AI is everywhere

In every product, in every operating system, in every SaaS.

Artificial Intelligence has become so ubiquitous that it’s hard to remember what its strengths are and how it can help us to actually lead more productive lives, providing assistance where we need it and automating where something could otherwise take a large amount of time from our day.

This is a problem.

With every piece of software since 2024 claiming to be “AI Powered”, the meaning of AI is somewhat diluted to chatbots, image generation, and other gimmicks that don’t provide any actual value to the user.

Users don’t want more AI, they don’t want more chatbots that simply regurgitate documentation at them, they simply want less friction in their lives. Especially when in the workplace.

Our Focus: AI at the point of pain

Each of our portfolio companies has software that’s designed to be user friendly and provide a good experience to the user. Where this is not possible, for example when setting up a complex configuration tailored to businesses, we can bring in Artificial Intelligence.

Rather than having one chatbot that can guide a user on how to do anything, we focus on specific tasks, specific pain points that our customers have, offering a way to translate from natural language into actions and configurations that would otherwise take up significant time to do manually.

This involves a constant feedback loop from our user base - something that we heavily encourage - to ensure that our AI integrations are able to actually provide value.

Our AI “agent”, Tris, exists to eliminate tedious setup, friction, and provide relevant information that might otherwise require documentation or support.

An example: Reservate Opening Times

Opening Times can be notoriously painful to set up, especially when there are multiple locations each with their own nuances. Translating the traditional approach of entering each row, daily, hourly, and completely manually, especially when accounting for holidays and special events, can be a time-consuming and error-prone process.

Tris allows users to describe in natural language, or even feed an example of opening times displayed elsewhere, and will automatically create all of the necessary rules for review.

When this isn’t possible automatically, Tris will even ask clarification questions to ensure that she’s giving you as accurate a result as possible.

Once reviewed, it’s just 1 click to get the rules applied to your Locations.

This approach still allows you full control of your operations without handing off to AI. Tris provides a massive time saving for an otherwise potentially complex configuration effort.

Why this matters

We consider our approach to AI to be a direct counter to the ‘AI Everywhere’ mentality that others adopt. By focusing on specific tasks that we know can be painful, despite having intuitive user interfaces and experiences, we’re able to provide real value to our users.

This results in faster onboarding for new customers, reduced support requests for our team to handle, and a more enjoyable experience for our users.

This is AI that’s invisible when you don’t need it, and there to help when you do. It’s AI that is actually useful, not just noise.

What’s next

Our journey is not just a “throw in a chatbot” and be done, it’s a continuous evolution.

As our customers continue to deliver feedback and as pain points are discovered, AI is another tool in the shed that allows us to adapt and iterate on our products. What it isn’t, however, is the first tool we will reach for. Where it is possible to solve a problem with a better and more intuitive user experience, we will always do this first.

Where AI’s strengths come into play, for example where a natural language description is easier than manual setup, you’ll find Tris to help you out.

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Yes, Tris is a reference to the Divergent series.

No, this post was not written by AI.