things, that's why we built 2X.

Rachel ThorneThat's a clean test. In one sentence, what's the difference between DIY AI and 2X?

Kevin DeMerittUh, that's a good question. Um, I think with DIY, you buy the AI, and you manage everything yourself. With 2X, you get a managed revenue system that we continually operate and optimize for you.

Rachel ThorneKevin, this has been a great conversation. Thanks for breaking down the difference so clearly and for coming back on Dialed In. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Kevin DeMerittNo, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Rachel ThorneThank you, Kevin. Really appreciate your time That was such an enlightening conversation, Derek.

Derek SimmonsAbsolutely, Rachel. I was really struck by Kevin DeMeritt's point on the true cost comparison between DIY AI and 2X.

Rachel ThorneRight. When he mentioned how companies might not be comparing apples to apples, it made so much sense. It's about looking beyond the initial price tag.

Derek SimmonsExactly. And the decision framework he talked about was eye-opening. The key question of aligning AI with business goals rather than just the cost, that was crucial.

Rachel ThorneYes. And how about the part on what demos hide? It's so easy to get dazzled by those and miss the underlying complexities.

Derek SimmonsTrue. Businesses often perceive it to be simpler than it really is, and the frustrations with DIY projects.

Rachel ThorneOh, definitely. It's not just about the tech. It's the hidden time and resource costs that Kevin highlighted.

Derek SimmonsIn a nutshell, 2X seems to offer a more structured path compared to DIY.

Rachel ThorneAgreed, Derek. Let's wrap this up and look forward to our next enlightening discussion. So if you remember that moment where folks switch from DIY to 2X after wrestling with Hidden Ops and Compliance, that's the whole decision. Do you want a tool or a revenue system that's actually managed?

Derek SimmonsYeah. If this helped you spot gaps in your own setup, hit Subscribe, drop a quick review, and share it with your legal or ops lead.

Rachel ThorneAnd check out 2X.ai or email podcast@2X.ai.

Derek SimmonsThanks for listening. See you next time