AI, Lead Automation, and the Future of Automotive Tech with Yuriy Demidko

Guest Introduction

Yuriy Demidko is the Chief Information Officer at DP Fox Ventures, a Michigan-based organization with operations in automotive, powersports, real estate, hospitality, and sports entertainment. The company's largest division, Fox Motors, is one of the 50 largest automotive dealership groups in the country. Yuriy leads technology strategy across these diverse business units with a focus on data integrity, modernization, and applying AI in ways that create value without adding complexity.

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Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn

• Why clean and consistent data is essential for AI to work

• How DP Fox Ventures uses AI to improve customer engagement

• How automation helps identify hidden business trends

• Why AI will reshape early career paths in technology

• How leadership and human insight remain central to AI-driven organizations

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In This Episode

Yuriy Demidko explains how data quality has become the foundation for every major initiative at DP Fox Ventures. He notes that automotive organizations generate huge amounts of information, yet much of it is inconsistent or unreliable. This creates a major barrier when companies try to adopt AI. "Garbage in, garbage out," he says, emphasizing that AI cannot fix bad data, it only produces a more polished version of the same errors. His team is addressing this by consolidating data into a central lake and improving data hygiene across all stores and business units.

He then highlights how AI is transforming customer engagement. Large language models can respond to inquiries after hours, assist with vehicle research, and hand off conversations to sales staff when the customer is ready to move forward. This creates continuous engagement and helps convert leads that would otherwise be missed. Yuriy also describes how AI tools are being used behind the scenes to analyze spending patterns, uncover inefficiencies, and highlight trends that would take humans far longer to detect. One example involved an automated system identifying a significant increase in snow removal costs, giving leadership a chance to renegotiate contracts and improve margins.

Finally, Yuriy speaks about the shifting nature of careers in technology. AI is reducing the amount of entry-level technical work, which will push new professionals to gain stronger business understanding and pursue more interdisciplinary roles. He views this as an opportunity for innovation rather than a threat. Even as AI continues to expand, he stresses the importance of human oversight. "Every recommendation still needs to pass the sniff test," he says, underscoring that strategy, ethics, and judgment cannot be automated.