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Global Study: People Trust Robots More Than Themselves with Money

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3 years ago

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2020 has changed our relationship with money and people now trust robots more than themselves to manage their finances, according to a new study by Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi.

The study of more than 9,000 consumers and business leaders in 14 countries found that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased financial anxiety, sadness, and fear among people around the world and has changed who and what we trust to manage our finances. In addition, people are rethinking the role and focus of corporate finance teams and personal financial advisors, according to the research.

COVID-19 has created financial anxiety, sadness, and fear  
The global pandemic has damaged people’s relationship with money at home and at work.

  • Among business leaders, financial anxiety and stress increased by 186 percent and sadness grew by 116 percent; consumer financial anxiety and stress doubled and sadness increased by 70 percent.
  • 90 percent of business leaders worry about the impact of COVID-19 on their organization, with the most common concerns centering on a slow economic recovery or recession (51 percent); budget cuts (38 percent); and bankruptcy (27 percent).
  • 87 percent of consumers are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (39 percent); losing savings (38 percent); and never getting out of debt (26 percent).
  • These concerns are keeping people up at night: 41 percent of consumers reported losing sleep due to their personal finances.

People see robots as a better way to manage finances 
The financial uncertainty created by COVID-19 has changed who and what we trust to manage our finances. To help navigate financial complexity, consumers and business leaders increasingly trust technology over people to help.

  • 67 percent of consumers and business leaders trust a robot more than a human to manage finances.
  • 73 percent of business leaders trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 77 percent trust robots over their own finance teams.
  • 89 percent of business leaders believe that robots can improve their work by detecting fraud (34 percent); creating invoices (25 percent); and conducting cost/benefit analysis (23 percent).
  • 53 percent of consumers trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 63 percent trust robots over personal financial advisors.
  • 66 percent of consumers believe robots can help detect fraud (33 percent); reduce spending (22 percent); and make stock market investments (15 percent).

The role of finance teams and financial advisors will never be the same  
To adapt to the growing influence and role of technology, corporate finance professionals and personal finance advisors alike must embrace change and develop new skills.

  • 56 percent of business leaders believe robots will replace corporate finance professionals in the next five years.
  • 85 percent of business leaders want help from robots for finance tasks, including finance approvals (43 percent); budgeting and forecasting (39 percent); reporting (38 percent); and compliance and risk management (38 percent).
  • Business leaders want corporate finance professionals to focus on communicating with customers (40 percent); negotiating discounts (37 percent); and approving transactions (31 percent).
  • 42 percent of consumers believe robots will replace personal financial advisors in the next five years.
  • 76 percent of consumers want robots to help manage their finances by freeing up time (33 percent); reducing unnecessary spending (31 percent); and increasing on-time payments (25 percent).
  • Consumers want personal financial advisors to provide guidance on major purchasing decisions such as buying a house (45 percent); buying a car (41 percent); and planning for retirement (38 percent).

Our relationship with money has changed, it’s time to embrace AI to manage finance 
The events of 2020 have changed the way consumers think about money and have increased the need for organizations to rethink how they use AI and other new technologies to manage financial processes.

  • 60 percent of consumers say the pandemic has changed the way they buy goods and services.
  • 72 percent of consumers say the events of 2020 have changed how they feel about handling cash, with people feeling anxious (26 percent); fearful (23 percent); and dirty (19 percent). More than a quarter (29 percent) of consumers now say that cash-only is a deal-breaker for doing business.
  • Businesses have been quick to respond as 69 percent of business leaders have invested in digital payment capabilities and 64 percent have created new forms of customer engagement or changed their business models in response to COVID-19.
  • 51 percent of organizations are already using AI to manage financial processes, compared with 27 percent of consumers.
  • 87 percent of business leaders say organizations that don’t rethink financial processes face risks, including falling behind competitors (44 percent); more stressed workers (36 percent); inaccurate reporting (36 percent); and reduced employee productivity (35 percent).

Supporting Quotes

“Managing finances is tough at the best of times, and the financial uncertainty of the global pandemic has exacerbated financial challenges at home and at work,” said Farnoosh Torabi, personal finance expert and host of the So Money podcast. “Robots are well-positioned to assist – they are great with numbers and don’t have the same emotional connection with money. This doesn’t mean finance professionals are going away or being replaced entirely, but the research suggests they should focus on developing additional soft skills as their role evolves.”

