Last month, the UK carmaker initiated the most significant shift in its 102-year history, unveiling a new logo and a “social media tease” as part of its transition to an all-electric brand. However, critics dismissed the campaign as “woke”, noting the absence of any actual cars.

Earlier this month, JLR also revealed its new EV concept, the Type 00, at the Miami Art Fair. The car’s bold colours—shocking pink and electric blue—sparked further debate.

Though JLR’s finance transformation director wasn’t there to defend the brand’s strategy, he noted that exclusivity requires a focus on target customers, not universal appeal.

“This is an ambitious strategy. Some people love it, and some people hate it, but the world is changing to a point that no change equals no future for us,” said Lee, JLR’s director of finance.

Lee told conference delegates how JLR is heavily investing in electrification and automation with a goal of zero carbon emissions by 2039 as part of its wider transformation plan.

According to Lee, his department is central to the car maker’s transformation into a brand that will attract a new generation of eco-conscious, high-net-worth individuals.

“The finance department sees the end-to-end value creation system: every action has a transaction that we record and report; every plan needs a business case. Every strategy needs to be funded and financed.

“So, finance is key. As director of finance, I’m focussed on process excellence and creating data assets which are analytics and AI-ready,” he explained.

Process transformation

Central to this journey, said Lee, was the part of the business that used to take care of delivering business strategy and compliance – which, he added, used to be “a back office shared service centre in a low-cost country”.

This “finance digital core” has now been transformed into a technology hub populated by process and data experts focused on “standardising and automating global processes through technology, data management and analytics,” Lee added.

In terms of technology partners, one key vendor is Appian, Lee added, and the process automation firm has most recently been helping the carmaker with processes around improving and negotiating changes to its material costs.

“The system was designed 20 years ago and has grown over time with lots of technologies being added through purchasing and finance organisations.

“We’ve been trying to automate tasks as opposed to designing end-to-end processes in a coordinated way. It used to be very manual – a Frankenstein process that did not really fit together,” he said.

He added that many organisations ended up with such beasts: “If you focus on task automation you will get an awkward process that doesn’t integrate or connect,” Lee observed.

However, two weeks ago JLR finished integrating an Appian solution that connects all these different processes into a single system, improving the user experience and outcomes and creating a single source of truth.

“We’ve moved from a fragmented process and disparate systems to an end-to-end curated and connected process in a single system,” he added.

Lee also outlined how Appian helped JLR streamline supply chain sourcing post-Brexit and during the Covid-19 pandemic by providing a unified low-code platform to manage complex processes.

By integrating data from disparate systems, Process HQ enabled a real-time view of supply chain operations, enabling JLR to track parts, suppliers, and compliance with post-Brexit regulations efficiently.

“Whatever your politics, Brexit was a pain for us. We had to import £8 billion worth of parts from Europe into the UK to keep our manufacturing plants running,” he told delegates.

“Appian’s solution has helped us mine that data to help us create a really good robust way to understand what was happening and how we could make it better,” he added.

This was achieved by enabling the carmaker to coordinate the supplier, courier, and broker documentation so that it could manage that process in a streamlined and automated way, outlined Lee.

“We used to have 250 people manually working on this process, and now we have less than 100 and we are looking at reducing this further.”

Making the most of JLR assets

According to Lee, JLR has also started a fixed assets management lifecycle system which is a process designed to oversee and manage physical assets—be it machinery, tools, vehicles, and facilities—throughout their lifecycle.

This system claims to ensure efficient utilisation, cost management, and compliance with regulatory standards.

“Previously the data that manufacturing, purchasing and finance we were holding was in Excel spreadsheets and we couldn’t align our data, resulting in a capitalisation backlog of £1.1billion,” he said.  “The Appian solution will make that flow continuous and avoid Excel and backlogs going forward.”

Lee pointed out that aligning the manufacturing maintenance schedule and the finance asset register has also given JLR finance the opportunity to remove finance asset verification from the process that JLR used to run on a cyclical basis every three years.

“Again, another huge efficiency through collaboration,” he added.

Using the same Appian system Lee said that the department has also started a process that aids the circular economy internally, by creating an internet e-commerce marketplace to see what parts are available for reuse to avoid spending more money on new versions of things that the organisation already has.

Lee wrapped up by pointing out that automating all these processes and creating a single source of truth set the organisation up for AI experimentation.  “We’ve created some great opportunities that will create great data assets that will then allow us to explore AI opportunities,” he said.

The post Jaguar Land Rover’s finance director on driving process transformation appeared first on TechInformed.

Central to its success is the personalisation offered by its Lifestyle Manager service, a digital assistant supported by Salesforce technology.

“To understand the motivations and passions of thousands of members globally, we need a flexible customer service platform that caters to both our business and client needs,” says Cathrine Levandowski, global head of operations at Quintessentially.

Speaking at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Levandowski highlighted how Salesforce Customer 360 has transformed the company’s delivery of personalisation.

Tailor-made service

Quintessentially operates in 35 offices worldwide, communicating with members in 51 languages and representing 59 nationalities.

With such a diverse and demanding client base, the company manages over 300,000 member requests annually, using Salesforce Service Cloud to streamline communication across multiple channels, including email, phone, and WhatsApp.

Levandowski says Quintessentially’s ability to tailor services precisely is what sets it apart.

Lifestyle Managers collect and act on extensive client data, including travel preferences, memorable dates, and even favourite cuisines.

However, a significant challenge lies in coordinating communications, which often involve multiple contacts, such as executive assistants, personal assistants, and family members.

Previously, this was managed manually through Outlook, a process that Levandowski admits lacked the sophistication needed to track engagement or refine services.

Salesforce launches its first AI centre and accelerates with Aston Martin

Salesforce’s Distributed Marketing feature addressed this by enabling Lifestyle Manager to personalise emails for individual members and their networks, ensuring each recipient received relevant and timely information.

“Lifestyle Manager can now tailor communications beyond just the account holder,” explains Levandowski.

“For example, if I know a member’s wife loves fashion, I can send her curated recommendations. Before, we couldn’t track engagement or insights, but now we’re proactive and precise. That’s the luxury we sell.”

This improvement in communication enhanced the customer experience and enabled Lifestyle Manager to deliver Quintessentially’s unique value proposition more effectively, reducing errors and strengthening the company’s bespoke service offering.

