AI can provide the key in helping businesses to retain customers and save money during the cost of living crisis, a leading tech expert has said.

Around 83 percent of UK businesses currently use AI in some form, helping them save 40 hours a week or 2,072 a year.

And this, according to one report earlier this year, equates to a saving of around £29,000 a year.

But Dash Tabor, the co-founder of TUBR, said despite the clear benefits, many businesses are still failing to utilise AI and the machine learning tools.

She said: “As consumers become more aware of their spending, customer service will play a significant role for companies’ ability to retain customers. Anticipating their needs and providing a seamless, enjoyable experience will not only keep customers coming back for more, but it will also grow brand awareness and loyalty.

“In a world that is always moving and human behaviour is constantly changing it’s important to anticipate the changing movements of your customers. Machine Learning can play a massive role anticipating needs and behaviours.”
Ms Tabor said that barriers which prevented many businesses from using AI no longer exist.

She added: “For several years, data has been a barrier to many companies not being able to access machine learning in previous years.

“A lot of companies feel they don’t have enough data or complete data to be able to utilise these technologies. But now we’re tackling the use of small data so that companies can see faster and higher returns on the data that is being collected.”

Highlighting the businesses which exist, she added: “As the cost of living and goods increases it’s not just households that are feeling the pressure, companies are also feeling the squeeze too. Companies are looking inwards to influence cost savings where they do have control. Machine learning can help businesses anticipate their needs so they can reallocate resources and optimise, and even reduce your spend.

“Using predictive technologies, such as TUBR a machine-learning product that takes smaller data inputs and doesn’t require in-house data science capabilities, provides a solution to protecting your employee’s jobs and your customers expectations.”

Breakout: How and why AI can save your business money.

AI in Business Operations
AI can transform internal processes and streamline operations so your employees can focus on more meaningful tasks that add value to the business, instead of wasting time.

AI can be integrated into daily operations so that:
1. Manual processes are reduced and automation is introduced
2. Help decision making by providing operation managers with key insights
3. Help operation managers comprehend where bottlenecks are located and how they
can be addressed
4. Improve accuracy

AI in Finance
The finance department is critical to understand risk management, measuring the performance and gaining important insights around the return on investment. AI’s deep learning capabilities are effective in helping support this process.

AI in Finance can:
1. Augment investment research
2. Improve investment performance
3. Reinforce fraud detection and returns abuse protection.
4. Forecast cash flows

5. Reduce costs

AI in Marketing
From information gathered at the supermarket checkouts, to posts liked on Instagram, people are offering their data on a silver platter and AI can use that data to improve their overall experience.
From offering a more intelligent and tailored service and products, marketers can now target individuals which was unfeasible before the development of AI. And this, in turn, can help you pinpoint where to target marketing campaigns giving you the best chance of getting value for money.

AI in Logistics
AI is effective in demand prediction. By providing retailers and logistics operators with the number of supplies and goods certain customers are likely to order, AI can prevent lack of inventory and potential loss of sales. Additionally, your warehouse management can also be streamlined, by measuring and keeping track of various variables. All of this will save you money.
AI in Customer Service
One of the most popular approaches to customer service and AI is the creation of chatbots, to help deliver effective self-service and fraud detection.
The use of NLP (natural language processing) enables chatbots to mimic the conversation that customers would have with customer service agents to resolve their queries. Not only do chatbots answer frequently asked questions, but they also help customers navigate the website and the app.
Chatbots enable customer service agents to focus on more complicated issues and enable the company to act in real-time and improve the customer experience overall improving the chances of them returning to your business to spend money,