Apr 9, 2025

Evan Chung

News Homepage-News Featured

How is AdvantageCS Using AI?

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has firmly established itself as the hottest new technology for businesses to adopt. The topic is almost inescapable for those of us in the tech industry! At this point, almost everyone in the industry knows about the innovative potential of AI, and many organizations are using or developing AI tools to improve their business practices. So how has AdvantageCS implemented AI into our products? What have we done so far, and what are we currently working on?

Porter

AdvantageCS’s first AI feature – Porter, the help documentation assistant – was released in October 2024. Developed primarily by intern Collin Johnson, Porter has quickly become a crucial part of navigating our extensive help documentation.

Our help documentation contains over 1.6 million words, and this can be… challenging to search at times, but Porter uses natural language processing to interpret the meaning of a search query and respond with (usually) accurate results.

Porter isn’t perfect – like most AI tools, it can “hallucinate” in rare scenarios. But Porter’s general reliability, ability to synthesize information from different parts of the documentation, and multilingual capabilities more than make up for its inherent shortcomings. AdvantageCS is committed to refining Porter as LLM-based AI technologies continue to improve.

AI Certifications

AdvantageCS’s technical certification policy was established ~30 years ago (back when we were still known as T and B Computing!). Staff have always been encouraged and incentivized to pursue industry certifications that provide them with the expertise to drive innovation. We currently have 24 engineers and analysts who hold at least one Microsoft certification, and some hold certifications going back more than two decades.

Recently, AdvantageCS has encouraged staff to pursue specific certifications related to data and AI, and our staff have risen to the opportunity! As of March 2025, we have 13 staff with one or more of the following certifications:

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

These certifications are highly important for our engineers building AI solutions using the Azure platform. We’ve built Porter on Azure, as well as our newest AI feature…

Our New Internal Support Assistant

We’re excited to introduce our newest AI feature! Primarily developed by Collin Johnson, our yet-to-be-named internal support assistant was rolled out earlier this week. This tool provides our analysts and engineers with answers to product support questions based on our library of client support tickets and bug reports.

We intend for this new AI assistant to help increase productivity for analysts responding to client support requests, especially for newer employees who have less experience with past issues to draw from. A new employee may not have seen several years of support tickets and resolutions yet, but our new AI assistant sure has!

What are our plans for AI?

AdvantageCS has made extensive efforts to develop useful AI tools that improve our products and workflows. And we have no plans to stop our AI efforts anytime soon! Our AI assistants will constantly be refined as LLM-based AI technologies improve. Our staff are achieving new certifications on a regular basis, and as their expertise grows, so will our AI tools.

The design process for our next AI features is underway! We expect to build several AI features this summer for delivery later in the year, and we’re excited to bring new advancements that enhance the Advantage user experience. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to integrate AI tools into our products!

Want to be notified when we release our next AI tool? Subscribe to our blog for the latest company news and updates!

“I have known and partnered with the staff of AdvantageCS since 2015, when we began laying the groundwork that led to the 2017 launch of a new business operating software system and deployment of their Cider web platform for eCommerce. They are people of integrity and deliver what they say they will deliver, and do it at--and at times, under—budget. They invested significantly in an ONIX integration project that has enabled us to have gold star data feeds to major accounts, and the strong subscription management capabilities of Advantage have enabled us to significantly grow our direct-to-consumer sales.”

Jeff Crosby

President & CEO

ECPA

(To the team upon going live on the final wave of their multi-phase migration to Advantage) “It was a wonderful launch. I would like to express our gratitude to you for the fantastic (double) launch of Advantage and the data warehouse at Mediahuis Nederland. Projects of this size and complexity are rare. But it was a great ride. Your commitment serves as an example to others. People often worked late into the night. There were teams in Portugal, America, Belgium and the Netherlands. Many bumps, and sometimes mountains, had to be overcome, and all this at a distance due to COVID-19 measures. But you all succeeded. From now on it all really starts with Advantage!”

Xavier van Leeuwe

CEO of Digital Marketplaces

Mediahuis Nederland

I have worked with other vendors implementing systems who didn't seem to care about the job or the quality of their work. I have learned that the most important thing about any vendor is their people. In my 17+ years of using Advantage and working with AdvantageCS, I am still impressed with the dedication and integrity of the people there. The quality of their work is important to them and I can trust them to work with me until I am fully satisfied.

Mark Fung-a-fat

Former Director of Business Systems

Massachusetts Medical Society

"Your staff are people who act with integrity. From veteran employees to the more recent hires, I’m very pleased with AdvantageCS as an organization.”

Tricia Koning

Former Director of Information Technology

InterVarsity Press

“We are extremely pleased to now have Advantage running in three countries---Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Having Advantage as the single subscription system provides the efficiencies, cost reductions, and superior capabilities we need to move forward. The people at AdvantageCS are real professionals.”

Svend Erik Hansen

Former IT Director, Business Solutions

Aller Media

My favorite thing is AdvantageCS as a company; there are so many dedicated people.

Klas Persson

Former Head of Marketing Systems, Business Technology

Egmont

I like how information stays if I have to move from subscriptions, for example, to something else---it's great not to have to look up the customer information again. And I like the flow of the tables; they flow from one to the next very well.

Denise Spickler

Senior Customer Service Rep

Wolters Kluwer Health

“With Advantage, ACS offers a customer relationship management solution that excels in managing subscriptions, mail order, and digital access. From my perspective, it has no equivalent in France and Europe. Another plus is the active user group of 50+ global clients who add enhancements to the software and with whom we can network.”

Emmanuel Chevalier

Director, Customer Relationship Information Systems

Bayard

My favorite thing is the support of BPA audit requirements. I don't have to worry about it; it's always there and it works.

Randy Yi

Business Manager

American Association for the Advancement of Science

"The system works smoothly and in accordance with our expectations."

Carsten Weber

CEO

Expressen Lifestyle

"We have a fabulous relationship with ACS. They give us a chance to contribute and shape the product, which is unique in the vendor world."

Suzanne Earley

Managing Director, Back Office Solutions

The Agora Companies

I love all the different ways I can do promotions. Advantage offers so many possibilities!

Kirsten Wandall Ohlsen

Marketing Automation Manager

Aller Leisure A/S

"Bayard has found with AdvantageCS a reliable long-term partner---something that was considered risky by many other French publishers when it was selected 15+ years ago, being the first in the French and continental market."

Hubert Chicou

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Bayard

I have so many favorite things but I guess the top one would have to be the AdvantageCS staff. I've been working with them for quite a few years and everyone has always been friendly and helpful.

Joe Wixted

Director | Fulfillment Systems

American Medical Association

My favorite thing is the reporting. I like the flexibility and the fact that I can modify my own stuff.

Paul Aviles

Operations Director

Mary Ann Liebert

My favorite thing is the help section---it's great! And also, the tremendous flexibility of the system.

Terri Cannon

Client Services Manager

Informa

Advantage supports large parts of our business and we can almost always find a way to use it to do what we want to do. Through our user experience, and in talking to other Advantage clients, I am amazed by the multitude of ways that different people use different system modules and components.

Dominic Toasland

Subscription Management Platform Architect

CDS Global

“Our business is built on Advantage---it is the heart of all our transactions. I have always had great experiences with ACS staff, and Advantage continues to get better and better.” (Comment explaining his reasons for giving ACS staff and services an “Excellent" rating.)

Getty Sarno