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Technology

Ingredients every chatbot needs to boost B2B sales
Ingredients every chatbot needs to boost B2B sales
B2B chatbots It’s often challenging for business-to-business (B2B) companies to compete against their competitors, while still trying to appeal to digitally-savvy individuals who want to be contacted online. While many small business owners think they’re restricted in their B2B sales tactics, the only difference between marketing to businesses and to consumers is the message you want to portray. The same applies to the tools, systems, and platforms you choose to use. B2B businesses should invest in chatbot technology to communicate with customers, much like how B2C businesses communicate with their consumers. The purpose of using artificial intelligence (AI) for any business operation is to speed up time-consuming tasks and to communicate with and sell to your target audience. While the concept is the same, there are a few ingredients to consider when creating a winning B2B sales chatbot interface for your business. Before we get into the three main Cs – content, conversation, and context – it’s important to note what a chatbot is. Many people assume chatbots are robots. This is incorrect. Chatbots are simply computer programs or systems which operate on a number of application programming interfaces (APIs) to be able to communicate with different customers. These robotic-like tools are not here to eliminate human interaction out of the sales process, they are here to make working environments more productive and faster than ever before. If you utilize chatbots for the correct reasons, you’ll be able to engage with multiple customers in an interactive manner. The goal is always to get your chatbot to a place where customers don’t feel the barrier in communication. They should “think” they’re speaking to an actual human due to the personalization which appears throughout their conversation with your business. And this is where content, context, and conversational chat come into play. Content-driven sales Why focus on content? Well, content drives sales. In order to be successful, you’ll need to define your objectives and decide on the type of chatbot technology you want to implement in your business. You need to clarify whether you want to focus on client support, sales pitches or more. Your chatbot will, inevitably, act as the face of your business during and after working hours. It will be a 24-hour platform available to your customers whenever they choose to contact you. If you want to appeal to international customers, you’ll need to focus on expanding your existing chatbot and its infrastructure by incorporating multiple APIs to be able to communicate in various languages. Conversational chat Since customers choose to have conversations with chatbots rather than just asking them for the usual “trading hours” questions that standard chatbots are used to, it’s important for you to strategize ways to differentiate your chatbot from the rest. Remember that your chatbot is the face of your brand. While your business offerings might be considered “boring” and difficult to sell, your chatbot’s personality can make up for it. If you create a powerful chatbot with a distinct and human-like personality, your customers will be able to differentiate your business from other, similar businesses in your industry. If you consider copywriting principles when drafting your chatbot script, you’ll be able to give your business a new and exciting spin simply by the way you communicate with, and sell to, your customers. Context matters Chatbots are programs that run off of data. And, since (nearly) every type of interaction is happening online, context matters more than ever. You need to provide your chatbot with “context” in order to communicate with your customers and have them understand what you’re trying to say to them. If you program the correct information into your chatbot, you will allow it to identify the context in various conversations. Context is what allows conversations to flow and for chatbots to answer more complex questions. The type of chatbot you choose to use needs to include the correct information. For instance, if you’re using a chatbot on a social media platform such as Facebook Messenger or on your website, your chatbot will need to initiate completely different conversations. As you learn more about your existing customers and potential customers, you’ll be able to add more information to your application about their needs. Are you ready to develop your B2B sales chatbot? Chatbots are vital marketing and communication platforms for B2B sales. With the right goals, messaging and vision for your business, you will be able to reap the benefits of AI tools. Beyond sales and conversions, chatbots enable you to create long-term relationships with your customers. To learn more about the benefits of AI in B2B marketing , read our recent article to see how your business can work together with technology to achieve the best results.

