Should human analysts really be afraid of having their rice bowl taken from them?

There’s a long ongoing debate about whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will replace the human brain and surpass its capabilities. Many scientists and psychologists are still not convinced by the idea of a machine being capable of replicating the function of the human mind.

How is AI useful?

There’s hardly any industry that’s been left untouched by AI training. The mode of AI applications may vary, but it is now the backbone of almost everything you use today. Usage of AI is evident among marketers and researchers who use it extensively for outreach and data organization. Other industries like healthcare, tourism, aviation, media, e-commerce, agriculture, job search are all powered by AI in some way to increase task efficiency and reduce human intervention for complex functions.

How AI works?

AI uses Machine Learning (ML) to achieve human brain-like capabilities. It gets fed by a set of a pre-decided chunk of data, and this is the learning process, it learns to respond upon training. It is capable of evolving on its own and thus learns to update its responses based on practical experiences.

The algorithms and historical data are the keys to any AI model, allowing them to perform tasks or make predictions in a way they do. The scope is immensely vast as AI makes it possible to remove the human dependency involved in work; it also frees up time letting the person work on more complex tasks.

Role of AI in business analytics

AI is a disruptive technology which is changing the shape of how people interact. Researchers at Accenture predict that by 2035, AI could double the economic growth of developed countries.

Thanks to cognitive computing, companies can use complex algorithms to break down consumer behaviour and gain business insights, as most of the data, is now in unstructured form because of data sources like smartphones and messaging services.

Also Read: Demystifying artificial intelligence: Breaking down common AI myths

The movement towards data being in unstructured form is evident. In 2017, Google acquired Lattice, a then startup that converts unstructured data to structured form powered by AI.

With the introduction of AI, Business Intelligence (BI) software has evolved from reactive analysis to pro-active analysis-

• Descriptive Analytics– This BI system is self-explanatory; it inputs raw data and breaks it down to human-interpretable form and provides descriptive summaries. It influences companies’ future decisions based on their historical data.

• Predictive Analytics– Enabling companies to predict future outcomes through insights. No system can predict with a hundred per cent accuracy, but such a system helps companies to make proactive decisions, helps them in anticipating results, and make forecasts.

• Prescriptive Analytics- This is one notch above predictive analytics; these systems provide actions and solutions for possible outcomes. They not only predict the result but also state the reason for the result.

Why does BI require AI?

AI-powered BI systems transform businesses with their simple data representations, real-time narratives, and reports.

Here are some points on why AI is needed-

• Interactive Dashboards: Normal dashboards are a mess with data coming from all sources in raw form; AI help BI software to convert data into a digestible human form.

• Manage Big Data Overload: Unstructured form of data is getting accumulated at an unprecedented rate, and AI-powered tools can help professionals get insights from such data.

• Shortage of experts: According to McKinsey, there’s a shortage of professionals in analytics and an acute shortage for experts who could make rational and informed decisions from data.

What is the future for business analysts?

AI is expected to herald an upheaval in the global economic and social landscape. These algorithms can self learn patterns and make decisions based on the information that a human prescribed to it.

The work of business analyst, however, does not just only involve reading data and analyzing data. The analysis needs to be applied to the required context to influence decisions. The final phase of analysing and applying the data still requires a human mind. Here’s an interview from founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma on how articulately he describes that machines cannot learn the human character of wisdom.

If someone attempted to create an AI-powered system to replace business analysts, they should probably look into the particular set of skills than business analysts’ need to have. Adaptability to changing environment requires real-life experiences and context understanding, which in the foreseeable future looks challenging to achieve.

Also Read: 3 ways banks, fintechs and FIs can harness AI for success

It means that the asset of the human brain is still relevant, though AI and ML  are instrumental in achieving much faster and efficient analysis, algorithms cannot choose individual goals as it requires a certain degree of empathy which AI lacks.

Conclusion

With such advancements in technology and machine learning, process-oriented jobs are on the verge of being automated. However, any work requires contextual decision making, and differentiated goal targets such as business analysts will still be helmed by humans, at least for now.

