LatestArticle

While the complexity of the searching and result-ranking technology behind Apple's Siri would likely elude most of its users, the value of a context-sensitive personal assistant certainly has not. Yet while Siri spawned a new generation of anthropomorphic digital assistants, researchers in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are taking the concept much further to help enterprises catch up to the growth of data.

Industrial products distributor Coventry Group is among the latest companies to jump onto the trend. The company, whose fasteners, fluid systems, gasket and hardware divisions collectively employ around 650 people, is working with Adelaide-based data-analytics specialist Complexica to apply that company's AI technology – personified as Larry, the Digital Analyst – to guide decisions around sales and pricing strategies.

Complexica Pty Ltd, a leading provider of Artificial Intelligence software for optimising sales & marketing activities, announced today that it has signed a contract with Coventry Group (ASX: CYG) for the delivery of its cloud-based Order Management System (OMS). Coventry will use OMS along with Larry, the Digital Analyst® to provide its telesales operators and in-field reps with intelligent quotation and guided selling capabilities.

“The goal of modern sales & marketing is to provide the right offer to the right customer at the right time using the right channel. This problem is not easy to solve and requires a lot of analytics,” said Peter Caughey, CEO of Coventry Group. “Rather than building out an internal analytics team to investigate and analyse countless data sets, we have engaged Complexica to provide our sales reps with the answers they need, when they need them, on a fully automated basis through their cloud-based Order Management System. We are excited about the benefits that OMS and Larry, the Digital Analyst will deliver to our business.”