Technology

Clickatell celebrates its 20th anniversary as a company launching new portal to provide customers with single entry into full suite of customer services.
Clickatell celebrates its 20th anniversary as a company launching new portal to provide customers with single entry into full suite of customer services.
As we celebrate our 20th anniversary as a company, we continue to push boundaries in our quest to delight our clients and users. The time has finally arrived to introduce our next generation portal, geared to become the single entry point for our valued clients to gain access to all their Clickatell products and services. Clickatell is excited to announce a new portal unifying access to Clickatell’s client-facing products and services into one stunning new portal, underpinned by world-class user experience and a high-end, modern technology stack. The new portal is based on valuable feedback that we have received from our customers, and we thank each of our customers and partners for their insights and help. Customers will find that the portal will improve productivity and help them get the most out of our messaging, engagement, and commerce technologies. The new interface is designed to offer a great user experience, bringing together the full suite of Clickatell’s products and services under one umbrella, and emphasizes a design language built upon simplicity, convenience, and control. Here are some highlights of this new portal: We have updated the look and feel of the portal to reflect the latest advances in user experience. Our new single sign-on function allows users immediate access to the full range of Clickatell products and services*. We have developed an improved intuitive product and service management system, providing our customers with a single-interface experience for improved operator efficiency and control. The new portal features custom dashboards as well as phased self-service application activations with real-time, and personalized status feedback. Customers will now have comprehensive real-time product analytics and actionable reporting. We have also developed new filtering options to enable specific data-set breakdowns. Thank you for your continued support of Clickatell and please let us know how you like our new portal. We can’t wait to hear your feedback. * Note that clients will not be able to select and self-on-board to the Transact Marketplace products yet. Self-service capabilities for this product will be introduced in a future release.

Technology

How Walmart’s Store of the Future Demonstrates a New Test Case for Artificial Intelligence in Business
How Walmart’s Store of the Future Demonstrates a New Test Case for Artificial Intelligence in Business
Walmart AI The future of retail is slowly taking shape in the heart of a legendary Long Island suburb. Patrons of Walmart’s Levittown store may catch a glimpse of the on-site data center encased behind a wall of glass where, overhead, 1 500 cameras are suspended from the ceiling. Unseen, a complex system of sensors and analytics are triggering real-time stock alerts. It’s Walmart’s AI-retail prototype, and it’s demonstrating new applications of artificial intelligence in business. Digitizing the in-store experience Called the Intelligent Retail Lab, the AI pilot is housed inside a 50,000 square foot store. The Walmart Neighborhood Market carries 30 000 items. IRL’s testbed boasts impressive specs . A mass of 100 servers powers the web of sensors, 3D-depth sensing cameras, and processors. “All this hardware is connected by enough cabling to scale Mt. Everest five times and enough processing power to download three years’ worth of music (27,000 hours) each second,” reads an IRL statement . To deliver practical benefits to customers and staff, IRL is focussing on a few key areas. Product inventory and freshness To start, the team will tap into intelligent automation to ensure goods are in stock, and that their freshness can be guaranteed. Walmart provides an overview: “When you go shopping for the week, you want the products you buy to be in stock when you get to the store. In IRL, a combination of cameras and real-time analytics will automatically trigger out-of-stock notifications to internal apps that alert associates when to re-stock.” While it sounds easy, the automated system must accomplish a few tasks. Most of Walmart’s artificial intelligence uses visual recognition software, and they were trained on thousands of examples, collecting data over several months. Cameras can tell how ripe bananas are based on their color, alerting in-store workers to replace the fruit when necessary. The cameras focus on the products and shelves; sensors embedded in the shelves will then collect additional information to make up for what the cameras can’t see, reports CBC News. Future plans for the store include making sure shopping carts are available and enough cash registers are open, reports TechCrunch . Technology trends in retail This isn’t the first AI-powered store, and you’ll likely remember us talking about Amazon Go . Unlike Walmart’s IRL, Amazon’s foray into AI is a grab and go store: there are no cashiers, instead, customers scan the code from the Amazon Go app to enter. Using artificial intelligence and camera technology, items are tallied when customers leave and then charged to their account. Now you may be wondering why commerce giants like Walmart and Amazon are plowing investments into brick-and-mortar stores. Isn’t the future of retail online? suggest that 83 percent of goods purchased internationally will be bought in-store, which presents an opportunity for companies to harness the power of technology trends in retail. What do all these technology trends signal for the future of retail? In an article on Inc, Minda Zetlin writes that there are several AI-powered concepts in retail. Amazon already has 10 Amazon Go stores, while 7-Eleven is experimenting with its own cashierless checkout AI-offering. Additionally, Walmart hopes to expand its best findings to a network of 4800 stores, according to Fast Company. All seek to remove friction, leading to increased sales. Artificial intelligence in business Time will tell which AI concepts will endure. Industry leaders know if they want to compete, they need to study the implications of artificial intelligence for business. Read our article on harnessing the advantages of AI to learn how artificial intelligence in business improves the customer experience.