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JUUL targets over 67 million adult smokers in the country with the technology

JUUL Labs, an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) brand in the US, has announced its entry into Indonesia, following its launch in South Korea and the Philippines.

JUUL device and JUULpods will now be available in Jakarta.

The startup offers an alternative to combustible cigarettes. In Indonesia, JUUL partners with PT Jagad Utama Lestari (PT JUL), a subsidiary of PT Erajaya Swasembada Tbk (Erajaya Group).

The company currently has kiosks in Pacific Place (Jakarta) and Beachwalk Shopping Centre (Bali). In the near future, it will also have stores in Cilandak Town Square, Plaza Indonesia, convenience stores such as Alfamart, Minimart, Shell Select, and Pepito, as well as select vape stores and F&B outlets in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Bali.

JUUL Labs was launched in 2015 by Stanford alumni Adam Bowen and James Monsees. The company introduced a closed vaping system with pods and a patented temperature control design, without buttons or switches and free from ash and odour.

Indonesia is home to over 67 million adult smokers, which account for over 39 per cent of the adult population, making the country the third largest smoker population in the world. Every year, the economic cost of smoking in the Southeast Asian country can reach IDR 600 billion, which includes direct costs related to healthcare expenditures and indirect cost related to lost productivity due to mortality and morbidity.

Kent Sarosa, Country General Manager, JUUL Labs Indonesia, said: “Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death in Indonesia. It is JUUL’s vision to offer smokers an alternative to combustible cigarettes. We also support having an open dialogue with the authorities for the future of the product in this innovative category.”

Also Read: SeedPlus, NEXEA invest US$500K in Malaysia’s B2B procurement platform Lapasar.com

Sim Chee Ping, Direktur PT JUL said: “PT JUL welcomes JUUL Labs’ initiative to improve the lives of Indonesian adult smokers by providing an alternative to traditional cigarettes. We believe that through this partnership, Indonesians now have the choice to manage the effects of smoking to themselves and the people around them.”

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Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash

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One BioMed offers an automated sample preparation device for purification and isolation of nucleic acids from a variety of samples, which is required as the first step in many molecular biological and clinical diagnostic technologies

One BioMed, a Singapore-based medical diagnostics company, today announced it has raised US$5 million in Series A round of funding, led by local VC firm Biopath Ventures and US-based ARCH Venture Partners. Participating in the round is Enterprise Singapore’s investment arm SEEDS Capital.

One BioMed said that it will use the fund to commercialise its first product, an automated sample preparation device for purification and isolation of nucleic acids from a variety of samples, which is required as the first step in many molecular biological and clinical diagnostic technologies.

The company is a spin-off of A*STAR, which offers a platform technology for diagnostic testing.

Dr. Joseph Jeong and Dr. Nick Roelofs, founding partners of BioPath Ventures, said in a joint statement, “One BioMed is the first example of our fund’s investment thesis of identifying and enabling world-class tool companies in the healthcare space.”

Both Jeong and Roelofs will join the firm’s board.

Also Read: theAsianparent.com raises “8-figure US dollars” in Series C to expand in Asia, Africa

One BioMed said its sample preparation device is the foundation upon which it will build next platforms, through the integration of molecular diagnostic tools, including its silicon biophotonics sensing technology, for point-of-care infectious disease detection.

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Learn how to leverage either platform to boost the visibility of your business

For your digital marketing strategy, which social media platform do you prefer in the first — Facebook or Instagram? If your answer is neither of the two, perhaps you are deprived of millions of organic viewership.

According to research, Instagram now has more than 1 billion active users around the globe. On the other hand, Facebook now has 1.5 billion active users. This figure is round about 20 per cent of the world’s population.

To build or grow a business, you need to have a digital presence on all social media platforms. Predominantly, two mediums are in the race to plan out marketing campaigns. These mediums are known as Facebook and Instagram.

