3 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Help Your Business.

AI can help you to easily analyze every single piece of information produced digitally by any competitor; anything from online content, social media posts and written content to videos uploaded.
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Outstanding developments in technology mean that new and existing businesses have access to new ways of running and developing their companies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just one example of the breakthroughs in helpful and immersive technology; other examples include Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

With so many options out there, it can sometimes be difficult to know how specific technology can help your business in the best way; so here are 3 ways Artificial Intelligence can help.

Improve Your Customer Relationship Management

Good management of your customer data is imperative for the smooth running of your business. An adept CRM system is able to gather data across all the relevant channels, such as email, social media, and phone communication, in order to present you with the best way to improve the overall sales process.

You can now access CRM systems which use Artificial Intelligence to better help the process, with AI analyzing all customer feedback from all communication outlets and being able to adjust marketing strategies to better suit the information gathered.

This means that AI can provide relevant insights into customer activity and feedback, meaning you can optimize your entire sales process for the better, thanks to AI.

Good management of customer data is imperative for the smooth running of your business
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Use a Chatbot For Your Website

You’ve undoubtedly had experience with a chatbot before, they are commonly found on websites in the form of a small pop-up box in the corner of the screen asking if you need any help.

Artificial Intelligence can be used as a robotic customer service tool, programmed to help with any customer questions when visitors are exploring your website. It’s a very helpful tool, as it means customer communication is promptly initiated, and that there is always a customer service representative available from your business, 24 hours a day – even if that rep is robotic.

AI helps you better track the activity of your competitors and see exactly what they are doing, at any time
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This is a particularly effective option for those businesses which are just starting out or have a very small team, meaning a sales team might not have been established yet; an AI chatbot can help fill in the gap in human employees.

If you’re looking to further your understanding of AI in order to better implement it into your business or future career, you can fulfill a Masters in electrical and computer engineering online, which focuses on the future development of technology such as AI robotics.

A CRM system is able to gather data across all the relevant channels, such as email, social media, and phone
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Gather Relevant Research on Your Competitors

Competitor research is a primary focus and ongoing process for any business, especially those start-ups which are new to the market. However, competitor research can be very time-consuming and often difficult to navigate; and that’s where Artificial Intelligence comes in.

AI can help you to easily analyze every single piece of information produced digitally by any competitor; anything from online content, social media posts and written content to videos uploaded. AI also helps consolidate all this feedback into an easy-to-navigate report. AI helps you better track the activity of your competitors and see exactly what they are doing, at any time.

Artificial Intelligence can be used as a robotic customer service tool
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The post Supercharging Business Intelligence with AI appeared first on Tech Trends.

As the bright cliffs of freedom edge ever closer and we prepare to take back control from our EU overlords, remoaners still insist on pointing out pesky facts.

London is Europe’s leading tech hub fuelled by talent from across the continent. A bad deal threatens to undermine the most dynamic part of our economy @AndyCockburn
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For many years the tech sector has been the bonniest jewels in UK PLC’s crown, paraded as a shining example of innovation, growth and general coolness. I myself enjoyed working in and around Silicon Roundabout for many years and can honestly say that it’s been fun and utterly humbling to be around so many brilliant people contributing so much to the country’s economy. Some of them were even British.

“As a Northern Ireland native, I’ve seen first hand the difficulty that division can cause, just as I can see the major and needless impact that Brexit is having on bringing back the divisions on that island. Isolation and protectionism has never proven to be a positive long term strategy, and that is becoming clear in this case too. And with more in the tech industry, and in the UK as a whole, considering themselves citizens of the world, we risk closing our doors and driving away a diverse set of people that help make us all better.”

Rob Elkin, Busuu

We now had 2 years of due diligence on Brexit and the British people deserve a vote on this deal. Anything else would be highly irresponsible and undemocratic @bernardooo ‏
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Cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon @CH_Cartoon

Show me a thriving start-up that is not a melting pot of cultures from all over the world and you’d seriously be looking at an anomaly. It’s never been surprising for me to hear dozens of languages being spoken around the office, and to be constantly asking my colleagues how to best pronounce their names.