Technology

Here's How New AI tools are Curbing Bullying
Here's How New AI tools are Curbing Bullying
AI anti-bullying tool AI tools are analyzing thousands of bullying cases across Japan – part of a push to usher in a new machine learning-powered anti-bullying effort. AI tools to predict the consequences of bullying It was a heart breaking tragedy that shook Japan – a 13-year old boy took his own life after being bullied. Earlier this year, two former classmates of the boy were ordered to pay just over $300 000 in damages to the teen’s family. The Otsu District court in Japan delivered the ruling , recognizing that the bullying of the victim resulted in his death. The city has turned to AI tools to prevent similar tragedies, according to an article by the Japan Times . “Through an AI theoretical analysis of past data, we will be able to properly respond to cases without just relying on teachers’ past experiences,” said Otsu Mayor Naomi Koshi. AI tools are expected to analyze 9000 bullying cases, examining the grade and gender of the victims as well as the perpetrators. It hopes to identify forms of bullying that can escalate. More than 410,000 cases of bullying were reported in Japan in the 2017 financial year . These incidents are exacting a tragic toll. Ten of the 250 students who took their own lives had been bullied at school. In the United States, the number of children who were hospitalized after attempting suicide doubled between 2007 and 2017, according to a study co-authored by Dr Brett Burstein, a pediatric emergency room physician. Burstein suggested a similar trend was appearing in Canada. Fardous Hosseiny of the Canadian Mental Health Association attributed the increase to a range of factors , including bullying. A shadow over social media: cyberbullying While technology can curb these trends, it’s also part of the problem. The rise of cyberbullying – a term coined by Canadian educator Bill Belsey – means that bullying follows children home with cruel taunts online. In the US, 59 percent of teens report being bullied online. On Instagram, 42 percent of teenage users have experienced bullying . To stamp out harassment, Instagram uses machine learning to scan photos to check for bullying. It’s not the first time the photo-sharing app has enlisted AI tools to address abuse. In 2017, Instagram introduced an offensive comments filter to detect and hide abusive comments. Can AI tools prevent bullying at work? Bullying doesn’t end at school. There are frequent revelations of harassment at major tech firms in Silicon Valley, and almost half of the women working in Europe’s tech sector experienced discrimination, according to the 2018 State of European Tech report . But AI tools are giving victims avenues for reporting harassment. Employers have already relied on channels like SMS to support vulnerable staff, like the Alert-a-buddy service that pushes automated texts to employees before they travel, or when they’re working on their own remotely. Now machine learning is helping victims of workplace harassment wrest back control. Spot is an AI-powered chatbot which lets employees record cases of harassment. Time-stamped messages can be sent to HR anonymously. Another tool is the Botler AI bot . Botler AI is trained on 300 000 US and Canadian court case documents. It helps victims determine whether they have a strong legal case. Botler AI produces an incident report for HR or law enforcement. The first version achieved 89 percent accuracy, according to a BBC article . Investing in AI tools to create better customer experiences Machine learning is one of the most promising forms of artificial intelligence, and it’s playing an increasingly key role in human interactions. On top of better tackling bullying and harassment, artificial intelligence can give businesses an edge, too. Organizations are implementing AI-solutions to improve support, enhancing the customer experience. To learn more about how your business can have AI-powered conversations , read our recent article on how chatbots can meet your clients’ needs.