Driving performance

According to Levandowski, the integration of Salesforce tools has had a tangible impact on Quintessentially’s business performance.

Using Marketing Cloud, she says that the company has been able to personalise, automate, and produce dynamic content tailored to individual members’ interests.

This enhanced approach to engagement increased newsletter open rates from 30% to 37%, significantly outperforming industry benchmarks.

This deeper level of connection with its members has translated into broader business success.

In 2023, Quintessentially reported a 30% increase in annual group revenue, driven by stronger member retention and satisfaction.

Concierge memberships grew by 40%, while member loyalty and feedback scores improved by 12%.

These results underscore the value of personalisation as a cornerstone of the company’s luxury services.

Quintessentially also expanded its operations in the US — a strategic goal for the business.

Membership in the US market increased by 40%, making it the company’s second-largest market after the UK.

Quintessentially credits Salesforce with playing a pivotal role in supporting this growth, providing the tools needed to scale operations without compromising on the high level of personalisation that clients expect.

Securing trust

Given the sensitivity of the data Quintessentially handles, security is a top priority for the company.

High-net-worth individuals entrust the firm with personal information, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals.

To address these concerns, Quintessentially relies on Salesforce’s compliance with PCI DSS standards, which set strict requirements for protecting cardholder data and preventing breaches.

“Salesforce provides the security we need,” Levandowski says. “That’s always been a priority for us.”

She adds that by aligning its operations with Salesforce’s robust security features, Quintessentially protects client data and reinforces trust, a critical factor in retaining and attracting members in this exclusive market.

Bespoke excellence

From better data insights to tailored communications, Quintessentially affirms that the Salesforce partnership has delivered its promise to provide members with a truly luxury service, proving that technology and personalisation can go hand in hand.

Read more: Agentic vs copilots: what’s the future of GenAI?

The post The digital butler: how a high-end concierge service is enhancing CX for its members appeared first on TechInformed.

One stark example was the failure of Minnesota’s century-old Rapidan Dam in June, which succumbed to intense flooding.

This incident is a microcosm of a broader issue: America’s nearly 92,000 ageing dams, most built in the early 1900s, are under increasing strain from extreme weather.

Federal and state officials have reported over 30 dam failures in the Midwest since 2018, as precipitation has risen by 5-15%. A United Nations University study found that 85% of US dams operate beyond their life expectancy, with refurbishment costs estimated at $64 billion (£47bn).

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) oversees 740 dams, ensuring their safety through data-driven management. Borehole data, which reveals subsurface conditions, plays a crucial role in the Corps’ flood control systems, helping identify areas prone to seepage, instability, or erosion.

However, the USACE faced a significant challenge; its data was scattered across 500 disparate database structures, making it difficult to create a unified picture.

Data migration and standardisation

To address this, USACE partnered with Dataforensics, an Atlanta-based firm specialising in subsurface data management, and adopted Bentley Systems’ OpenGround, a cloud-based platform for geotechnical data.

Dataforensics developed a custom data migration application to streamline the transfer of millions of feet of borehole data into OpenGround.

“We enhance platforms like OpenGround, focusing on getting data into the system so it can be used effectively — whether for logging boreholes, lab results, or historical data,” explains Scott Deaton, president of Dataforensics.

The migration application automated data cleaning, standardisation, and transfer into OpenGround. It also generated PDF logs, enabling seamless integration of previously siloed information. The process was further validated using Microsoft Power BI and advanced analytics.

Implementation posed its own hurdles: “Shifting from a paper-based approach to a modern system required significant effort,” Deaton explains. Success depended on collaboration between internal USACE teams, Dataforensics, and Bentley Systems, as well as a focus on ownership and training.

According to Deaton, regional “data champions” were appointed across USACE district offices to oversee workflow management and documentation, ensuring a smooth transition to the cloud-based solution. These champions also acted as internal support for data queries and promoted best practices.

Extensive training played a pivotal role. Over three years, USACE conducted 30 live, multi-day training sessions, reaching more than 400 personnel. Additional online tutorials, webinars, and internal tech support ensured widespread adoption of OpenGround.

Dam fine results

The implementation has yielded transformative results. Deaton estimates that 8,500 projects containing data from 200,000 boreholes have been centralised and standardised in OpenGround, valued at over $500 million.

Automating the migration saved significant time; a process that would have taken 60,000 hours if completed manually was completed in 3,000.

Centralisation has eliminated redundant workflows and fostered cross-district collaboration within USACE, breaking down silos that previously hindered operations. The quality and completeness of data have also improved.

“In the past, subcontractor data, lab results, and test outcomes were often missing or incomplete. Now, all data is imported into a single system, eliminating errors from multiple data entries,” says Deaton.

He adds that reusing historical data has reduced risks, minimised the need for expensive and environmentally damaging redrilling, and enabled faster, more accurate analysis during emergencies.

Averting disaster

The streamlined system has proven invaluable in critical situations, such as a hurricane or dam seepage emergency. Deaton recalls a recent instance when USACE needed to address a life-threatening seepage issue at an ageing dam.

“We located the data within minutes, visualised it with geographic information tools, and provided emergency workers with an actionable understanding of the subsurface conditions,” he explains.

These capabilities are vital as the US confronts the increasing impact of climate change. With most dams over 100 years old and many owned by small municipalities, Deaton predicts that USACE’s expertise will be in high demand for years to come.

The Corps’ transition to a unified, cloud-based geotechnical data platform has enhanced its ability to safeguard critical infrastructure, like the ageing dams. By standardising its data and embracing advanced tools, the army is not just keeping pace with current challenges but proactively preparing for future ones.

As Deaton concludes: “The Corps has transformed how it manages its data, setting a benchmark for modern infrastructure resilience.”

Harnessing the power of hybrid cloud

The post How data-driven technology is helping the US safeguard ageing dams against climate change appeared first on TechInformed.

The company operates on a trade-only business model, selling its kitchens and related products exclusively to professional tradespeople rather than directly to retail customers, ensuring they are fitted correctly to a high standard.

Central to this business model is its decentralised approach: Howdens operates a network of over 850 depots across the UK and Europe. These depots are strategically located to serve tradespeople locally, offering convenient access to products.

