Amidst this tide of bad business and geopolitical news, technology may offer businesses a lifeline. Enter artificial intelligence (AI), a game-changer that promises to revolutionise industries across the board. From streamlining operations to enhancing customer experiences, AI offers a plethora of opportunities for businesses to boost profitability.

Intriq is a UK tech startup, comprising of a founding team that brings together experience in private equity strategy transformation and AI engineering, on a mission to empower businesses with strategy tools and insights to drive profitability.

Understanding Artificial Intelligence

For many in the industry, AI is an overused term. At Intriq, our engineers have been working in the artificial intelligence space long before the term became mainstream. Over the past decade, machine learning (ML) referred to models capable of detecting and predicting patterns based on training data. These models vary from fitting an average to a set of numbers, to analysing pixels in images, to predicting the next words in a sequence (think predictive text). It is this last category of ML models that has given rise to the current AI revolution.

In essence, these systems aim to predict the next words in a sequence. They are trained on vast amounts of data to have plenty of examples of what to say next. When asked a question, models like ChatGPT look at similar sentences from their training data and provide an answer based on the type of words that followed those questions. This relatively simple mechanism enables them to answer complex business queries, write stories, and generate media content. This concept also extends beyond text; by ingesting numerical statistics as words, complex mathematical models can also be reduced down to the same concept of predicting the next words in a sequence.

At the moment, many applications are incorporating generative AI in the form of chatbots. At Intriq, we take a different approach, recognising that the future of this technology involves embedding AI into the heart of an application’s flow, rather than simply a layer at the end. Let’s explore three examples of this.

Enhanced Decision-Making with Data-Driven Insights

Artificial intelligence excels at analysing vast amounts of data to extract actionable insights. Businesses can leverage machine learning algorithms to analyse market trends, customer behaviours, and operational metrics. These insights enable more informed decision-making, allowing companies to optimise pricing strategies, forecast demand, and identify new market opportunities. For instance, AI-driven predictive analytics can help retailers stock the right products at the right time, reducing the cost of overstock and understock situations.

Businesses often find themselves collecting increasing amounts of data but doing very little with it. The more information collected, the more time and resources are needed to decipher it. This is where Intriq operates; analysing businesses’ financial and operational data while combining it with external market factors to give a comprehensive view of profitability mechanics. Business owners can see insights such as profitability between locations or sales trends for certain items and explore the root causes, receiving suggested strategies for turning negative trends around. What’s more, Intriq uses generative AI to analyse tabular, numerical data, where more traditional systems use hard-coded mathematical rules which are less flexible, and provide less of a tailored service for the user.

Analysing sales trends

In today’s customer-centric market, AI excels in analysing sales trends and customer behaviour, crucial for boosting engagement and driving sales. E-commerce giants like Amazon use AI to recommend products based on past purchases, increasing sales and satisfaction. AI tools also analyse historical sales data to identify trends and predict future behaviours, enabling targeted marketing campaigns. Additionally, AI chatbots provide instant support, enhancing customer experience.

Business owners can expect significant benefits from AI-enhanced personalisation tools integrated into existing platforms. CRM systems are evolving to incorporate AI algorithms that can segment customers more accurately and predict future behaviours.

Intriq uses generative AI to analyse a business’ historical customer data, and highlights buyer trends between products and locations, helping business to predict future behaviours and tailor email campaigns and advertisements, leading to higher engagement rates.

By implementing these AI-driven features, businesses can deliver more relevant content to customers, increasing conversions and fostering greater customer loyalty. Intriq also factors in external factors such as how local events, traffic, weather and more may affect users, and therefore sales on any particular day.

Supply Chain Optimisation

The supply chain is a critical area where AI can drive substantial cost savings. AI-powered tools can optimise various aspects of the supply chain, including demand forecasting, inventory management, and logistics. For example, AI can predict demand patterns and adjust inventory levels accordingly, minimising holding costs and reducing the risk of stockouts. Additionally, AI can optimise delivery routes, reducing transportation costs and improving delivery times, which can lead to higher customer satisfaction and repeat business.

Existing inventory management systems are incorporating AI to create features such as margin predictions, demand-based ordering, and increased integration with other management tools. This not only creates a more efficient supply chain but also saves businesses time currently used to manage their existing processes manually.

Intriq takes advantage of this to analyse margins for each product, using AI to break down ingredient costs and anticipate supply chain disruption to optimise costs through a combination of a business’ internal data and Intriq’s own external market data.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence is not just a futuristic concept; it is a tangible and powerful tool that can significantly enhance business profitability. At Intriq, we believe that by providing data-driven insights, personalising customer experiences, optimising supply chains and driving innovation, our AI-powered toolset offers numerous pathways to financial success. Businesses that embrace AI and integrate it into their strategic planning will be well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic marketplace. As we move forward, the synergy between human ingenuity and AI will undoubtedly unlock new levels of profitability and growth.

For businesses to truly harness the power of this revolution, they need to be evaluating their tool-suite, and should not be hesitant to switch to new solutions that are incorporating AI to optimise costs and revenue, while others fall by the wayside.