Technology

5G and the Future of Mobile Technology
5G and the Future of Mobile Technology
5G future mobile technology by 2021 Augmented reality may soon power a virtual shopping experience, where a consumer can walk through personalized store aisles, testing products from the comfort of their couch. This is a glimpse of the future of 5G -  the next-generation mobile technology that is set to transform the customer experience. The mobile technology of the future is here 5G will usher in a new era of super fast connectivity - estimated at around 10 gigabits per second . That’s 600 times faster than the 4G speeds on mobile phones. It will give mobile users the ability to download an HD movie in a few seconds. In 2019, several countries commenced with a 5G rollout. It’s already reached several American cities , and the first UK cities are set to get access to 5G networks in mid-2019 - so pretty much any day now. By 2025, 5G is expected to account for 15 percent of the connections worldwide. Anticipation for the mobile technology is mounting amongst US mobile phone users , and 39 percent of Australians said they’d switch to 5G as soon as it became available. And while it won’t reach 4G market dominance overnight, it’s time to explore the brand possibilities 5G offers your company. The 5G factor and your business 5G is expected to alter the customer experience in profound ways, and here’s how. Internet of Things The launch of 5G will spark a dramatic change in the Internet of Things (IoT). By 2021, 22.5 billion IoT devices will be installed worldwide, according to an estimate by Business Insider Intelligence. This proliferation of connected devices coincides with the global arrival of 5G. In a post on ZDNet , Paul Bevan, IT Infrastructure research director at Bloor, says that 5G will unlock the IoT’s potential for businesses. "5G networks will give businesses the ability to capture massive volumes of data from remote locations, transferring it to centers where artificial intelligence can perform real-time analysis," said Bevan. Impact on video marketing Video is predicted to be an early target for 5G, giving companies new ways to provide richer customer experiences. People are already consuming more video than ever before. American adults spend more than 100 minutes watching videos on their smartphone each week. More than half of consumers want to see videos from brands in the future, according to HubSpot . The 32nd edition of the Mobile World Congress provided a vision of video in the 5G-enabled future. Offering an analysis of the trends at the conference, Ian Dailey, in a post for Venturebeat , writes: “Branded films are extremely effective during the holidays and Super Bowl seasons. Delivering such immersive content...via MMS will be a new kind of brand-to-consumer experience...The download time for a 30-minute video will be seconds rather than hours.” Augmented reality and the customer experience A lot of hype surrounds the applications for augmented reality in business. But 5G lays the groundwork for this new tech to become broadly available. Tom Kenney offers a tangible way in which companies can take advantage of 5G to deliver rich, immersive customer experiences. “I’ve seen demonstrations of next-gen mobile experiences that allow you to sit at home and try on clothes in an AR space, for example. With 5G, mobile marketers will be able to implement experiences like that one.” 5G has promise but the mobile technology still has limited reach You need to be ready to exploit the 5G opportunity, but it’ll take some time before this mobile technology will replace 4G worldwide. If you’re after global reach and reliability, read our recent article about pairing SMS with new forms of technology to maximize customer engagement.