While this approach has turned the kitchen brand into a successful business – selling £2.3bn of kitchen-related products each year to a customer base of 555,000 – having a completely decentralised business does provide challenges for any tech roll-out, as its chief customer officer, David Sturdee, notes.

“When you are running a decentralised depot model you need to empower people to drive the model forward at a local level but also to be able to have control and centralised governance,” he told TechInformed.

What’s particularly challenging for Howdens is that many of its depots are managed in different ways, using a plethora of different reporting tools and spreadsheets. One objective this year has been to launch a single CRM solution flexible enough to for customisation with the ability to accommodate different user groups within its process.

For Sturdee, the approach from the start needed to be about cocreation: because, he adds, “the more the depots cocreate the more they buy into it.”

Enterprise CRM model “broken”

When Howdens began reviewing legacy enterprise CRM tools on the market, Sturdee claims that both cost-wise and flexibility-wise most of these systems wouldn’t work for Howden’s business model.

“We’ve got to the stage now where we’ve grown our sales by 7% (CAGR) and yet the costs charged by enterprise software players were going up 17% over the same period,” he said.

“At some stage, the magic of technology has been lost and we have this institutionalised software approach that has outlived its usefulness for us. So, we went into the market to see what else was there,” he added.

The kitchen brand’s journey brought it to Creatio, a ten-year-old, no code platform vendor founded by Boston-based Ukrainian expat Katherine Kostereva.

The cloud based platform (supported by AWS and Azure) automates workflows and builds applications for marketing, sales and services – meaning that it goes head-to-head with technology behemoths such as Salesforce and Microsoft, although it argues, it is able to help business customers build applications at a much faster rate.

Giving the pitch, Creatio’s chief sales office for Europe, Darren Lewis says: “We’re built on a modern platform, not old technology so when it comes to moving quickly or being agile, we are highly customisable.

“It’s hard to configure when you’ve got a platform that’s been meshed with 25 to 50 integrations that all must talk to each other and having tools on the outside to make it all work.

“Creatio is just one platform, a single database, so imagine how much quicker you can move when it comes to deployment cycles, customisation or changes – there are no restrictions.”

To trial whether this platform would work for its depots, Howdens asked Creatio to build a pilot version of the software in 12 weeks, engaging with an initial user group of 20 depots.

While the initial pilot went well, the challenge grew as they began to scale further – into 120 depots, as Martin Mercer, Howden’s director of user experience, noted.

“We continued to add features and functionality at the request of these depots. As each cohort was onboarded, we saw training requirements and the adoption curve steepen dramatically,” he said.

“The people involved in the initial pilot helped shape the features and develop the solution – learning each new feature as it was onboarded and developed. But by the time we’d reached 130 depots it was significantly more complex than the one we’d initially launched,” he added.

Redesigning information architecture

According to Mercer, the kitchen brand’s aim was to be able to roll the platform out, at pace, to the rest of its depots in a way that made it intuitive, from day one, “so that staff were able to use it to do their work, without feeling overwhelmed.”

The solution, he adds, was to redesign the architecture. “We started by conducting a workshop where we identified three key users of our systems: depot managers, sales designers and business developers.

“We then broke down each of the tasks they had to do into a ‘to do’ list which contained info that they needed to know to get more value from customer leads.

“We then built filters for more advanced users to get further value out of data held within the platform.”

The result of this is that navigation of the platform has been simplified from eight items to just three that are focussed on core specific job roles in these depots. Tasks that are a priority and time-sensitive are positioned at the top. These vary depending on job roles. It could be a sales forecast, the size of a lead bank for depot managers, or info on kitchen joinery for designers.

An advanced tab enables competent users to create their own folders and filters so that they can extract even more value from the database.

“Using traditional developer techniques this would have taken us months to change but utilising the flexibility of the Creatio platform meant we were able to make these changes in just three weeks,” Mercer adds.

The UX director attributes the success of the project to the understanding of the customer needs.

“A lot of people design systems and software but don’t think about the people who are using it. Or just think about one or two user groups. The real unlock here is, whatever you build first time, no matter how good the UX is, it won’t be right for everyone.”

And Sturdee, a former chief operating officer and customer officer at Yum! Brands, adds there’s no better way of bringing employees on a digital transformation journey than by making them feel part of it.

“I know from talking to people in the depot that in the pilot phase we were 80% of the way there in just 10 weeks – they were like “the platform is good but not built for me” – it was that last two weeks that the team really spent refining the UX – that last 20%  – which meant that everyone became fully immersed because they were part of that journey.

“Tech is an enabler but unless you pull the people with you to drive that success you are not going to realise that investment,” he adds.

As the Kitchen firm rolls out the tech across all 857 depots,  Sturdee confirms that it will be easy for users to make further tweaks along the way – because there’s no code involved. “Howdens changed the architecture from eight stages to just three in two weeks. That’s three to four months of development work if you are using traditional platforms.

“If a businessperson wants to go in and make a further change to a guided stage, they can just click a drop-down menu and make that change or add to it. No IT integrations are needed.”

GenAI

Howdens has also embraced GenAI this year, with an app released for its core user base aimed at providing practical advice to tradespeople to make their jobs easier. Chip uses Microsoft’s (GenAI) technologies, including Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure AI Search and Applied AI Services.

According to Sturdee, Chip marks only the start of Howdens’ AI journey as the firm continues to explore other ways AI can improve efficiencies for its customers. Given that a major part of Howdens’ business is kitchen design, Howdens can’t ignore the opportunity to use GenAI in the design process– although Sturdee makes it clear that the technology will be used to support and not replace designers.

“With GenAI right now we’re looking at the ‘Where?’ and the ‘How?’ Clearly there’s going to be a role it must play in the design process. But it will be around augmenting and helping the designers in the business be more efficient and helping them with the way they do their job, rather than being a replacement,” he says.

The post Howdens transforms trade model with no code platform appeared first on TechInformed.

The structural engineer – who was responsible for managing transmission line infrastructure projects across 25 states and 4 Canadian provinces when he worked at the US Department of Energy – admits that most of his 36-year career has been spent working on newer designs.

Joining Exo four years ago has enabled him to view infrastructure in a more circular way: What can be remediated? How long can the lifecycle of a structure be extended by?