We employ a bunch of highly skilled people and 70% of our staff don’t have a UK passport. Finding and attracting great team members is a major challenge and is the single biggest constraint on our growth. Anything we can do to make it easier for smart people to come to the UK is a bonus. Doing the opposite is frankly economic suicide. Adam Fudakowski, CEO, Switchee

To me, such places are living proof that diversity breeds innovation, so to talk about adopting policies that would make Britain (to borrow some government terminology here) a “hostile environment” for immigration really seems to a move designed to drain the lifeblood from the creative industries – tech included.

We punch above our weight, which means we have a lot to lose. The country of Magna Carta and the Mother of Parliaments deserves a meaningful debate on concrete options, and a vote based on considered strategic goals @richmarr ‏
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“The UK and especially London has become a vibrant and globally successful centre for technology innovation. Many of the most exciting start up businesses here have been founded by immigrant entrepreneurs and grown with UK and European employees joining the companies as they grow rapidly.” Simon Murdoch, Managing Partner, Episode 1 Ventures

As anyone who’s ever worked in a start-up will also attest to, a huge part of a company’s energy and resources goes towards attracting, recruiting and retaining talent. Competition is dog-eat-dog fierce and even with freedom of movement allowing European citizens from 29 countries to come and work in London without any restrictions, it was still a challenge to get the right people on board – there just aren’t enough qualified individuals to go around, British or otherwise.

“Our world leading digital industry is being led into a back water of mediocrity by a crop of leaders who don’t even know what Brexit they want and why they want it. By keeping the best talent in the world out with central government quotas on immigration they’ve pulled down the shutters. Digital leaders will simply start up elsewhere. Toby Beresford, Rise

The Bank of England recently released figures that showed the UK economy is currently 1% smaller than expected two years ago, and this climate of economic uncertainty caused by Brexit is also affecting financing in the sector: Funding from the European Investment Fund has collapsed since the Brexit vote, and a replacement scheme has yet to be assured long-term by the government. The European Investment Bank, which backs a majority of the United Kingdom’s VC funds, has slashed deals with UK VCs and private equity groups by more than two-thirds, with no equivalent funding from the UK government in sight.

Having worked in Silicon Roundabout for many years I can say how fun and humbling it was to be around so many brilliant people who contributed so much to the UK economy. Some of them were even British
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So it comes as no surprise to hear that over 80 UK technology and innovation leaders have signed up as supporters of new tech business group Tech For UK, calling on the Government to back a meaningful vote by the people, on the actual terms of Brexit (something that sadly seems increasingly unlikely).

The Brexiteers admit they can't deliver the Brexit they promised so we deserve a vote on the one they've got us instead @GeorgeBevis ‏
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Tech For UK represents the founders of many of the most innovative and successful businesses in the UK technology sector including Martha Lane Fox of Lastminute.com and Doteveryone, Ben Whitaker, Founder of Masabi, the UK rail ticketing startup, Bernhard Niesner, founder of the language learning giant Busuu, lending giant Zopa, and George Bevis, founder of small business banking provider Tide, among many others. It is also backing Best For Britain in its fundraising campaign for a meaningful vote on the terms of Brexit and the option to Remain and lead in the EU.

Britons voted for Brexit in the initial referendum with inadequate and often wholly spurious information on both sides of the argument @nicksaalfeld ‏
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“It’s time the people had the chance for a meaningful vote, or through parliament, on the terms of Brexit,” says TechCrunch Editor-at-large Mike Butcher who is a co-founder of TechHub, and co-organiser of Tech For UK. “The loss of access to European funds, the flight of talent which powers UK tech companies due to the uncertainty and scandal around immigration, the loss of access to the Digital Single Market, which was never consulted over — all of these factors are adversely affecting the UK Tech industry.”

'Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons’ - it's becoming increasingly clear that the fiction that was promised by the Leave campaign were just that @glennbookingbug ‏
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The technology sector has consistently grown faster than the UK economy in recent years, employing over 2 million people and attracting billions in foreign investment. Collectively, Tech For UK supporters have raised hundreds of millions of pounds, put hundreds of millions back into the UK economy and employed thousands of people.

