OPINION
PAUL KIDD, DIRECTOR, UCS TECHNOLOGIES AI definitely helps when you’ re trying to put together professional content, and it does make things more efficient. It’ s good for financial reporting too. But it’ s far from perfect – you still have to double check things and make sure whatever it produces actually looks right.
What really worries me is the impact on jobs. I don’ t think it’ ll change much for our own business in terms of hiring or losing people, but I do worry about areas like manufacturing and design engineering. The race to dominate AI is wild and the money being thrown around is unbelievable.
I just hope AI ends up supporting people in their jobs instead of replacing them. It wouldn’ t be much fun if everyone ended up working alone with no real human interaction.
TIM PAYNE, MANAGING DIRECTOR – RETAIL, CHARLES CLINKARD AI is delivering both time and cost efficiencies for Charles Clinkard. Our proprietary machine-learning module enables automated decisionmaking that would previously have required significant manual input, freeing up teams to focus on highervalue activity.
At the same time, the speed and accuracy it provides improves our speed to market, allowing us to react faster to demand and optimise product availability. This not only reduces operational overhead but also increases the likelihood of achieving full-price sales, ultimately strengthening both margin and overall commercial performance.
STEVE SOUTHERN, CEO, SOUTHERN ASSET MANAGEMENT AI is already saving us time and money across the business, although our SAM system does a lot already. We use it to quickly work out invoicing, VAT percentages and financial queries, which reduces manual errors and speeds up admin tasks.
We currently run seamless live data streams through our SAM application software for both the company and our clients. We’ re now looking to integrate AI directly into these systems, which will be a gamechanger and significantly increase productivity across the board.
JOANNA MACDONALD, HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS AND CULTURE, PD PORTS From a communications perspective, not yet. When we’ re writing copy, the time spent refining prompts and coaching an authentic tone of voice means we’ re not necessarily saving time; we’ re just spending it differently.
We’ re also only beginning to explore AI for image and video creation, but so far the quality doesn’ t compare to what a skilled professional can produce. AI-generated content can stand out for the wrong reasons when it feels generic. Ultimately, people engage with your business because they want connection and genuine expertise – and AI isn’ t delivering that level of authenticity just yet.
GARY POTTS, VICE PRINCIPAL: BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, MIDDLESBROUGH COLLEGE AI is most definitely saving Middlesbrough College time. We have streamlined multiple time-consuming business processes through the creation and utilisation of tailored Microsoft CoPilot apps.
For our teachers, we have created a bespoke teacher workload tool, Inspire AI, which assists with the common administrative tasks that all teachers need to complete. Staff who use Inspire AI at least once a week report an average time-saving of 3.5 hours per week. That is half a day of administrative burden, which can be used instead for meaningful interactions with our learners!
LAURA TELFORD, CLUSTER GENERAL MANAGER, HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MIDDLESBROUGH While AI brings huge efficiencies and cost savings, it can’ t replace the human heart of hospitality. Our industry is built on people caring for people, creating memories and offering genuine connections and experiences. When everything becomes“ selfcheckin” and“ appdriven”, we risk losing the warmth and small human moments that make hospitality meaningful.
Technology should support staff, not remove them, and free people to focus on what truly matters such as empathy, presence and real interactions. A world without human-led hospitality worries me- it would feel colder and less connected. It’ s vital we use AI thoughtfully and protect the human touch that defines our industry.
The voice of business in the Tees region | 15