As a case in point, during Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure conference in Vancouver this year, Exo was invited to talk about a powerline project that involved extending the life of two electricity towers.

Located on the Ohio River, the Ohio Falls Hydro station includes two towers that were built in 1927 and support a transmission line crossing the river.

Rather than building a new crossing in a different location, the utility clients – LG&E and Kentucky Electric – wanted to see if they could reuse these towers and hired Miller’s firm Exo to investigate.

“You would take one look at these towers and say, ‘Get rid of them, they’re too old!’ – that’s our instinct as structural engineers – we’re so used to building new. But looking at something like this and trying to delve into it was a real challenge,” Miller recalls.

Design for life

The question at the centre of the investigation: What was the expected design life of this structure?  Was it 50 years? 100 years? There were no designs or drawings that existed that detailed the components that were used or hinted at the structure’s estimated longevity.

The towers primarily comprised of weathering steel – a chemically formulated metal developed to eliminate the need for painting through its ability to form a stable layer of rust.

Because of its rusty orange patina, weathering steel can make structures seem unfinished or past their shelf life to the casual observer – but this doesn’t mean that they are.  Some iconic buildings have purposely opted for this industrial look – including John Deere’s HQ in Illinois and, in the UK, Antony Gormley’s lauded Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead is made from weathering steel, which gives it its distinctive orange colour.

“The main problem is the joints in structures like this tend to exhibit corrosion over time,” Miller explains.

“This can put tension in the tower’s rivets. So, one of the big pieces of work we needed to do was to map out this crevice corrosion,” explains Miller.

Another challenge was accessing two towers that were so precariously situated, at either side of the waterway – one by a dam, another across the river.

Exo decided the safest way to inspect the towers was virtually – using a drone – and feeding the resulting footage into a digital twin to create a detailed 3D model.

MicroStation vendor Bentley System’s iTwin software was used to process 250 gigabytes of high-resolution drone-captured photos into a reality mesh model.

“It took us a couple of days to get the drone footage, but it meant that we could then measure the dimensional characteristics of the tower so that we could do the modelling despite the lack of existing drawings,” says Miller.

“This also helps us look at how much corrosion has occurred in the towers’ crevices,” he adds.

Miller was impressed with the detail the engineers were able to view in the digital twin which allowed the team to virtually access and measure the degrees of corrosion.

“Once you have that 3D mesh model you can do almost anything you would have been able to do if you had hand climbed up that tower,” he says.

“You can see all that detail – we are getting down to one eight-inch tolerances on the detail – which means you can see faces and rivets and the condition of the services at these locations,” he adds.

A test of strength

Based on the digital twin, the team began the job of determining the structural stability of the towers. “One of the things that we looked at was rivet capacity,” says Miller. “Back in the 1920s there were lots of different strengths of rivets and we needed to figure out which ones were used.”

This was done using Bentley’s Power Line System, a piece of software that automates the calculation of design loads and checks strength according to international standards.

The rivets on the towers turned out to be strong – 24 kips [a ‘kip’ being a unit of force that’s equal to 1,000 pounds of force]. “That was good because the structures were also taking on all the tension from the crevice corrosion,” Miller adds.

Once the strength of the structure was established the next step was to examine how best to remediate the crevice corrosion.

The French connection

Because there’s plenty of older infrastructure in the US facing the same challenges – and back then there was no unified standards on what materials to use, it varied from state-to-state and project-to-project – there have been a few ‘best practice’ studies to draw from.

Data that the Exo team drew from included a study undertaken at Purdue University which canvassed all the Department of Transports in the US, to find the best ways of remediating crevice corrosion.

Miller also found another Czech study which pointed to ways in which infrastructure which used a lot of weathering steel could be rectified -so long as it was not badly corroded.

The team also looked at structures from around the world, including the Eiffel Tower. Designed by Gustav Eiffel in 1889 for the World Fair, the wrought iron structure possesses a similar riveted construction to the towers in Ohio.

A symbol of Paris for more than a century, the tower was only meant to be temporary with an estimated life of 25 years. However, its puddle iron structure has stood the test of time – so long as it’s treated to a lick of paint every 7 years.

“These structures last a lot longer than we think they are going to, so long as they are well maintained. Steel towers don’t have an expiration date,” says Miller.

Drawing on this data and a variety of studies, the team produced a three-step process that will effectively treat and protect the Ohio towers for another 30 or 40 years of service life.

Reaping the rewards

According to Exo, the decision to remediate rather than rebuild, made possible through a digital twin, has saved the utility company a potential ten years of permitting delays and approximately $80 million dollars building a new tower crossing.

The project also impressed the judges of Bentley Systems  Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards this year. Considered the ‘Oscars for Infrastructure’, Ohio Falls River Crossing beat all the competition in Transmission and Distribution to become the winner in its category.

Read more: Intel to build $20 billion chip manufacturing plant in Ohio

The post How the Eiffel Tower and a digital twin saved one utility project $80K appeared first on TechInformed.

Whether using skilled in-house workers or bringing on board extra developers, coding can pose significant challenges for branching out — but generative AI (GenAI) could be set to change all of that.

AI platforms such as ChatGPT enable developers to launch new platforms and apps with record speed while easing budget concerns.

Take David Minns, for example, who runs a dating platform with over 600,000 global users. Minns, who has worked as a programmer in the dating industry since 2007, claims that the premium version of ChatGPT has enabled him to launch an Android version of his Greed Dating platform in just eight days.

Read more: Harnessing the power of Generative AI: a paradigm shift in modern business

Not only has the OpenAI LLM saved him from hiring the equivalent of “two software developers,” he tells TechInformed, but it has also provided him with business and marketing support.

According to Minns, the launch of Greed Dating’s Android app is a proof-of-concept for the industry.“ AI can now assist in nearly every aspect of the development process, from creating basic app functionality to debugging and optimising code,” he enthused.

End of handwritten code

Greed Dating combines several dating niches under a single app — with the LLM allowing Minns to easily roll out new segments.

Some of the niche dating sites include Butterfly, a dating site for transgender people; Lisa50, a site for women over fifty; Bad Boys, described as “for the Alpha male”; and Dinky1, a site created for gentlemen with a below-average penis size, which Minns claims has now amassed 180,000 members.

Its foundations were built over many years through the manual development of the web platform, with the backend powered by PHP and MySQL.