“I spent 12 years working in China – living over there I came to appreciate the value, and leverage, that comes with size. We are a small nation of 65m and I do not believe we are strong or powerful enough to go it alone in a rapidly globalising world. We are European and can’t pretend otherwise. We already have clients making London-based teams redundant as they move whole divisions to Ireland. I catch myself thinking “well it’s ok I’m sure the government know what they’re doing…” and instantly remember they clearly do not. Ed Dean, CEO, Woodseer Global.

Brexit is the most important decisions for generations and it would be irresponsible not to let people have a decision on the exact term of the world they will live in @vhirsch ‏
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Full list of supporters:

1. Adam Fudakowski, CEO, Switchee
2. Adam Price, Founder, VouchedFor & Hatch
3. Alex Hoye, Co-founder, The Faction Collective
4. Andrea Tricoli, Co-Founder, Expressly
5. Andrew Walmsley, Non Exec Chairman, Inskin Media
6. Andy Cockburn, CEO & Cofounder, Mention Me
7. Ben Farren CEO, SPOKE
8. Ben Whately, Co-founder and COO, Memrise
9. Ben Whitaker, Founder, Masabi
10. Benjamin Redford, Co-founder, Mayku
11. Benji Lanyado, Founder & CEO, Picfair
12. Bernhard Niesner, CEO, Busuu
13. Bindi Karia, Innovation Expert & Advisor
14. Cassandra Stavrou, Founder, Propercorn
15. Cécile Baird, Founder, Decentrl.Agency
16. Charlie Dobres, CEO, Busking It Productions
17. Chris Pointon, Co-founder, Racefully
18. Conor Graham, Cofounder, #HackTheHub
19. Courtney Glymph, Product and Solutions Communications, CA Technologies
20. Daniel Appelquist, Head, Samsung Research UK
21. Daniel Murray, Co Founder, Grabble
22. David Batey, Founder, Nickelled Ltd
23. Dimitar Stanimiroff, CEO & Co-founder, Heresy
24. Dominic Campbell, CEO, Futuregov
25. Ed Dean, CEO, Woodseer Global
26. Fabrice Bernhard, Co-Founder, Theodo
27. Frank Kelcz, Partner, Collider VC
28. Gareth Quinn, Founder, Digital DNA
29. George Bevis, CEO, Tide
30. Gianluca Gindro, Senior Data Scientist, Geophy
31. Giles Andrews, Cofounder & Chairman, Zopa
32. Glenn Shoosmith, Founder and CEO, Bookingbug
33. Guy Morris, Managing Director, Quiz the Nation
34. Hephzi Pemberton, Founder, Kiteka
35. Ian Jindal, Founder, Pencil / InternetRetailing
36. Ilicco Elia, Head Of Mobile, Deloitte Digital
37. Irfon WatkinsFounder, Dovu
38. Ivan Mazour, CEO and Founder, Ometria
39. Jack Huang, Director, TrulyExperiences.com
40. James Evans, Managing Director, Bluespot.io Ltd
41. James Whatley, Planning Partner, Ogilvy UK
42. Jana Hlistova, Founder, Diversity Hacks
43. Jessica Kennedy White, UCL Educate
44. Joanna Goodman, Tech Journalist
45. Jon Atkinson, Technical Director, FARM Digital Ltd.
46. Jonathan Petrides, Founder, allplants
47. Josh Feldberg Head of Digital, 89up
48. Josh Russell, Partner, Resolve
49. Katie Moffat, Head Of Digital, The Audience Agency
50. Laure Claire Reillier, Co-Founder and COO, Launchworks & Co
51. Laurence Kemball-Cook, Founder & CEO, Pavegen
52. Madhuban Kumar, CEO, Metafused
53. Marc Roberts, CTO, HiyaCar
54. Marcus Greenwood, CEO, Ubio
55. Martha Lane-Fox, Founder, Doteveryone
56. Martin Goodson, CEO, Evolution AI
57. Matthew Gardiner, Founder, Catch London
58. Melanie Moeller, Product Lead, Sky Spain
59. Merje ShawMD, Path59
60. Michele Cuccovillo, Partner, Rock Mission
61. Mike Butcher, MBE, Editor at Large, Techcrunch
62. Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner, Forward Partners
63. Nicholas Katz, CEO, Acasa
64. Nick Patterson, Founder, Movemeon
65. Nick Saalfeld, Director, Wells Park Communications
66. Nuala Murphy, CEO, Moment Health
67. Peter Ward, Founder, WAYN/Humanity Inc
68. Pilgrim Beart, CEO, DevicePilot
69. Priya Prakash, Founder, D4SC
70. Riaz Kanani, MD & Founder, Radiate B2B
71. Richard Marr, Cofounder, Applied Recruitment
72. Rob Elkin, CTO, Busuu
73. Rob O’Donovan, Ceo, Charlie HR
74. Simon Murdoch, Founder, Episode 1 Partners
75. Stephen Johnston, Founder, Fordcastle
76. Tamara Sword, Founder, TRM&C
77. Tim Boughton, CTO, Mention Me Ltd
78. Timothy Brownstone, CEO, KYMIRA
79. Toby Beresford, CEO, Rise.global
80. Tom Alisi, Director, deep.ventures
81. Tom de Grunwald, Creative Director, Microclimate
82. Tushar Agarwal Co-Founder & CEO, Hubble
83. Volker Hirsch, Founder, Blue Beck / Tech North Advocates
84. William Reeve, CEO, Goodlord
85. William Roberts, Founder, Loyalty Bay