Technology

Big Data and AI: The Technology Trends Transforming the Modern Economy
Big Data and AI: The Technology Trends Transforming the Modern Economy
Big data technology trends Governments and businesses continue to plow heavy investments into big data, analytics, and artificial intelligence. These technology trends are reinventing every aspect of our lives, and they're utterly transforming the 21st-century economy. The new frontiers of the 21st-century economy New applications for artificial intelligence are emerging daily, turning industries on their heads. And big data is proving vital to decoding the explosion of information delivered by a sprawling web of interconnected devices. 91 percent of Fortune 1000 companies are increasing investments into Big Data and AI , according to a study from NewVantage Partners . Companies are hoping to gain insights into customers, purchase patterns and business trends. Most firms want to get ahead of rivals, revealing an understanding that big data and AI offer a competitive advantage. While large companies make sizeable fixed investments into commercial AI applications, more mid-size companies are reaching out to AI startups to meet their business needs. AI and big data reshape the modern economy Central to the unfolding story of how AI is reshaping our lives is how it will impact the workforce. Byron Reese, futurist and host of the Voices of AI podcast, tells TechRepublic , inventions like electricity and the assembly line didn't destroy the jobs market - there was no sharp drop in unemployment when these innovations were introduced. Instead, technology would raise the standard - and pay - for jobs of all levels incrementally. The technology would give human employees the opportunity to do work that drives real business value. While these technology trends won’t kill the jobs market, they’ll create demand for employees with deep analytical skills. The rise of big data and AI saw the Harvard Business Review dubbing the role of data scientist as the “sexiest job of the 21st century”. Speaking to CIO , Chetan Dube, founder of AI systems maker IPSoft, said smart machines would manage the IT infrastructure of the future, and repetitive engineering tasks would be automated so that tech teams can focus on creativity. Dube remarks on how these new forms of technology will create new roles in organizations. “The introduction of AI will see the creation of new executives such as the Chief Data Intelligence Officer. These highly skilled workers will be able to filter and interpret the vast amounts of data stemming from automated procedures and transform it into valuable intelligence. The ability to see the bigger picture and spot trends and opportunities will become a key skill within IT, as it maximizes the varying abilities of both people and machines.” How technology trends underpin opportunities for your business The advisory firm estimates that big data can increase operating margins by up to 60 percent, suggests McKinsey . But, there’s a caveat. “Several issues will have to be addressed to capture the full potential of big data… "Organizations need not only to put the right talent and technology in place but also structure workflows and incentives to optimize the use of big data. Access to data is critical—companies will increasingly need to integrate information from multiple data sources...,” states a McKinsey analysis . Technology trends like big data and AI will give businesses the power to do a deeper analysis of consumer behavior and to make data-driven management decisions. To learn about one of the most promising types of AI, read our article about the applications of machine learning in business .

