AMAZON , AIRBNB AND UBER HAVE COMPLETELY CHANGED THE NATURE , PERCEPTION OF AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS AROUND RETAIL , HOSPITALITY AND TRANSPORTATION .
TALKING business
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From business efficiencies to more exciting , personalised retail and travel experiences
The rapid growth and business adoption of AI is transforming lives and businesses globally , by helping companies to automate previously routine and monotonous tasks and by offering consumers a choice of much-improved , personalised experiences and services across the world . When it comes to industries such as retail and travel , for example , it ’ s vital that businesses adopt the latest technologies to recognise and respond to the needs , wants and desires of their consumers . That ’ s why retailers and travel companies have been ahead of the curve over the last decade when it came to web and mobile e-commerce innovation . Amazon , AirBnB and Uber have completely changed the nature , perception of and consumer expectations around retail , hospitality and transportation .
While these companies have been using AI at the heart of their business for a while now , other retailers and travel companies are discovering how to harness it to predict consumer preferences , to personalise services and stores , to complete bookings and sales and to address even unstated customer service needs .
In travel , for example , there are a number of opportunities for AI to help improve the customer experience . Firstly , biometrics and facial recognition technologies can remove the time-consuming need for documents to be checked at regular steps of a journey . Secondly , machine learning models can help predict consumer preferences at a granular level , enabling enterprises to construct a ‘ 360-degree view ’ of the consumer in real-time , which then enables them to create hyper-personalised product and service offerings .
The impact on conversion rates and customer loyalty can be transformational for the enterprise that implements these . Next , conversational apps and voice-driven virtual assistants are offering time-poor travellers a more personalised way to interact with organisations , to make bookings or to get specific information to meet a need in a particular time and place .
There are many more opportunities : automated social media analysing tools can provide travel companies with real-time
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insight into how their customers are feeling in a given situation and help companies to offer instant solutions to any problems their customers might be facing due to traffic problems , flight cancellations or one of the many other variables that can cause travel issues . And of course , predictive machine learning algorithms are transforming demand planning , operations , marketing and backoffice operations across the entire enterprise .
How Big Data and AI are transforming financial services and insurance
It ’ s easy for modern consumers , travellers or holidaymakers to see and understand these latest AI-led developments in travel and retail , but what about in other industries . How , for example , is AI changing financial services and insurance ? The phenomenon of digitalisation , the spread of the Internet and particularly mobile computing over the past 20 years has resulted in the availability of enormous amounts of data , particularly in the financial and insurance domains , which is feeding the AI revolution .
It is almost impossible for humans to navigate this immense bank of data , let alone try to draw any meaningful insights from , or patterns in the data and that is exactly where AI comes in . Insurance companies , banks and financial services businesses are increasingly turning to automation , AI and machine learning-powered predictive analytics tools that use self-learning algorithms to continuously evolve with new data points and user analysis . A great example here is Mindtree ’ s recent partnership with Tookitaki , a predictive analytics platform that demonstrably assists banks and financial services companies help businesses to make better decisions , faster and more efficiently . This particular partnership is enabling customers to save millions in security alerts and reconciliation management .
The insurance industry has also been cautious about adopting these technologies , but there is increasing awareness of the areas in which AI can make an immediate impact to the business . We see increasing adoption by insurers across different technologies , including robotic process automation ( RPA ), chatbots and personal / virtual assistants , machine learning , deep learning and natural language processing ( NLP ). These technologies are helping insurers learn more about gaps in customer
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AMAZON , AIRBNB AND UBER HAVE COMPLETELY CHANGED THE NATURE , PERCEPTION OF AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS AROUND RETAIL , HOSPITALITY AND TRANSPORTATION .
needs , in addition to cutting the costs to the customer and servicing their personal needs and requirements better than ever before . For example , Mindtree ’ s own conversational chatbot , MACAW , helps to provide quotes for life insurance products using Skype messenger and we have also developed a highly advanced ‘ sales bot ’ for use in the automobile insurance industry .
We ’ re also exploring the use of deep learning-driven computer vision algorithms , from areas like ‘ reading ’ forms with combinations of printed and handwritten text for faster forms processing , to assessing and rating automobile damages automatically based on submitted images for faster claims processing .
Machine learning models for fraud detection have of course been in operation for quite a few years ; now they are also incorporating the ability to ingest unstructured data such as social media feeds to create more accurate predictive models .
As we ’ ve seen , the use of AI technologies is a reality today across different industries and enterprises . It is helping companies predict better , make better and faster decisions , serve their customers better with more personalised products and services , make routine processes faster and more efficient and unlock value in ways that were not possible before . It ’ s time to start using these in your business as well . •
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