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Deal or No Deal? London Tech Leaders Weigh In on Brexit appeared first on Tech Trends.

The Lush Summit in London was a celebration of their activist ethos, but it also turns out they have a thing or three to teach companies about business, and tech.

“You don’t seem to realize what business you’re in. You’re not in the burger business, you’re in the real estate business. You build an empire by owning the land. What you ought to be doing is owning the land upon which that burger is cooked.” Harry J. Sonneborn in The Founder (2016).

The Lush Summit 2018 was a slightly chaotic whirlwind of vegan doughnuts, argan oil and papier-mâché, but make no mistake the people at Lush know exactly what business they are in: activism.

As CDO Jack Constantine put it, “We are a company of activists who make cosmetics”.

Yes, this sounds like a carefully crafted PR line, but as it turns out it’s true. Every year, Lush donates hundreds of thousands of pounds towards a number of causes from close to home subjects such as animal testing to more far reaching concerns like ocean pollution and human rights campaigns.

The people at Lush know exactly what business they are in: activism
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Lush is a company of activists who make cosmetics
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For someone like myself, who has spent over a decade working in the comms industry, corporate social responsibility too often echoes the Monsanto-esque approach to sustainability campaigns: cue accomplished looking farmer peacefully walking back home at dusk after a wholesome day of work in the fields. If you find yourself in that uncomfortable place between the need to believe that a better way of doing business is possible and having to deal with a heavy dose of accumulated cynicism, Lush might just have something to lift up your spirits.

If you find yourself torn between jaded scepticism and the need to believe that a better way of doing business is actually possible, the Lush approach might be for you
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Lush’s concept, like most good ones, is simple: make fresh handmade products that people love. The ‘how’ they do it, is the interesting bit, though. From ingredient sourcing to how staff are treated, right through to their naked packaging policy, Lush operates with a relentless commitment to “do the right thing” all businesses should strive for. Let’s set the record straight before anyone gets flashbacks of hippies dancing around a fire, in 2016 Lush made £723 million in sales – an increase of 26% over the previous year. Not too shabby.

Lush’s concept is simple: make fresh handmade products that people love. The ‘how’ they do it, is the interesting bit
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Lush has plenty to teach businesses especially those in the tech space
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So, how do you make that kind of money while running a business with a heart? As I discovered, Lush has plenty to teach other businesses especially those in the tech space. Aside from the obvious fact that we all wash and use technology daily (well, most of us do anyway), Lush has a firmer handle on their digital ethics than their glittery products might lead you to believe.

