How AI can save business owners up to £3900 and ease workload

As of July 2024, only 29% of startups / small businesses worldwide have adopted AI in their operations, citing lack of expertise as their main reason for not doing so.

Christoph C. Cemper, an AI expert on behalf of AIPRM, provided his insight on how artificial intelligence can easily act as a crucial tool for entrepreneurs, easing the burden on small business owners, in honour of Stress Awareness Month.

Ease the load: Five ways AI can assist your startup or small business

Harnessing AI effectively can significantly alleviate stress for business owners, with a recent AIPRM survey revealing that one in eight businesses have saved between £780 and £3900 by replacing simple tasks with AI.

1. Marketing

Marketing is a crucial element for any startup or small business, not just for building brand awareness, credibility and trust, but also for positive customer retention and long term-growth.

Using AI in your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be overly complex, and it’s usually very accessible – with free to use tools such as Chat GPT. With over three in five (61%) of marketers now using AI to save time and resources, it’s clear to see how AI can work as a trusty sidekick to assist your natural workflow of content creation, analysing performance and predicting improvements for better engagement.

In fact, a global study by Statista reported that 47% of marketers trust the use of AI for generating target ads, 42% use the tool for personalising content, 33% for optimising subject email lines and 32% for conducting live chat sessions with customers.

2. Understand consumer behaviour

If you’re just starting out your business, you’ll want to understand your consumer pretty quickly. You can even use AI to develop a personalised customer avatar to target potential customers through AI-based ad tools, such as social media or Google Ads.

Although AI can assist with data-driven approaches, there still needs to be oversight from human beings, and the people maintaining these datasets have to be diverse so that the data sets are also diverse enough to reach a wider audience whilst still targeting your ideal customer.

3. Competitor analysis

AI can assist in analysing not only your own customer behaviour, but competitor trends, which can be used to adapt your own strategies accordingly. You can use AI to gain large amounts of data at the drop of a hat, and use this as a benchmark for your own strategies, and analyse how you measure against the competition.

To do this is actually relatively easy. You can use quick analytic tools such as Hootsuite or Brandwatch to generate reports on your competitors’ social media, engagement and growth, as well as their websites and any industry news sites to identify emerging patterns and trends. This can help you identify any gaps in the market, and leverage any customer feedback and satisfaction.

4. Product development

If you have a startup or small business, you also have a product it revolves around. Using AI for improving product design, development processes, prototyping and testing lands you with a good chance of a product that’s likely to perform.

You can leverage AI from day one by using market intelligence tools to analyse how similar products are performing on the market, and use this to one up your competitors. Easy to use, free tools such as Figma can also assist prototyping, which instantly converts concepts into visual product prototypes.

5. Security

Reports show that small businesses and startups are THREE TIMES more likely to be targeted by cyber crime than larger companies, with threats including phishing, malware attacks, social engineering, data theft, and insider threats. 60% of SMEs that suffer cyber attacks also go out of business within six months.

Despite this,security within startups and small businesses are often overlooked. Recent reports found that 51% of small businesses don’t utilise any IT security measures – with 36% of small businesses having no concern whatsoever about cyberattacks.

So how can AI help? AI can analyse vast amounts of data in real time to identify any suspicious patterns or anomalies associated with cyber security threats, and block any attempts to cause harm. AI can also scan your systems for any vulnerabilities and manage this accordingly. You can even utilise AI platforms for training up employees on best practices, and reducing human error that can lead to vulnerabilities in security.

TBO.com Appoints Mr. Gerardo Del Río as President of its International Business to Drive Global Growth

India, July 29, 2024: TBO.com, a leading global travel distribution platform, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Gerardo Del Río as President of its international business to drive global growth and take the company to the next phase of its evolution.

With over 20 years of experience across hospitality, travel and consulting sectors, Gerardo brings a wealth of global management, finance, and business development expertise to the role. Gerardo’s career, spanning the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, has equipped him with invaluable multi-cultural insights and a deep understanding of diverse global markets. In his illustrious career of over 2 decades, Gerardo has worked with some of the marquee companies including Melia Hotels, Hotelbeds (now HBX) and DidaTravel serving in various capacities and geographies.

On the new appointment, Mr. Gaurav Bhatnagar, Joint Managing Director and co-founder, TBO, stated, “We are delighted to welcome Mr. Gerardo Del Río to our leadership team. His extensive multi-market, multi-cultural experience and proven track record in the global travel and hospitality industry perfectly aligns with our vision for international expansion. Gerardo’s strategic leadership, client-centric approach, and focus on delivering results will strengthen our position as a leader in the global travel and tourism industry.” 

On his new role, Mr. Gerardo Del Río stated, “I am honoured to join TBO at this exciting juncture. The company’s proven expertise in simplifying the travel business for both suppliers and buyers provides an excellent platform for growth. I look forward to leveraging my experience to foster innovation, build strategic partnerships, and drive the company’s expansion in the global market. I am particularly excited about spearheading TBO’s international growth initiatives, tapping into new markets, and enhancing our global footprint.”  