Technology

What the World's Most Advanced AI Means for the Future of your Business
What the World's Most Advanced AI Means for the Future of your Business
Most advanced AI A new advanced AI system showcases progressive language capabilities that could reinvent how we speak to machines. And it’s laying the groundwork for businesses to access powerful new advantages of artificial intelligence. A new frontier: OpenAI’s text-generation algorithm OpenAI, the artificial intelligence not-for-profit co-founded by Elon Musk, unveiled the new advanced AI system in San Francisco.  Researchers trained the new language model, called GPT-2 , to predict the next word in about 40GB of text scraped from the internet. The system demonstrated impressive powers to translate text, write compelling news articles, and answer reading comprehension problems. As is the case with many new technology trends, there are fears of the potential dangers of the advanced AI. Jack Clark, OpenAI’s policy director, told Vox they were worried troublemakers would abuse the system to spread disinformation or hate speech. The researchers aren’t taking any chances and haven’t released the trained model of the algorithm, because of their “ concerns about malicious applications of the technology ”. It’s not all the stuff of doomsday prophecies, though. OpenAI highlights the tool’s power to help develop: AI writing assistants Better chatbots Unsupervised language translation Improved speech recognition How businesses can harness the advantages of new advanced AI systems The business benefits of AI systems are well-known. Machines help companies automate routine and repetitive tasks, thus freeing up humans for meaningful work. Chatbots and programs that write product descriptions are examples of the advantages of artificial intelligence in business. The technology behind GPT-2 has the power to dramatically enhance the current tech’s capabilities. Tech companies have long been on a quest to make machines, well, more human. Back in the 1950s, mathematician Alan Turing devised the Turing test . If a machine can pass as a human during a text chat, it wins Turing’s “imitation game”. While Turing’s method has its detractors, Lauren Kunze, the CEO of Pandorabots, said that the test measured the “defining feature of human intelligence” - language. Taking the example of chatbots specifically, Kunze remarks that chatbots are “struggling to sensibly talk back”. OpenAI’s stride in language modelling is a technology trend that begins to lay this foundation. Imagine superior chatbots with the ability to convert customers online as they browse your e-commerce offering. Consider advanced AI systems that have the capacity to craft compelling copy for your sales letters or product descriptions. Employees will have the freedom to do important work that drives business growth and requires the human touch. James Vincent writes in the Verge that systems like GPT-2 could be a “fantastic boon to all sorts of industries”. “They could help create infinite virtual worlds full of procedurally generated characters. They could also vastly improve the conversational abilities of chatbots, helping in domains from customer complaints to health care. “And if it turns out that teaching advanced AI systems how to perform various tasks is as simple as teaching them to read, it could lead to computers that are more like human assistants in their ability to speed-read, summarize, and answer questions.” While GPT-2 represents an impressive gain in how machines will be able to perform language-based tasks, businesses worldwide are already using AI to improve business. Clickatell Touch offers a cost-effective way to solve your customer’s problems. Touch brings live chat to your customers on their favorite platforms, escalating to a human agent when needed. Delight your customers with the convenience that comes with AI and chatbots Advanced AI can improve the customer journey and help businesses save time. If you want to learn more about these technology trends, read our recent article about the applications of artificial intelligence and chatbots .

Technology

Save time & money: IoT cloud tools you can use in your small business today
Save time & money: IoT cloud tools you can use in your small business today
IoT for small businesses Small businesses can tap into the Internet of Things to cut costs, improve productivity and access better intelligence. While over 60% of enterprise decision-makers are experimenting with the IoT cloud, small businesses stand to gain the most. In 2015, only 30% of businesses in a global survey had begun limited IoT deployments. In the 2014 Harvard Business Review Analytics Services Report, Mark Bartolomeo of Verizon Connected Solutions said:  "While IoT is definitely not science fiction, it's not something that's available off the shelf." Fast forward to 2019 and it’s clear: IoT is a technology trend with practical applications for small businesses. You’re probably already using an IoT cloud application like Slack, Evernote or Google Docs in your business. But, are you taking advantage of the benefits of IoT technology? In this post, we discuss how small businesses can use IoT cloud technology for their benefit. Improve productivity with a smart assistant As a small business owner, you’d benefit from some help with organizing your day. Who wouldn't? Applications like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Siri will take care of basic tasks to improve your productivity. Around 15% of small businesses in North America and Europe are using smart assistants to increase efficiency, according to a Spiceworks survey. Respondents use the assistants to help with tasks like voice-to-text dictation and managing employees calendars. Save on security costs Sophisticated security tech will lock your doors, and provide 24-hour surveillance. Affordable innovations, like motion detection algorithms that work with the low-cost computer, Raspberry Pi 2 chip, and Pi camera, expand access to smart security solutions. A camera can be mounted anywhere, and the user accesses the feed via a web page from their phone. This system will send alerts if anyone gains access to the property.  Prior to the roll-out of IoT, live streaming security surveillance would have been out of reach for most small business owners but IoT levels the playing field. The days of stolen or lost keys are long gone too. Provide employees with digital keys and grant visitors temporary access using pin codes. Smart locks like Sesame put a creative spin on the concept, allowing you to open the door with a special knock on your phone. Reduce energy bills Did you know that HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and lighting make up 59% of commercial energy use ? Installing sensors to control HVAC and lighting can cut costs by as much as 40%, according to a study conducted by Texas Instruments. This type of technology is becoming more accessible for small businesses, with the cost of sensors falling from $1.30 in 2004 to $0.38 cents by 2020. Small business security & the IoT It’s understandable that you want to take advantage of the promises of IoT technology, but there are security concerns. Security and integration are among the biggest barriers to IoT, according to Bain & Company. Alarmingly, almost 50% of businesses can’t detect if their IoT cloud has been hacked. Small businesses are likely more vigilant. According to research from IT security company Pwnie Express, 41% of IT security professionals at large firms didn’t know what types of hacks had affected their IoT cloud, compared to 25% at smaller businesses. There’s an IoT solution for security too. Companies like Particle provide a platform for businesses to connect to the IoT securely. Keeping up with the pace of IoT cloud technology will ensure you don’t get left behind. Discover more about the latest trends in cloud and mobile technology to find out how your business can reap the benefits.