Means to an end 

Make products with a mission, let your customers fall in love with both

In 2016 Lush launched The Digital Fund to support grassroot activists and charities protecting freedom of expression and safeguarding the Internet. The fund was financed by the sale of their Error 404 special edition bath bombs, which raised well over £200,000. Bahrain Watch, Digital Rights Watch in Australia and the Association for Technology and Internet in Romania are some of the associations that received funding so far.

In 2018 Lush is focusing on e-waste, the 20 million tons produced every year to be precise, with a new campaign built around a mobile-shaped Agbogbloshie bath bomb… the only phone you’ll ever willingly drop in water.

Lush is focusing on the 20 million tons of e-waste we produce every year
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DIY tech

If it’s not good enough make your own

Tech is everywhere nowadays, have you noticed? Hence it should come as no surprise that Lush employs a 40-strong team of software developers globally, who have built the company’s POS software. The surprising bit is that the software is completely open source, which means it’s technically available to their competitors too.

Lush employs a 40-strong team of software developers globally who have built the company’s open source POS software
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Lush is planning on rolling out their hardware, tablets for their retail locations to begin with, by the end of 2018
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To take this crafty endeavour one step further, Lush is planning on rolling out their hardware – tablets for their retail locations to begin with –  by the end of 2018. Let that sink in for a moment: a cosmetics company making their own ethically produced tech hardware.

“We have no plans to take over Apple any time soon” – jokes Constantine – “But we are serious about offering an ethical alternative to mainstream devices.”

End-to-end ethics

Dissect the entire lifecycle of tech

As the folks at Oxfam know all too well, your organisation is only as ethical as its weakest link. In other words, strong ethics are only as deep as a company’s knowledge of all the steps involved in the production of a product, and its willingness to “walk the walk.” Lush partners with a number of charities, associations and likeminded companies to bring its vision to life while avoiding cutting corners. Sharing moral standards with the people you do business with, finding the informed advisors and contributing by not being part of the problem are all important steps towards this.

Lush partners with a number of charities, associations and likeminded companies to bring its vision to life
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Two examples of such partnerships that stand out in the tech space are Ethical Consumer and Fairphone, who are both working with Lush to raise awareness around the sometimes shady tech supply chain. Whether it’s the dubious work ethics of invisible tech giant Foxconn – who subcontracts for the likes of Apple – or children mining cobalt in Congo, it seems high time for businesses to question the true cost of the tech they use or make.

It seems high time for businesses to question the true cost of the tech they use or make.
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So is Lush a dream company? Perhaps. Is it perfect? Of course not. However, with a reported pre-tax profit of £43.2m in FY 2015/2016 (an increase of £18.7m on 2014/15) and fingers in all the right tech pies Lush is definitely one to watch, and at Tech Trends we’ll continue to do just that.

What an incredible two days at the #LushSummit. pic.twitter.com/Wz46OTiBBo

— LUSH UK (@LushLtd) February 15, 2018

Sole Chirco is an emotional intelligence consultant and Tech Trends’ Wellness Tech Correspondent. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn. 

The post It’s None of My Business – Or Is It? appeared first on Tech Trends.

Fortune 500 companies are getting very excited about what holograms can do, and with very good reason. Mixed Reality (MR) brings together the best of both worlds, blending real-world context and interaction with enhanced graphics which means that information is presented in a much more dynamic and useful way.

Fortune 500 companies are getting very excited about what holograms can do
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All in all, it makes for better learning, more efficiency, and a collaborative workflow. We meet some of the early adopters of the main Mixed Reality platform to be released on a commercial scale – the Microsoft HoloLens – to see what the fuss is really all about.

You can see an excerpt from my latest Ars Technica feature about this below, or click here to read the full article

Our new (mixed) reality: Early adopters have become HoloLens believers at work https://t.co/mYa4s6m1TX

— Ars Technica (@arstechnica) March 11, 2017

It’s been roughly two years since Microsoft unveiled its augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR) HoloLens headset and about one year since the first publicly available dev kits went on sale. But ever since launching this impressive piece of tech, Microsoft has instead seemed content with letting Virtual Reality (VR) take the limelight. Take its recent Creators Update presentation in October as an example. Microsoft revealed tons of upcoming 3D functionality to benefit both VR and AR, but the headlines came when the company announced hardware OEMs like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer would be making VR headsets of their own with Microsoft software powering the experience.