Later, Greed expanded into mobile with a hand-coded iOS app written in Swift, which was developed entirely in-house using traditional methods.

This manual process, while effective, came with challenges, Minns notes. The programmer-turned-entrepreneur added that learning and mastering new programming languages, such as Swift, slowed the iOS development cycle.

As the project grew, Minns realised that continuing along the same path for the Android app would take additional time and increase costs.

“As a solo entrepreneur, to have any additional developers is costly, and knowledge transfer is difficult because all my code is written in my head — explaining a quarter of a million lines of code to someone else is challenging,” he explained.

Android: AI-assisted development

Minns decided to take the plunge and embrace AI for its Android app development. By using ChatGPT, Minns claimed that he could bypass the traditional, time-consuming methods of coding from scratch.

Instead of learning a new programming language or outsourcing the task, Minns used AI to write the code in the cross-platform development framework Flutter, using Microsoft’s integrated development environment, Visual Studio.

He explains: “With ChatGPT, I asked the AI to develop each section of the Android app step by step.

“Not only did it generate working code, but it also helped fix bugs and improve the app on the fly. It was like having an expert developer on hand, 24/7.”

Minns adds: “I’ve been using AI for 12 months, and it offers groundbreaking functions for developers. Even if you are vague on the first and last line of code, it will fill all the gaps in between — you can cut and paste that into the development environment, and it becomes easy.”

According to Minns, he was able to ask the AI to hunt out security failures and software–bugs, “which it does brilliantly”.

Legal, marketing and sales tasks

In addition, Minns adds that he was also able to use ChatGPT to generate name ideas for new sites and to help with trademark applications.

“We applied for trademarks for the name in all the main territories. We received rejections in some EU territories and used ChatGPT to find EU laws to argue our case. ChatGPT is strong in areas such as law, as well as software development,” he explains.

To avoid hallucinations, Minns suggested that users prompt GPT to find out whether it has any sources to corroborate the information that it initially offers.

To enhance sales, Minns also uploaded a picture of the site’s payment page and asked for ‘10 ways to improve sales conversation rates. “It will show you what’s working or not for your business,” he says.

Minns said that the decision to use AI resulted in a dramatically shortened development cycle, taking him just eight days to build the Android app, which would previously have taken around three months.

Meta accrues $2.8 billion in GDPR fines

Minns believes that AI tools will undoubtedly reshape how apps are built in the future and that Greed Dating’s experience with AI-assisted development is an exciting indicator of this.

Minns concludes: “For $20 a month, I’m not doing the work equivalent to hiring a couple of software developers and/or a marketer. In the future, I think we will see fewer traditional coders and more ‘conductors’ or ‘directors’ who guide AI in building out complex systems.”

The post How to launch a dating app in 8 days appeared first on TechInformed.

Average annual growth was 6.1% between 2020 and 2022, compared with 1.7% between 2008 and 2019, according to health data provider Laing Buisson, with around 4.8 million people signed up to medical cover schemes- that rises to 7.3 million once dependents are included.

Simplyhealth is one of a handful of private providers in the UK tasked with connecting those who need care with clinically vetted health professionals. Claudia Nicholls, chief customer officer at Simplyhealth, explains: “The pressures on the NHS are well publicised – we think that it is not right that so many people in the UK do not have access to healthcare.

“Where we are perhaps different from other private medical insurance providers  is that we are operating in Britain trying to offer affordable everyday healthcare,” she says.

The group serves around 2.5 million and this is growing – with bold targets to hit as many as 10 million subscribers in the next few years.

“That would mean people could get access to their everyday healthcare needs while working in Britain pretty much instantaneously and see a healthcare professional either digitally or in-person,” explains Dan Eddie, customer services director at Simplyhealth.

Given that the company was founded more than 150 years ago, it has been, in many respects, a “very traditional” business, explains Eddie.

More recently, Simplyhealth’s leadership has been “very brave” in recognising that and embracing digital transformation across its products, technology and how its employees work.

He describes the healthcare provider’s digital transformation journey over the past three years as “pretty phenomenal” as it moved away from traditional analogue platforms and forms of customer service into a digital, omnichannel environment.

Customer outcomes

Simplyhealth’s tech transformation began when Eddie joined in November 2021 but it accelerated significantly when Nicholls arrived from money management and budgeting platform Snoop a year later.

“The role of tech – in the past 12 months – has accelerated in our organisation in terms of confidence,” she explains.

For Simplyhealth, the first key area of transformation has been around customer services. They acknowledge that the firm had been “inconsistent” in its delivery of good customer outcomes but were wary of introducing AI without supporting the business’s growth trajectory.

After onboarding Salesforce’s Einstein for Service AI solution, the healthcare provider has leveraged conversational AI tools on its customer calls, with the AI now accounting for 40% of all resolved calls. The system has also reduced response times for emails from 12 minutes to just one minute since launch.

“We are here to help people, but often using AI is labelled as “deflection” which is a real problem for our industry. For us, it is resolving customer issues, and that allows us to be open 24 hours a day, to stay open at Christmas, and allows our team to focus on other areas, because the boring work can be dealt with by technology.”

The private health firm’s use of automation has expanded beyond customer response, to also include processing of customer claims – something that they admit was seen as a bit of a risk initially.

Due to the complexity of payments and risk of fraudulent claims, many in the industry are risk averse when it comes to automating the claims system. To overcome this, Nicholls and her team investigated the cost of when someone complains about their claim experience to the business.

The team then calculated that any claim that is worth less than this value could be automatically approved because it is never going to cost more than the bad experience.

This realisation, she adds, triggered a rethink of Simplyhealth’s approach to claims. After putting income controls and fraud checks, it increased the value of claim that could automatically be approved.

Simplyhealth now uses Salesforce’s AI to process claims from customers looking to get money back for any procedure so that they can potentially put the money back into the customer’s pocket on day one.

“This new level of claims automation means the claims experience is first class,” says Eddie. “How do I know that? Because of feedback. 99% of our customers say they satisfied with out claims procedure, and 92% say they a very satisfied.”

This has also reduced the amount of complaints coming into the business. In January 2023, it had 600 complaints in its pipeline, and two thirds of these were related to payment claims. Automating that number has meant that month on month through 2024, it has seen a huge reduction, says Eddie.