“Financial processes in our personal and professional worlds have become increasingly digital for many years and the events of 2020 have accelerated that trend,” said Juergen Lindner, senior vice president, global marketing, Oracle. “Digital is the new normal and technologies such as artificial intelligence and chatbots play a vital role in managing finance. Our research indicates that consumers trust these technologies to accelerate their financial well-being over personal financial advisors and business leaders see this trend reshaping the role of corporate finance professionals. Organizations that don’t embrace these changes risk falling behind their peers and competitors; hurting employee productivity, morale and well-being; and struggling to attract the next generation of AI-empowered finance talent.”

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Wladimir P. is a Content Editor at European Gaming Media and at PICANTE Media and covers a large variety of industries.

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Bravent, Microsoft’s Technology Consulting Partner, Expands into Northern Europe

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56 mins ago

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May 2, 2024

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DUBLIN, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The technology consulting firm Bravent, a leader in Microsoft solutions and artificial intelligence, announces its expansion into Northern Europe. This strategic move is part of the Spanish firm’s ongoing effort to extend its expertise in innovation internationally, supporting companies towards digital transformation.

As a Microsoft partner, Bravent consistently provides cutting-edge technology solutions that enable companies to maximize efficiency, improve productivity and achieve digitalization. The expansion into Northern Europe represents a milestone in Bravent’s history, marking a new chapter in its bid to consolidate its innovation leadership.
“Expanding our presence to Northern Europe aligns with our vision to bring state-of-the-art AI solutions and Microsoft expertise to businesses in this region,” said José Luis Carrascosa, CEO of Bravent, who expressed his enthusiasm to “contribute to the technology growth and innovation landscape in Northern Europe with our robust solutions and experienced team.”
Bravent’s expansion in Northern Europe will be led by Mark McCrory, who joins the firm as a partner and regional leader. Mark joins Bravent from Microsoft, where for the past 20 years he has held regional leadership positions within the Consulting Services division, most recently as COO for Microsoft Denmark. Mark has an extensive track record of working with enterprise customers to help them realize value from their Microsoft Cloud investments, experience that he will now bring to Bravent’s customers in this region.
Bravent’s decision to begin operations in Northern Europe is the result of a detailed analysis of regional technology needs and the market dynamics themselves. The company is committed to contributing to local economies and fostering relationships with regional businesses to tailor solutions that respond to their challenges and opportunities.
With this expansion, Bravent will introduce Northern Europe to its range of services, including artificial intelligence integration, cloud computing solutions and enterprise software development, all designed to leverage the technological power of Microsoft. Bravent plans to establish local offices and hire regional talent, ensuring that its solutions are both globally informed and locally tailored.
About Bravent
Bravent is a Microsoft technology consulting firm specializing in advanced artificial intelligence solutions and digital transformation strategies. With a proven track record of success and innovation, Bravent supports businesses around the globe in harnessing the power of technology to thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
For more information, please visit https://www.bravent.net/en/).
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CIN7 ACQUIRES AI FORECASTING COMPANY INVENTORO, PAVING THE WAY FOR NEXT-LEVEL INTELLIGENT COMMERCE

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56 mins ago

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May 2, 2024

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Leading inventory and order management software invests in growth, new AI capabilities on the heels of new CEO appointment
DENVER, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Cin7, the industry-leading inventory and order management software provider, today announced the acquisition of Inventoro, a leading provider of AI-driven sales forecasting and replenishment optimization solutions. The acquisition and integration of Inventoro’s capabilities with Cin7’s platform will extend product seller’s access to state-of-the-art AI technology, enabling customers to enhance existing inventory and order management capabilities with intelligent prediction and optimization.