Gerardo will lead the company’s global expansion efforts, ensuring a smooth transition as TBO enters new markets. He will focus on strengthening the company’s presence in existing markets while strategically entering new ones. His approach will centre on tailoring TBO’s cutting-edge travel technology solutions to meet diverse regional demands, cultivating cross-cultural partnerships, and driving sustainable growth across the global travel landscape.

Top Budget-Friendly Cities for Wedding in 2024: Ranked

This study by JJ’s House analyzed various expenses listed on the Wedding Report website associated with weddings across multiple US cities. Key cost factors included renting a wedding venue, attire and accessories, catering services, hiring a wedding planner, photography and videography, invitations, music and entertainment, floral and decorations, and wedding cakes and desserts. The total costs were aggregated to rank the most affordable wedding destinations in the US.

Kansas City, Missouri tops the list with a total cost of $16,204. Key factors contributing to its affordability include low costs for venue rental at $4,897, attire and accessories at $2,657, and music and entertainment at $810. The relatively low expenses in these categories make it a top choice for budget-friendly weddings.

Weatherford, Texas ranks second with a total cost of $17,165. This city is particularly notable for its low costs of attire and accessories at $1,146 and invitations at $215. Although catering costs in Weatherford are slightly higher, its overall affordability is evident.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina stands third with a total cost of $19,214. The standout factor is its exceptionally low catering costs at $5,596, combined with affordable venue rental at $5,450 and photography and videography at $1,741. This city offers the most affordable cost for attire and accessories totaling $320.

Boise, Idaho ranks fourth with a total cost of $19,324. Key factors include moderate expenses in catering services at $6,075 and lowest floral and decoration costs at $804, balanced by lower costs in other categories like attire and accessories at $2,574.

Tulsa, Oklahoma stands fifth with a total cost of $20,302 for a wedding with 150-200 guests. This city offers affordable wedding options with moderate costs in venue rental at $6,654 and attire and accessories at $1,939. The city offers the most cost-effective music and entertainment service at $766.

Little Rock, Arkansas ranks sixth with a total cost of $22,451. Highlighted by reasonable costs in catering services at $5,911 and wedding planning at $1,225, this city provides a balanced budget for various wedding expenses.

Yorktown, Virginia ranks seventh with a total cost of $22,823. Noteworthy for its affordable venue rental at $7,737 and moderate costs in floral and decoration at $2,382, Yorktown remains a cost-effective choice for weddings.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stands eighth with a total cost of $25,124 with 150-200 invitees. Significant factors include low costs in attire and accessories at $1,969 and music and entertainment at $2,317, making it an affordable option despite higher venue rental expenses.

Tampa, Florida ranks ninth with a total cost of $27,302. Tampa’s affordability is highlighted by moderate costs in attire and accessories at $1,516 and music and entertainment at $1,161, offsetting higher catering expenses.

San Antonio, Texas rounds out the top ten with a total cost of $29,026. The city features affordable venue rental at $12,692 and catering services at $1,144, balanced by higher expenses in music and entertainment at $4,637.

A spokesperson from JJ’s House commented on the study: “A wedding is one of the most memorable events in a person’s life, and it’s heartening to see that beautiful celebrations can be affordable. Kansas City, Missouri, stands out as the most budget-friendly city and is truly exceptional. Couples can enjoy a charming wedding without breaking the bank, thanks to its low costs for venues and entertainment. Weatherford, Texas, with its remarkably low attire and accessories costs, also provides a fantastic option for couples looking to save while still having their dream wedding.”

Storyblok’s CMS helps Octopus Energy use content to power the future of green energy

Octopus Energy is now able to deploy website updates in five minutes, and has seen a two-thirds decrease in requests for support from developers

New York, NY – Storyblok, the modern content management system (CMS) for all teams, today announced that Octopus Energy is using its CMS to manage content more efficiently and decrease dependence on developers.

Octopus Energy is a global clean energy tech business, driving the affordable, green energy system of the future. Their previous CMS required significant developer involvement for every content task and was very limited in its flexibility and customization options. This led to a fragmented content management setup that was slow and prevented collaboration.

Knowing that this wasn’t sustainable for their dynamic content needs, Octopus Energy made the switch to Storyblok. Now they use Storyblok to centralize content management and integrate all of their platforms through APIs, give content creators the components they need to create experiences without the help of developers, and closely manage user roles to improve collaboration.

Storyblok is used by 19 teams across 6 business functions in 8 countries. With that combined teamwork, Octopus Energy is able to create a website from scratch within 2 weeks and deploy updates in 5 minutes. The typical creation and publishing time has been cut by 1-2 days, with smaller projects getting delivered on the same day. This smooth process led to a two-thirds decrease in requests for support from developers.

Aaron Cawte, Senior Front-end Developer at Octopus Energy, said: “Storyblok’s Visual Editor empowers our content editors to click on the content they want to change and see the results in real-time. This enabled us to roll out Storyblok at speed with zero training, and our teams around the world have taken to it like ducks to water.”

Based on this success, Octopus Energy plans to continue using Storyblok for various projects, including the migration of over 1,000 pages from a legacy CMS, and the expansion of their mobile app content.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Storyblok, said: “Octopus Energy views energy in the same way we view content: it should be efficient and nothing should be wasted. By centralizing content with Storyblok, Octopus Energy is experiencing the benefits of reusable content across all of their platforms.”