“When you are dealing with 2.5 million customers and receiving 40,000+ contacts a month, to reduce that number of complaints down to just 24 in the pipe – that’s my favourite outcome of this transformation.

“It is representative of the end-to-end experience that our customers have with us – it means we can offer all of them a wonderful experience.”

The right partner

Simplyhealth selected CRM giant Salesforce for customer service transformation, from a list of 10 providers. According to Eddie, it was Salesforce’s ability to offer scale for growth, along with its future looking ideas around AI and automation, that really appealed.

It was already using Salesforce as its primary CRM, but switching to its AI and cloud offerings brought significant challenges – but it was still an “easy answer” says Eddie.

“You have to look forward to what is happening over the coming years,” he tells TechInformed. “You know Salesforce will be at the front of the AI journey and it was already our CRM partner, so it was trusted in the organisation.”

This buy-in from the rest of the business was vital to the plans to overhaul its customer services operation.

Nicholls agrees. “You need to have people who can look through a customer’s eyes, and a lot of vendors look at it through the view of the technology first. But technology is an enabler – it is not the endgame.

“It is also a question of if they are the right fit. Do they take action and will they allow us to transform? We don’t think the UK healthcare system is fair, or is working for everyone right now, so you need to have fire and flame to be able to create change. And you need a partner who gets that.”

Salesforce also helped deal with some of the potential regulatory issues. Health is a heavily regulated industry in the UK, which meant everything the company did was watched closely. But due to the size and experience of Salesforce, the software giant could refer to other clients it had supported taking their first steps down the AI path.

“We had to demonstrate good customer outcomes – it could be very detailed,” says Nicholls. “But what we are doing with AI is now moving into the area of quality assurance, by covering more of our customer interactions.

“Covering 100% allows us to kill two birds with one stone because the technology allows us to interact faster, and with fewer people, but it also puts a security blanket in place. We can share the data with them, and that helps get the regulator on board.”

Super Agents

For now, the healthcare provider is focussed on increasing its communications channels by integrating WhatsApp through Einstein.

“We think that could become our dominant channel,” reveals Eddie. “Then we can add a live chat and phone services through that, to really offer our customers a range of options.”

With AI already serving a key role in how Simplyhealth is serving its customer base, I ask if they expect to go even further down the AI rabbit hole. After all, we are meeting at Dreamforce, where Salesforce has just unveiled its new agentic AI solution, called Agentforce, and posters promoting the product are all around us.

The Simplyhealth team admit they are excited by the potential of tools like AgentForce, which could help them “build a cleaner experience” for customers, says Eddie.

Numbers wise, the firm is sending 1200 emails a day using Einstein, and the AI tool already saves around 95 hours a week in efficiency. But, within two years, accounting for all the tools Simplyhealth hopes to onboard, Eddie believes between 50% and 60% of all queries could be resolve by AI. The platform will also allow the company to offer support 24/7 for 365 days a year.

“We have been early adopters,” chimes Nicholls. “We take great pride in that. Our team is  up ready to integrate any new Einstein updates when they are released, because even little changes can help our customers.”

The post How AI is helping improve this healthcare provider’s patient outcomes appeared first on TechInformed.

Even organisations that might not regard themselves as “digital first” are recognising that they need to be where their customers are, and that might no longer be on the other end of a landline.

Take UK and Europe-wide company LKQ Euro Car Parts, which is something of a sleeping giant. The firm now boasts more than 330 branches and stocks over 160,000 distinct parts for automobiles.

The spare parts firm’s purpose-built 1 million sq ft national distribution centre in Tamworth, UK, is second only in size to Amazon’s warehouses. And yet, as head of sales excellence Chloe Thomson explains: “Unless you’ve ordered a spare part from us, you’ve probably never heard of us!”

Given the size and scale of LKQ Euro Car Parts, it’s surprising to learn that, until recently, its sales offices relied on an old, end-of-life telephony system. Phone desks were still ringing constantly, but these were increasingly supplemented by WhatsApp messages between sales team members using their personal devices and customers.

According to Thomson, the firm recognised the need to bring these customer interactions back in-house and to save valuable data so that they could build up a better profile of these customers and their preferences.

WhatsApp: “There cannot be a British Internet” — Read the article here.

LKQ Euro Car Parts turned to customer experience vendor Genesys to integrate voice notes, WhatsApp, and other digital channels to meet these new generational customers’ expectations.

For Thomson, another advantage of using Genesys’ cloud-based orchestration system was getting a heads-up on incoming calls.

“Our old school way of doing things was to memorise the incoming phone number that came up on the screen so that you’d know ‘that is Sandra!’

“But knowing that a call is coming from ‘Bob’s Garage’ and immediately being able to see the customer’s likes/dislikes brand-wise is helpful,” Thomson enthuses.

The new system was installed in February and has now launched in England, Scotland, and Wales. Genesys and WhatsApp were fully deployed by mid-May, and according to Thomson, LKQ Euro Car Parts is now dealing with over 500 brand new WhatsApp conversations every day; a figure that, she adds, is growing “week-on-week”.

Genesys and Lighthouse Works partner to boost CX careers for blind workers

Data dive

One of the big business benefits of moving to the new system has been the amount of data the company has been able to gather on its customers and internal processes, according to Thomson.

It is currently in the process of pulling in the latest info it has gained from Genesys so that it can apply this data in meaningful ways.

“We’ve never had as much data as we do now,” she says. “We don’t have any more blind spots. We can see everything. We can now analyse the peaks and troughs of the different queries we receive as well as the different sales that are coming in. So, we can enhance that journey and look at what’s working and not working for our sales teams.”

In terms of the WhatsApp integration, Thomson explains that a typical interaction might include a customer taking a picture of a registration plate, and requesting some brake pads or a clutch and flywheel.

“The sales advisor will order that part but now they will be able to look at what those customer preferences are and add any weekly specials that we might have on brake fluid, for instance,” she says.

She adds that while LKQ Euro Car Parts comprises of sales offices, rather than contact centres, the firm is looking closely at this model and its customer journeys.

“We’re currently looking at what CX centres do well, looking at the customer journey and are learning how we bring that into our world,” she says.

AI capabilities

According to Thomson, the next step for LKQ Euro Car Parts is to integrate AI and gamification into its new orchestration system.