Also Read: 7 tips for using Instagram to maximise your business

So let’s examine which is more effective for marketing your business — Facebook and Instagram?

Algorithms

For firms which provide Instagram marketing services, they need to get the science behind the algorithms. Although algorithms cannot be predicted with 100 per cent accuracy, there are guidelines you can follow regarding each platform’s algorithms.

Instagram’s algorithms

Interest

Your followers will see the content of similar types that they have liked previously on their Instagram account’s feed.

Aptness

The length of time you recently shared the post last time. Your latest post will be prioritized over your older posts.

Time spent

How much time your followers spent time on your post. Here time spent means actual time seeing the posts.

Direct number of shares

Your posts will rank higher if your followers share the positions directly from their account with others.

Your Instagram profile’s popularity

Your posts will rank higher if your Instagram profile is searched constantly or regularly by users.

Facebook’s algorithm

Click bait

Make sure your posts are not pushy. Do not beg for likes, shares and comments; otherwise, your posts will automatically rank lower by Facebook.

Videos and pictures

Posts that are text driven are ranked lower as compared to posts that are rich with images.

Engagement

Posts that get more likes, shares or comments are ranked higher. Also, if your posts are answer-seeking, then there are bright chances that they get a higher ranking.

Instagram is certainly not lagging behind!

With a conservative analysis, around 400 million Instagram followers watch and share stories. According to a study, around one-third of the Instagram stories are posted by businesses.

Facebook still has its charm!

In spite of the existence of other social media platforms, Facebook has not lost its strength and charisma. According to research, adults aged between 25 years till 34 years see the ads run on Facebook.

Which platform is more beneficial to the businesses?

It is quite evident that Instagram is more about photos or images as well as videos. In addition, we saw earlier that people are tending towards seeing more photos rather than reading the text.

Therefore, Instagram comes very handy when selling products through images. A staggering number (62 per cent) shows that Instagram provides help to people in finding new products.

Also, it has been seen that customer’s pictures on the Instagram feed give up thrust to the sales order. Further, 200 million Instagram users see one profile related to a business every day.

On the other hand, digital marketers take Facebook very seriously in terms of digital ad’s Return on Investment (ROI) A study shows some noticeable results in favor of Facebook. The study revealed that 30 per cent of the marketers think that Facebook provides them with the highest digital ROI on their ad campaigns.

What type of target audience do both platforms have?

This is also an undeniable fact that Instagram is more adult oriented. According to a study, 90 per cent of the Instagram accounts belong to people aged 35 or below.

Moreover, we see a flood of accounts that cater to the need for beauty, fitness, food and apparels because the above niches belong to the adult population.

On the flip side, Facebook is equally popular among millennial and adults. But Facebook stretches its range till the age of 65 or more. Facebook helps to write your mind. We often see businesses provide much more details on Facebook as compared to Instagram. Facebook also aids in long-form discussions.

What about the engagement rate?

Without a shadow doubt, Facebook comparatively is the biggest platform as far as number of followers is concerned. But audience engagement is a crucial requirement which Facebook lacks.

Despite various options that Facebook provides for example groups, pages, Facebook stories, etc. it never comes close to the engagement rate of Instagram.

According to a study, the average time spent on an Instagram post is 192.04 seconds, while users spend 164.02 seconds on a Facebook post. The figures show a significant difference.

Besides, brands with significant popularity gain more likes on Instagram as compared to Facebook.

Which platform has a more user-friendly layout?

When we talk about Facebook, we do not see much of a difference regarding layout. Whether you use Facebook via PC, laptop or smartphone, the platform is optimized for every device.

Also Read: 8 tips for a successful Instagram advertising campaign

While for Instagram, the story is quite different. You encounter several limitations when using through a desktop. Instagram users can’t upload stories or photos via the desktop site. We can easily say that Instagram is specifically developed for smartphone users.

Final words

Any Instagram marketing agency cannot brush aside the relevance and importance of Facebook. Although Instagram has got a slight edge over Facebook, you still can’t ignore the impact of Facebook marketing.