Technology

What do AI-driven customer service and B2B commerce mean for financial services?
What do AI-driven customer service and B2B commerce mean for financial services?
AI customer service for B2B financial services When you stop and think about it, it just makes sense. Obviously, AI-driven customer service and B2B commerce would be perfect pairings for financial services. Whether we’re talking about a financial advisory firm or a banking institution, there’s little doubt that companies within the financial services sector can make use of artificial intelligence. After all, customer service is how companies in these sectors can differentiate themselves from their competitors. Customers are demanding more than ever before from their financial service providers. Previously, customers had chosen their provider based on price, trust, and importantly, brand reputation. This is increasingly no longer the case. Customers expect to be provided with an excellent customer experience at every turn. And, in an effort to keep up and provide the best possible experience to customers, businesses are (not surprisingly) turning to AI. This is especially true when these companies offer B2B commerce products. But what does this really mean for these financial services companies? Let’s unpack this a little. What is artificial intelligence? AI software performs a number of different functions. These are often functions which human workers can perform, although they might not be able to complete these tasks as accurately or speedily. Consider, for instance, a large amount of data about a potential investor. The AI could gather this information, everything including bank statements, investment portfolio, and social media presence. A complete picture of this investor's financial life could be built by the AI using this data. It’s at this point that a financial advisor could step into the picture, using this information gathered by the AI software, to make recommendations. In the end, AI technology can ensure that each potential investor receives personalized product recommendations. This is excellent for customer service as each client will feel understood and well-serviced when their queries are answered quickly and accurately. Uses for AI in B2B commerce? AI systems are already being used in business to consumer (B2C) relationships on a regular basis, possibly without you even noticing. Consider the adverts which line the websites you visit, the product recommendations offered by Amazon, and even the suggestions of what to watch next by Netflix. Those are all examples of AI in action. Take those examples a step further and you’ll see B2B commerce and B2B communication. AI begins to really show its value in B2B commerce when the time comes to reordering products. Consider that B2B commerce purchases are far more complicated than B2C. More people are involved in the decision-making process. Purchases are more complicated and naturally need to be more personalized. B2B communication needs to be more nuanced to ensure that needs are met. In the case of financial services, consider an employer purchasing group products for employees, like income cover or insurance covering unemployment. B2B communication between these two parties would have to be excellent to ensure all of these employees are given the correct products which are appropriate for their needs. As you can see, the world of finance is 100 percent compatible with AI. But there still remains a niggling fear that AI means that specialized roles, particularly financial advisors, will be replaced by machines. If you’ve wondered about that or have had to explain to someone that a robot isn’t going to be stealing jobs, read our recent article on the topic. It discusses why financial advisors shouldn’t feel threatened by AI and, in fact, should embrace it. After all, these systems are not replacing staff members. They're performing tasks and services that their human colleagues either aren’t able to do, or to perform the menial duties which prevent them from getting to more valuable, profitable tasks. And when staff members are able to focus on those tasks, that just makes sense.
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