How AI is set to transform our fastest growing businesses

Every period can lay claim to be a time of great change, but this really can. Thanks to the advance of AI, business will be transformed.

That was one of the key messages from the panel session for the launch of the E2E Dynamic Track 100. Bearing in mind these were leaders who had overseen huge growth in their own companies, to hear them outline what we can expect from AI felt doubly powerful.

E2E is the business mentoring and networking organisation founded and chaired by Shalini Khemka CBE. It has upwards of 24,000 members and specialises in bring entrepreneurs together, so they can share their experiences and advice. The Track 100 is the regular E2E ranking of the country’s best-performing private companies in a particular field, produced in association with The Independent.

The latest is the Dynamic Track 100 – the top 100 UK private companies with the greatest increase in turnover from the last two years. To qualify they must have turnover of more than £25m and the list excludes companies from the non-renewable energy sector.

Deepak Nangla of Brightsun Travel, one of the UK’s fastest growing travel booking businesses, covering corporate and leisure, said: “Our entire industry is about to change. The high street was already disappearing online. Now, with AI, we will be offering even greater choice, even simpler booking and faster service. We welcome it, as delivering the right products to our customers.”

He was joined by Chris McKie of Vizion Network, the UK’s largest car repair network. They already rely heavily upon IT to provide fast, efficient care. “AI will take that to another level. We’re using AI systems to remove some of the lowest-rated tasks.”

Oliver Carson, co-founder and CEO of forex provider, Universal Partners, said they were working quickly to develop plug-in capability for AI in their systems.

Lord Leigh, from Cavendish Corporate Finance, a leading UK investment bank for mid-caps and SMEs, predicted an end to some of the worst aspects of financial services. “The whole mindset of how we work is going to dramatically shift, for the better. At present, many people in finance, in the City, are working 70-hour weeks and risk burning out. AI will help them find new ways of working and doing their jobs. It will also create new jobs as people are freed up to do new things.”

While the impact of AI is unfolding, businesses still have familiar issues to contend with. Judging by the nods in his direction, Chris McKie spoke for them all when he said that “getting dynamic people is a concern. We don’t have a problem getting people. Our problem, in car repairs, is getting those who can do it.”

At Brightsun Travel, Deepak Nangla said they had “got around the skills shortage in the UK by going to other countries. We now have operations in Ireland and India as well as the UK. We can reach our customers from there wherever they are, with the right people.” He added, though, that diversifying overseas was not a given and brought with it other obstacles that had to be overcome.

Chris McKie emphasised the need to train staff. “We’ve got a deep commitment to training. If we wait for everybody else to train and then recruit, we’re only propagating the problem. We can’t wait so must do it ourselves. It’s amazing sometimes – the capability is there; you just don’t realise it.”

Lord Leigh stressed how vital it was for employees to feel they own the business. “Use equity to retain good staff. It’s the best motivator. They feel they own the business and they treat it as their own.”

Oliver Carson agreed. “We’ve done the same. It makes a dramatic difference.”

They all felt that hybrid working was petering out, that a return to four or five days a week and more in-person contact and meetings was underway. Covid, however, had altered their outlook. Again, they were agreed with Chris McKie when he said it was important to monitor the health and wellbeing of not just the business but the staff.