BUSINESS

AI Helping Tackle The Threat To The Growing Wave Of Fraud
AI, BUSINESS, FOR BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, TECHNOLOGY

AI Helping Tackle The Threat To The Growing Wave Of Fraud

AI threatens to add to the growing wave of fraud but is also helping tackle it. There were 4.5 million reported incidents of fraud in the UK in 2021/22, up 25% on the year before. It is a growing problem which costs billions of pounds every year. The COVID pandemic and the cost of living crisis have created ideal conditions for fraudsters to exploit the vulnerability and desperation of many households and businesses. And with the use of AI increasing in general, we will likely see a further increase in new types of fraud and is probably contributing to the increased frequency of fraud we are seeing today. Already, the ability of AI to absorb personal data, such as emails, photographs, videos and voice recordings to imitate people is proving to be a new and unprecedented challenge. But...
Research Shows How Subtle Forms Of Sexism In Financial Services Led To Recent City Scandals
BUSINESS, POLITICS

Research Shows How Subtle Forms Of Sexism In Financial Services Led To Recent City Scandals

How subtle forms of sexism in financial services led to recent City scandals – what research shows. When I first worked in the City of London, a few years out of university, a company-appointed “style consultant” suggested I would be taken more seriously as a female professional if I wore more make-up and exchanged my trousers for skirt suits. At the time, I was under the naïve impression that workplace sexism was more or less a thing of the past. But I soon found out I was wrong and this conversation served as an early red flag. That was 20 years ago. And while the financial and professional service industries have changed for the better, they may not have changed enough. A parliamentary committee has been tasked with renewing an inquiry into sexism in the City of London following clai...
AI, BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, TECHNOLOGY

Saving Time And Stress In Your Small Businesses In 3 ways Using AI

3 ways AI can save small businesses time and stress. Generative AI is creating an extraordinary amount of buzz, and it's catching the interest of people wondering how to take advantage of what it has to offer. If you’re a small-business owner, you’re likely curious about how it can help you grow and succeed, especially as your business becomes more complex. Beyond the initial start-up phase, there are some clear indicators that your business is beginning to scale. For example, you may be expanding your online sales channels or in-person locations, hiring more employees, and increasing your inventory — all of which demand more of your time. It’s critical to prepare yourself with the best tools and technology for continued success. Turning to AI tools that are in products like Intuit Quic...
In The Era Of AI — How Can You Future-Proof Your Career?
AI, BUSINESS, RECOMMENDATIONS, TECHNOLOGY

In The Era Of AI — How Can You Future-Proof Your Career?

How you can future-proof your career in the era of AI. Ever since the industrial revolution, people have feared that technology would take away their jobs. While some jobs and tasks have indeed been replaced by machines, others have emerged. The success of ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) now has many people wondering about the future of work – and whether their jobs are safe. A recent poll found that more than half of people aged 18-24 are worried about AI and their careers. The fear that jobs might disappear or be replaced through automation is understandable. Recent research found that a quarter of tasks that humans currently do in the US and Europe could be automated in the coming years. The increased use of AI in white-collar workplaces means the changes wil...
Inside The Amazon Returns Black Box
BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS

Inside The Amazon Returns Black Box

Inside the black box of Amazon returns. E-commerce may make shopping more convenient, but it has a dark side that most consumers never see. Say you order an electric toothbrush for Father’s Day and two shirts for yourself from Amazon. You unpack your order and discover that the electric toothbrush won’t charge and only one shirt fits you. So, you decide to return the unwanted shirt and the electric toothbrush.   Returns like this might seem simple, and often they’re free for the consumer. But managing those returns can get costly for retailers, so much so that many returned items are simply thrown out. In 2022, returns cost retailers about US$816 billion in lost sales. That’s nearly as much as the U.S. spent on public schools and almost twice the cost of returns in 2020. The ret...
How Investors Read Business Plans
BUSINESS, RECOMMENDATIONS

How Investors Read Business Plans

There are hundreds of thousands of business plans floating around and attempting to find a funding home. I receive hundreds of business plans annually myself, and can definitely state that 99% of these documents are laughable as presentations of an exciting investment opportunity. I am not referring to the value of the product being described, rather the presentation that purports to describe an exciting investment situation. One of the reasons that so many plans are so poorly written, and there are many, many additional reasons, is that the writers do not understand how plans are read. Investment banks, venture capital firms, family offices, angel firms, banks and blind investment pools receive a stack of plans for consideration every day. Typically a junior reader, often a recent MBA, i...
Finance Professors Explain How Credit Scores Work
BUSINESS, FOR BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

Finance Professors Explain How Credit Scores Work

How do credit scores work? 2 finance professors explain how lenders choose who gets loans and at what interest rate. With the cost of borrowing money to buy a home or a car inching ever higher, understanding who gets access to credit, and at what interest rate, is more important for borrowers’ financial health than ever. Lenders base those decisions on the borrowers’ credit scores. To learn more about credit scores, The Conversation consulted with two finance scholars. Brian Blank is an assistant professor of finance at Mississippi State University with expertise related to how firms allocate capital, as well as the role of credit in mortgage lending. His colleague at Mississippi State, Tom Miller Jr., is a finance professor who has written a book on consumer lending, in addition to provi...
Why Do Businesses Advertise On Social Media?
BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, RECOMMENDATIONS

Why Do Businesses Advertise On Social Media?

Putting ads on social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is an effective way to increase followers, build your email list, and to engage with your audience more. You can practically reach out and touch your ideal audience with just a few clicks of the mouse. But first, you must get their attention. One of the best ways to do that is to advertise on the social platforms where your audience hang out. It's Inexpensive You can place ads on any social platform like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with as little as $20 and get results. You can test an ad inexpensively, tweak it, make it better, then run it again, increasing your budget based on your desired ROI. It's Effective Paid ads work very well since so many people are regularly on social media. If you plan the advertisement ...
Try Giving Your Employees A Reward And A Choice For More Good Ideas From Them
BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, RECOMMENDATIONS

Try Giving Your Employees A Reward And A Choice For More Good Ideas From Them

Want more good ideas from your workers? Try giving them a reward – and a choice. Companies can increase not only the volume but also the quality of employee suggestions and ideas by offering rewards and a choice, according to a study we published in 2022. We conducted the study on 345 telemarketers at a call center in Taiwan, which already had a suggestion program set up to solicit creative ideas to improve the organization. The company rewarded those who suggested ideas deemed the most valuable by giving them a trophy. We wanted to see how tweaking the reward changed the quantity and quality of suggestions. So we invited the employees to submit ideas and that if their suggestions ranked among the top 20% most creative ideas – as evaluated by a team of managers and researchers – they wou...
Gig Work Side Hustles Can’t Be Hidden From The IRS Anymore
BUSINESS

Gig Work Side Hustles Can’t Be Hidden From The IRS Anymore

You can’t hide side hustles from the IRS anymore – here’s what taxpayers need to know about reporting online payments for gig work. Do you rent out your home a few weekends a year through Airbnb? Sell stuff on Etsy? Get paid for pet-sitting? If you, like many Americans, make at least US$600 a year with a side hustle of any kind, the way you pay taxes may soon change. New rules are going to make sure the Internal Revenue Service gets more information about payments made to Venmo and other apps often used for informal work. And this new system will enhance the agency’s ability to detect any underreported taxable income. I am a tax researcher studying the IRS’ use of technology and how that affects taxpayers. I think it’s important that everyone understand why this may matter to them now or...