Monte Erritt on Building AI Momentum in a Frontline-Heavy Business

Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Monte Erritt, Chief People Officer at Vermeer Southeast Sales & Svc.Inc, to talk about what early AI adoption looks like inside a business with 12 locations, roughly 330 employees, and a strongly frontline, customer-facing workforce. Rather than treating AI as a trend to watch from a distance, Monte explains why his team started seeing it as a real strategic issue, especially in a market where technician talent is hard to find and leadership consistency matters.

Monte walks through the first practical use cases that helped the conversation gain traction, from improving job descriptions and speeding up email writing to thinking through diagnostic support for technicians and internal coaching support for supervisors. A major theme in the episode is that AI becomes much more useful when it is grounded in the company's real language, legacy materials, assessment data, and leadership expectations.

Monte also talks through the lessons they learned along the way, especially around guardrails, data handling, and the need to train at a much more practical level than most leaders first assume. For HR and people leaders trying to build momentum without hype, this episode offers a grounded look at what adoption can look like in the early stages.

Topics Discussed:

• Why Vermeer Southeast saw AI as a competitive priority

• What AI adoption looks like in a frontline-heavy business

• How technician retention shaped people strategy

• Using AI to improve job descriptions and everyday communication

• Building internal coaching support from assessments and leadership materials

• How to get the CEO, COO, and supervisor buy-in

• Why sharing small wins helps AI adoption spread

• Using an internal podcast to scale communication and consistency

• The difference between ChatGPT, Copilot, and internal guardrails

• What success looks like when AI becomes part of daily work

If you are leading HR, people operations, learning and development, or operations in a skilled-trades, field-service, or frontline-heavy environment, this episode offers a practical starting point for rolling out AI in a way that supports managers, protects trust, and connects directly to day-to-day work.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot

• Future Proof HR Community

• Connect with Monte Erritt on LinkedIn