“We’re excited about using AI for data mining and sentiment analysis to understand what our customers want,” she says.

“AI will let us know things like whether we’ve already set up a promotion for a weekly deal that we’ve already offered before, five times. Or finding out whether there’s a tool on offer that they want. We want to use that information and give the customer what they want.”

Gamification, she adds, will also help celebrate the performance of the company’s sales teams, by giving managers a clear view of who the top performers are.

“In the past it was a bit more unpredictable – someone could just have sold one expensive part. Now we can see who has really been working hard on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. It will certainly make them more competitive!”

• Chloe Thomson spoke with TechInformed at Genesys Xperience UKI tour 2024 in June at the Truman Brewery in East London. Live event photography by Nick Beard

The post Driving sales for a new generation appeared first on TechInformed.

Launched in 2014 as a sustainable alternative to Formula One, the single -seater race series sees 22 drivers representing 11 teams in 16 races across 10 global venues. According to the FIA, around 400 million people tune in to watch the electric cars race.

Like its Formula One cousin, there is a massive machine behind the motorsport, with staff moving an entire data centre and broadcast facility to a new venue every two weeks.

But unlike other major motorsports, Formula E isn’t raced inside stadiums or existing tracks like Silverstone. Instead, races take place in cities, or in parks, or conference centres, which may not be designed for a broadcasting behemoth.

“There is a culture within our organisation that we want to push the envelope,” explains Formula E vice president of technology Eric Ernst.

“Where we go is a parking lot or a grass field in the middle of nowhere, and we have to run a high availability data centre set-up quickly.

“That’s why we need to opt for technologies that guarantee reasonable service level agreements (SLAs) but can be flexible.”

Take the final race of Season 10 of Formula E, which was a double header for the championship. The FE team transformed London’s Excel Centre – normally home to global tech conferences and Comic Con – into a racetrack, fanzone, pit lane, and broadcasting hub. They had a week to carry out most of the turnaround.

One of the biggest challenges, Ernst explains, is setting up a private network in some locations would either be extremely complex, expensive, or have poor environmental outcomes. These considerations led Formula E to run all its broadcasting and connectivity across the public internet, as part of an agreement with Tata Communications.

Global IP backbone

Tata Group’s involvement in Formula E goes beyond its role as a communications partner, with Tata Consultancy Services – another division of the Indian conglomerate – also sponsoring Team Jaguar Racing’s car since 2021

Tata Communications – which is the telecoms division of the firm – is one of only a handful of global Tier 1 networks who together form the internet backbone we all use on a daily basis.

Tier 1 networks exchange traffic with each other on a settlement-free interconnection basis – ie no fees are paid for traffic in either direction. This has long been a key component of keeping the internet public, making it much more accessible.

Formula E’s cousin F1 uses a private network (also coincidentally provided by Tata) to provide broadcasting and connectivity services, linked back to its media and technology centre in Biggin Hill, London. But Formula E took a different road.

In February 2023, Tata Communications was unveiled as the official broadcast distribution provider to the Formula E World Championship in what it described as a “multi-year strategic relationship”.

The agreement sees Tata deliver high-definition, high-resolution and high-speed live broadcast content to viewers around the world as part of Formula E’s remote broadcast production of live races, reducing the environmental impact typical of major live international sports events on TV.

Tata’s software-defined media edge platform delivers more than 160 live video and audio signals from Formula E races across continents within milliseconds, using 26 media edge locations across North America, Europe and Asia.

Production takes place remotely – at the former home of the BBC in London -and it is all carried over the public internet.

Edge-of-the seat racing

Prior to onboarding Tata, Formula E was using what Ernst describes as a “legacy solution” involving more traditional forms of broadcasting – such as satellite – and connectivity.

“Before we came on board, the solution was being forced to fit with the sport,” explains Tata Communications vice president & global head, Media & Entertainment Business Dhaval Ponda.

“When we first started having conversations with Eric, our solution wasn’t as prevalent in the industry. We were quite fortunate because it takes the right sort of CTO to take a stand and adopt a future-proof solution.

“We loved the challenge of providing connectivity to Formula E and embarked on using public Internet leveraging edge-based distribution for video because FE required a unique solution.”

By this, he means Tata was tasked with providing connectivity that could be supplied almost anywhere, without laying specialised infrastructure such as fibre cables or private Wi-Fi networks.

“Tata was one of the few vendors offering a solution that could do everything needed and be deployed at this scale,” adds Ponda.

“Even now, when we talk with other organisations about our partnership, they are often surprised at the scale of what we deliver using public internet and edge-based delivery.”

Ernst agrees, saying that Tata’s global reach and experience of operating in multiple markets also makes it easier when accessing infrastructure. If they had picked another partner, they may have ended up using part of Tata’s network, or would have had to strike individual agreements with other organisations, and this is something Tata Com takes care of for Formula E.

“It was a no-brainer to cut out the middleman,” he adds. “The size of the network, the size of their partners that they have to distribute that last mile of Internet in a reliable way with monitoring with permits is pretty much unique in the market.

“And Tata is unlike any other partner – it is a communications company that has a massive technology company behind it, so we keep on pushing each other.”

Pitfalls in the pitlane

Enterprises will often turn to dark fibre or other private options for large scale connectivity, due to concerns around security, latency and performance. Traditionally, broadcast events would involve some kind of OB setup located on site.

And while there is a tech centre located on site, the editing is all done in London, so for Formula E and Tata, this is where edge computing plays a vital role.

By deploying 26 media edge locations across the US, Europe and Asia, Tata is able to carry out processing much closer to the action, allowing it to reduce latency when transferring from the 85 cameras deployed during a race.

Tata Communications says its media edge cloud is capable of enabling very low latency video processing from any venue using first-mile internet while processing and distributing the video signals to any platform globally with high availability.

Ponda explains: “In terms of cloud and edge deployment, we have a very rigorous way in which we choose the technology. A lot of the infrastructure we own ourselves  and that gives us a very unique sort of capability in terms of leveraging that.

“In terms of the infrastructure planning, design and architecture, we look at how it is deployed globally in a secure manner.

“Secondly, we look at the automation and tools around it. You cannot really operate in an environment where you have a lot of manual intervention because manual intervention is weak and you’re always a step back in terms of how quickly you’re able to fix it. So, a lot of focus goes into automating and we go through scenario analysis to test our network, to see what might break it.”

