Bangkok Bank inspires SME to use AI to drive their businesses into the digital world by inviting a data scientist to provide intensive tutoring courses

Bangkok Bank inspires SME to use AI to drive their businesses into the digital world by inviting the founder of "BOTNOI", a data scientist, to provide intensive tutoring courses, aiming to help them reduce their costs while doubling their profits, reinforcing the Bank's status as a 'trusted partner' that helps strengthen SME in both knowledge and capital to increase their competitiveness while enabling them to sustainably keep pace with the digital world.

Bangkok Bank Executive Director Dr. Pichet Durongkaveroj said that the Bank, as a "trusted partner" of all business sectors, has been encouraging SME to adapt to the changing business world. The latest trend is how the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is playing an increasingly important role in helping analyze, evaluate, and solve business problems efficiently. AI will play an even greater role in the near future, so adapting organizations to be driven by AI, and the Big Data that supports it, will be another important turning point for the business sector. Recognizing this trend, the Bank has recently organized a seminar for SME on 'How do Data Analytics & AI create changes for society and SME'. This seminar emphasized the importance of using Big Data and AI, as well learning the basic practical uses of AI. The speaker, a Data Scientist and founder of " BOTNOI", is an expert in AI and the use of technology to respond effectively to business needs, was invited to share information with entrepreneurs.

"In just a few years, AI has begun to play an important role in many industries, such as in the medical industry where AI is being used to help diagnose diseases accurately and quickly. The manufacturing industry has begun to use automated machines to replace manual labor, and the agricultural sector is using AI for smart farming. This may still be a new issue for SME and entrepreneurs may not yet have a vision of how to apply existing big data and AI to their businesses. Bangkok Bank, which is a "trusted partner" for customers, helps find information and knowledge to support and inspire customers to visualize how they drive their business in the future, which is a very important starting point"

Dr. Pichet added that besides offering knowledge support that aligns with global changes to help entrepreneurs adopt broader perspectives and accurately formulate business strategies, Bangkok Bank is also well-equipped with financial services tailored for businesses seeking to invest in organizational transformation. This includes environmental loans and various adaptation initiatives. Recently, the bank launched the Bualuang Green Financing for Transition to Environmental Sustainability, which provides special interest rates and repayment terms of up to 8 years and is designed to support business transformations in three key areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, climate change adaptation, and reducing pollution. The bank has allocated a loan facility of up to 10 billion baht to address customer demands, ensuring that the bank's clients are provided with comprehensive solutions for restructuring their businesses towards a strong and sustainable digital era.

BOTNOI GROUP founder and CEO and Data Scientist Guru Dr. Winn Voravuthikunchai, said "The first and most important aspect for entrepreneurs is to keep an open mind and willingness to learn new things because implementing data and AI systems may not be as challenging as they may anticipate. After that, entrepreneurs must understand the data collection process such as the creation of a customer engagement platform followed by data analytics, can be supported by many tools including AI which can help manage large amounts of data and lead to precise solutions in real time and access data from various channels.

"AI is increasingly involved in our everyday life. If entrepreneurs know and understand AI, they can leverage it to scale their business. Some of these solutions cost almost nothing, such as the use of Google Maps, where businesses related to accommodation and restaurant industry can pin their location, upload photos and write reviews for free. By doing this, businesses can greatly increase their access for consumers. However, most SME operators do not understand or know how to begin. It's a good opportunity for large organizations like Bangkok Bank to become an intermediary and connect business operators with knowledge to overcome changes. From my experience in helping businesses develop data science, I found that at the very least, if businesses start to implement data analytics and adopt AI they can cut their costs and increase profits by more thandouble. This is key to competitiveness," said Dr. Winn.

Bangkok Bank customers who are interested in accessing financial services to transform their businesses to new models for sustainability and environmental conservation, Bangkok Bank is ready to support funding through various loan services with special interest rates, including:

• "Bualuang Green Loan" with a maximum credit line of 50 million baht and a maximum repayment period of 8 years for SMEs who wish to invest in improving their businesses and processes that do not cause pollution, including the efficient reuse of materials.
• "Bualuang Green Solar Energy Loan" with a maximum credit line of 100% of the investment, with special conditions to help reduce costs and encourage entrepreneurs to switch to alternative energy sources.
• "Bualuang Transformation Loan" with a credit line of 20 billion baht, a fixed interest rate of 5 percent per year and a maximum repayment period of 5 years of for businesses that wish to improve their businesses in the digital age and the new normal, such as using digital technology, being environmentally friendly, or using future innovations.

Interested entrepreneurs, whether current or new customers, can apply for a loan at a business relations officer, business center, or bank branch nationwide. For more information, please contact Bualuang Phone 1333 or 0 2645 5555.