If you are a business planning to obtain Instagram marketing services, you have to utilize Facebook as a secondary marketing tool. Otherwise, you can quickly fall behind in the race.

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Image Credit: Alexey Malkin

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They said the new e-hailing regulations would only affect private car ride-hailing services, such as GrabCar, JustGrab, GrabCar Plus, GrabCar (Premium)

Grab warns of possible increase in fares with new regulations in Malaysia [The Star]

With the possibility of fewer drivers on the road because of new regulations by the government, users may experience an increase in “dynamic” fares, says ride-hailing company Grab.

“As commuters ourselves, we understand the pain passengers feel when fares are higher,” the company said in a statement on their website.

They also said passenger should anticipate longer waiting time for a ride.

Their advice was for passengers to book their rides earlier, especially when catching a flight or going to an important meeting.

Passengers were also advised that getting a ride would be much easier outside the peak hours of 7am-9am and 5pm-8pm.

They said the new e-hailing regulations would only affect private car ride-hailing services, such as GrabCar, JustGrab, GrabCar Plus, GrabCar (Premium).

Rivigo raises US$65M from Warburg Pincus, SAIF Partners [press release]

India-based technology-enabled logistics firm Rivigo has raised US$65 million in the ongoing Series E round of funding, led by existing investors Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners.

The company plans to utilise the funding to further strengthen its technology and network coverage, a key game changer for the larger logistics market in India. Rivigo has a network coverage with more than 29,000 PIN codes in India

Started in 2014 by Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra, rivigo is a technology-enabled surface logistics provider headquartered in Gurgaon. The startup claims to provide hassle-free services for companies in the e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, automotive, cold chain, FMCG and white goods sectors.

Rivigo claims it has improved its financial metrics across all businesses and aims to be profitable by the end of this financial year. Continuing the positive momentum, Rivigo recently launched National Freight Index (NFI) to bring transparency to the largely unorganised logistics sector.

India’s B2B commerce startup Moglix raises US$60M Series D [press release]

Moglix, a B2B commerce company in India, toady announced it has closed US$60 million in Series D round of funding, led by Tiger Global. The round also saw participation by Sequoia India and Composite Capital.

The company’s current investors include Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures, IFC, Venture Highway and Tata Sons’ Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata.

The funds will be deployed to create industrial distribution centers across India to cover all 25+ major hubs for manufacturing by May 2020.

TRB Ventures nears its crowdfunding target on ECF [press release]

Malaysian proptech company TRB Ventures has said its equity crowdfunding deal on pitchIN has seen significant uptakes since its launch, with RM2.5 million invested in eight days by 156 investors.

TRB Ventures will use the funds on marketing, team growth and working capital.

Since going live on pitchIN at the start of July, TRB Ventures ECF campaign has seen 156 investors investing  RM2.5 million into the campaign, with the largest investor to date committing RM500,000. This leaves just RM500,000 available for investors.

TRB Ventures is a proptech company focused on the digitalisation of the real estate ecosystem to speed and simplify up end to end transactions. The company developed MHub, a suite of apps to achieve this goal. Since its launch two years ago, MHub has transacted close to RM8 billion worth of properties and currently has RM 50 billion worth of properties in platform.

Capital Match announce management change post its merger with SESAMi [press release]

Capital Match, an invoice financing platform for SMEs, today announced leadership change, following its equity merger with SESAMi Holding, a leading e-procurement platform in Singapore.

Ong Teck Soon will continue to drive group leadership in his role as Executive Chairman. Konrad Tomaszewski will take a leadership role on the Capital Match Platform with the support of Enoch Tan who recently joined as Chief Investment Officer and head of CM Advisers. ​

Pawel Kuznicki is stepping down as the CEO of Capital Match. Kuznicki has developed Capital Match from its inception in 2014 to become a leading platform in Singapore and to the successful merger in 2018.

Capital Match joined hands with SESAMi in November 2018 to create an integrated supply chain financing (SCF) platform to offer B2B businesses financing in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

 

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