Finally, he points to teamwork as a key component. Tata is offering a managed service, and its team works closely with Formula E on delivering its platform, including a team on the ground available to assist during race day.

Ernst agrees, saying the two teams had formed a close bond while deploying Tata’s solution.

Regarding security, he explains: “Our biggest security concern is a framework of confidentiality, integrity and availability but, most importantly, the availability part.

“We have secured this with the redundant passes into that cloud network and we go to great lengths to communicate across the teams to make sure that we fully understand the diversity that these routes have.”

Keeping the wheels on

However, there can still be challenges, for example, when major incidents occur on the internet, such as the recent CrowdStrike outage.

“Those are risks you take when you go with this technology,” he admits. “But you’re not necessarily safeguarded if you use dark fibre either – it is a bit of a false economy because a lot of the security concerns happen at the application level now.”

Those applications, he adds, already come with buffers and encryption that offer a level of security irrespective of whether you are operating over a private or public network.

Ernst acknowledges this may not work for everyone. “If I worked in a different sport, with a different audience , maybe dark fibre is something I would throw into the mix. But for what we do, this solution is absolutely the best approach.”

Another key consideration – one that is at the heart of Formula E as an organisation – was to make sure its approach to any technology is as environmentally friendly as possible.

This was achieved by specially designed data centre equipment that can be shipped from location to location by freight with minimal footprint. And anything that can be done remotely helps to reduce the carbon footprint.

“For us, that is just day-to-day,” adds Ernst. “It is built into the ethos of this sport.”

The post Formula E shifts gears: revolutionising broadcasting with edge compute appeared first on TechInformed.

Though one-click buying is undeniably convenient, at least one helpful element of the in-store experience is missing — a store assistant.

In stores worldwide, staff are on hand to answer a simple question: “What do you think would work best for me?”

This is doubly true when it comes to buying skincare or haircare products. Though there are countless articles online about the “best moisturiser for dry skin” packed with ad placements, it takes a long process of trial and error to find the right one for your skin type.

To solve this, consumer goods giant Unilever developed its own AI beauty assistants in-house: BeautyHub Pro and Pond’s Skin Institute.

Available in the Philippines and Thailand, BeautyHub Pro is an AI-powered selfie tool that offers product advice for skincare and haircare on a downloadable app.

By completing a quiz and sharing a selfie, BeautyHub Pro uses its Computer Vision AI to ‘see’ and assess up to 30 visual data points and offer personalised product recommendations from one of Unilever’s brands, such as Dove, Dermalogica, Paula’s Choice, TRESemme, or Vaseline.

Similarly, Pond’s Skin Institute, available in the Philippines and Indonesia, uses users’ selfies to identify skin care concerns and recommends a product from the Pond’s Skin Institute range.

Aaron Rajan, global VP for consumer experience technology at Unilever, says these offerings follow its Beauty & Wellbeing Business Group’s mantra: “Purpose, science, and desire.”

“This means creating purposeful and meaningful brands that positively impact people and the planet, using cutting-edge science and technology to deliver unmissably superior products, and continuing to make our brands relevant and timeless,” Rajan explains.

Getting under the skin

Rajan says the foundation of BeautyHub Pro and Pond’s Skin Institute lies in extensive R&D clinical studies spearheaded by Unilever.

He explains that the team used algorithms trained on a diverse dataset encompassing all skin tones and hair types.

“Data and AI are intrinsically linked,” says Rajan. “Data gives us the power to make informed decisions and drive action based on business insights, while also providing the fuel.

“AI is the engine that transforms raw information into actionable insights and content.”

He adds that the quality of an AI model heavily depends on the quality and relevance of the data training it. So, a thoughtful approach to data collection, preparation, and usage directly impacts the effectiveness of AI systems.

“It’s important that we first develop a solid data foundation. For these personalised beauty experiences, this could be consumer research to better understand our consumers or a knowledge base of information about the products.”

The team will then test the AI before deployment to ensure the quality of the responses.

“We train the model using a mix of deidentified data from various skin and hair types to cover a wide range of needs,” Rajan says.

“The AI then analyses aspects such as hydration, redness, wrinkles, frizziness, volume and colour consistency.”

Quality testing

The team will continually update the AI with new data and feedback to keep its recommendations accurate and effective.

For instance, to ensure the accuracy of results for its algorithm for hair damage, its tool has been trained on a dataset of over 10,000 standardised selfies – gathered with full consent as part of its research and development, and lab images across a diverse range of hair types.

It certified that each image was standardised in style, such as similar head positions and lighting. Then, it was tested on over 150,000 additional data points to check the quality of the responses provided.

To ensure security, Rajan explains: “Unilever reviews all AI-powered tools before deployment with a cross-functional team of experts including privacy, cyber security, and local legal teams to ensure compliance with applicable laws and best practices.”

“Given the speed at which AI is developing, we have faced challenges in moving into this space where there are so many unknowns,” says Rajan. “Working collaboratively with our tech partners, internal tech teams and brands, we have learned together and developed these powerful experiences for our customers.”

Selfie-assessment

Taking a selfie and receiving a product recommendation saves users time and money spent on trialling and testing multiple products.

“Consumers have shared the feedback that the BeautyHub Pro quiz is simple and easy to use, is credible with expert advice, and provides helpful product recommendations,” says Rajan.

He explains that the feedback is reflected in its data. For BeautyHub Pro, a basket size is almost 40% higher than those who shop elsewhere, and consumers are 43% more likely to complete a purchase than those who browse on other channels.

In 2023, more than 80,000 users experienced BeautyHub Pro, and it’s expected to reach more than 3 million people.

Whereas for Pond’s Skin Institute, more than 30,000 consumers have used its AI Skin Expert, and the brand is predicting more than 100,000 users by the end of this year.

For the future, Rajan explains that Unilever is testing how it can use technology and AI to continue providing personalised and immersive experiences.

“We see AI continuing to play an important role in helping consumers learn about their skin and hair concerns and recommend the right products and regimes.

“AI-assisted beauty is something that will stay but will take different shapes and forms.”

The post How Unilever is ensuring inclusivity in its AI-powered beauty experiences appeared first on TechInformed.