Throughout HoloLens’ short existence, Microsoft has repeatedly emphasized how this product, still a first-generation device, was simply not yet consumer-ready. In these first two years of HoloLens public awareness, Microsoft would only focus on building partnerships and use cases that showcased the business and enterprise applications for this new augmented/mixed reality platform.

The terms AR and MR are often applied interchangeably, but MR is used most often by Microsoft when describing the HoloLens technology. No matter what you want to call it, this approach has several practical advantages compared to VR. Not only is it much less likely to trigger the type of discomfort associated with so-called “simulator sickness,” but the ability to overlay holographic elements onto real-world environments makes the HoloLens particularly suited to training and education applications, for example.

Most significant for business and enterprise situations, however, is the fact that—unlike with VR—the user is not shut away from their surroundings with AR/MR. Whether or not you happen to be sharing a physical space, MR allows you to see, listen, and talk to others while everyone involved sees the same holograms simultaneously. It’s this precise ability to create a shared reality mixing all those elements that potentially makes the HoloLens such a powerful collaboration and visualization tool.

The post Why Mixed Reality is Going to Transform Business appeared first on Tech Trends.

Since its IPO, we’ve seen Twitter struggle with stagnant user growth numbers and monetization challenges. There was hope that Jack Dorsey’s return would help steer the ship back in the right direction, but no sign of that so far.

Now we’re seeing some industry commentators going out on a limb to say that if things don’t turn around pretty sharpish we could be looking at one heck of a dead dodo.

Since its IPO Twitter struggled with stagnant user growth numbers and monetization challenges
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“Large scale social businesses grow or die.  Flat growth means almost certain death,” says Victor Basta from Magister Advisors, a tech M&A advisory firm. “Yahoo and MySpace are two examples of social businesses that flat-lined and then rapidly become irrelevant.  In both cases, valuations didn’t just get cut 5-10%, they lost 80-90% of their value over a short period of time.  Twitter’s near zero growth in users and revenue, if not reversed very soon, is likely to lead to this kind of catastrophic valuation reduction. “

If things don't turn around sharpish for Twitter, we could be looking at one dead Dodo
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As a huge Twitter fan, it drives me mad how they refuse to work on things such as better search, but for all its flaws, I believe that it would be nothing short of a disaster if that came to pass. As Basta suggests, the company should look at ways of innovating rather than insisting on trying to make outdated models – such as monetizing adverts – try to fit

“When user growth has slowed, Facebook has innovated with new products (Facebook Live), new platforms (Oculus) and intensive machine learning/AI capabilities to continue to grow its presence. Snapchat is another more recent example of positive product and user momentum. We have already seen a sharp drop in Twitter’s value, but there is a lot more downside than upside now in the company’s valuation.  Crucially momentum has to reverse very quickly. We reckon the company has maybe a year or two to turn things around and re-establish momentum.  Unfortunately this kind of revival is a slow, and very painful process.  There is no ‘quick tweet’ solution to arresting Twitter’s decline.”

Twitter's importance goes well beyond its balance sheet, and it should be protected
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Another option, which I explored in more depth for this Quartz article and discussed in a panel hosted by CBC Radio is that Twitter’s importance actually transcends its balance sheet. It is, I’d argue, more akin to a public service than a commercial platform, and the public should not allow it to go under.

There is no quick tweet solution to arresting Twitter’s decline.
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Specially given the current political climate and the socio-economic impact that a tweet can have, Twitter is a powerful catalyst for democratic movements and a channel that must be kept open to facilitate freedom of speech. How we go about safeguarding it is a debate worthy of a trending hashtag. #SaveTwitter anyone?

The post Is Twitter Headed for Certain Death? appeared first on Tech Trends.