Overstocking and similar inefficiencies are estimated to drive $163B in losses each year for global product sellers. The combined power of Inventoro and Cin7 can change that. Inventoro’s innovative AI-powered forecasting technology accurately predicts future product demand, providing daily updates on key optimization performance and insights on which products drive profits. Together with Cin7’s end-to-end inventory management software, sellers will gain invaluable visibility into their product availability and inventory capital.
Powered by a proprietary AI engine, sellers can forecast demand with unmatched accuracy months in advance, maintaining optimal stock levels and eliminating overages. This allows sellers to make fast, impactful decisions – enabling both short and long term forecasting that translates insight into action. Not only does this help achieve over 99% product availability, it also frees up to 20% of inventory capital and saves valuable time through automated, streamlined operations.
“Inventoro’s AI forecasting and optimization capabilities are a perfect complement to Cin7’s robust inventory management solutions,” said Ajoy Krishnamoorthy, Cin7’s CEO. “The actionable insights and increased visibility into performance provided by the combined capabilities help customers optimize performance across channels and minimize impacts from overstocking and stock outs. By combining Cin7’s inventory management platform and the power of Inventoro’s AI-powered forecasting, the future of inventory intelligence is here.” 
“From the moment we first partnered with Cin7, it was clear our companies were aligned in a mission to empower small and medium product sellers and manufacturers. By combining Cin7’s powerful inventory management platform with Inventoro’s advanced AI forecasting and optimization capabilities, we’re first to market with a solution that provides end-to-end visibility and control, reduces waste, and ultimately helps SMB’s thrive,” said Tomas Formanek, Inventoro’s founder and CEO.
This announcement comes at the dawn of a new phase of growth for Cin7, marked by the recent appointments of Ajoy Krishnamoorthy to Chief Executive Officer and Nolan Smith to President and Chief Operating Officer.
About Cin7Cin7 provides Connected Inventory Performance – cloud-based inventory management software that gives growing product businesses an automated and real-time view of the entire inventory lifecycle. Cin7’s products, Core and Omni, natively integrate with over 700+ applications, so business owners can consolidate, streamline, automate, and scale their inventory operation from one place. Founded in 2012, Cin7 has grown into a global force, supporting product sellers in 100+ countries, serving 8,000+ customers and processing over 125 million orders annually.
About InventoroInventoro is revolutionizing the way small and medium-sized businesses manage their inventory. With its cutting-edge algorithmic sales forecasting, businesses can finally achieve optimal stock levels and say goodbye to stock outs and overstock. Inventoro’s system is powered by advanced mathematics and artificial intelligence, which means it can learn and adapt to unique business needs, to achieve unprecedented forecast accuracy. Founded in 2020 as a SaaS service and built upon two decades of technological innovation.
Media ContactLindsay Mahaney [email protected]

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Artificial Intelligence

Potential secures additional $2M to drive AI-powered terrain perception technologies to market

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56 mins ago

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May 2, 2024

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The seed fund extension will underpin innovation programs with global automotive manufacturers as momentum builds toward production-scale deployment.
$2M CAD seed round extensionRound includes returning partners Brightspark Ventures, Build Ventures and NBIF, joined by Farpointe. Existing backers include Marc Benioff’s TIME VenturesFunds will support new and ongoing innovation projects with automotive OEMsTerrain Intelligence, the company’s core technology, solves safety and performance problems both off and on roadFREDERICTON, NB, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Potential (Potential Motors Inc), a Canadian automotive technology company developing advanced driver assistance systems for off-road environments, has today announced that it has raised $2M CAD in a successful seed round extension. This builds on two previous seed round commitments, for a total of $8.5M raised since May 2020.

Investors in the extension include returning partners Brightspark Ventures, Build Ventures and NBIF (the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation), with Farpointe joining for the first time. They join existing investors, including Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures. 
The latest funding will be used to drive commercialization of Potential’s AI-powered perception solutions in automotive, powersports, mining and defense sectors, following years of intensive R&D. 
Potential has already partnered with a major manufacturer of recreational off-road vehicles (CFMOTO Powersports Inc) and delivered its first innovation project for a global automotive brand. The company has another pilot project in the automotive sector underway in Q2, with further projects at scoping stage. 
Potential’s core technology is branded Terrain Intelligence. This software platform uses forward-facing sensors (such as cameras) to interpret terrain shape, incline gradient, surface type, obstacles and more. The platform can deliver multiple outputs, from presenting data to drivers all the way through to self-selecting vehicle control adjustments such as drive mode, suspension and differential settings, torque levels and more. 
Unlike today’s driver assistance systems, which rely on reactive technologies, Potential enables proactive control in advance of reaching hazards. 
Sam Poirier, CEO at Potential: “Potential’s expertise in off-road terrain, computer vision and AI will make vehicles safer, faster, more agile and more comfortable in extreme environments. Our solutions can improve outcomes on the road too, so our technology could be used in all sorts of vehicles. I’m pleased to welcome back existing partners as well as new investors at this critical milestone in our journey.”
Mark Skapinker, Managing Partner at Brightspark Ventures: “When we first invested in Potential, we were excited by Sam’s vision of a future where AI and terrain perception technologies play key roles in performance, safety and efficiency. By renewing our investment, we’re also renewing our vote of confidence in Sam’s leadership and Potential’s technology.” 
Jeff White, CEO at NBIF: “Sam has already built an impressive team and successful pilots; our new funding commitment demonstrates the continued confidence we have in Sam’s vision and Potential’s opportunities.”
About PotentialPotential (Potential Motors Inc.) is an automotive technology company designing the future of advanced driver-assistance systems for off-road and extreme environments, combining computer vision and AI to read the path ahead.
www.potentialmotors.com
Press contact: Jay Nickerson, [email protected]
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